I had been feeding a feral cat outside of a hotel we were staying at for 2 months. We finally trapped him, under the assumption that he wasn't completely feral, only to find out that he WAS completely feral when we got a hold of him. Or at least he acted that way. He spent about a week hissing at us and swiping at us to the point where we thought we were completely wrong about his non-feral tendencies. Then last night, he suddenly went from acting completely feral and crazy to sweet and loving. It was like a switch. Now he purrs and rubs against us and cries and cries for us when we walk away from him (He's currently in a large dog crate because I haven't figured out if he's healthy or not yet).
So I guess our initial assumptions were right about the fact that he's not really feral at all, so because of this, we've been able to get a better look at him. Last night we noticed that he has a pretty large scar on his back, that looks like it might have been a bite from another animal. Part of his bottom gum looks inflamed, though he's inhaling food, so it doesn't seem to be bothering him. My husband thinks he can feel a tick under his chin, but we want a vet to remove it, since his chin is still kind of hard for us to access. He's ok with us touching it, but only slightly, and he looks like he has ear mites. Then tonight we noticed that he also has a wound on his neck. It doesn't look infected, and its not abscessed, but it does look like its partly an open wound. I'm actually wondering if its a botfly larvae based on the shape of it, and the fact that I can see a hole in the middle of it.
I was waiting to take him to a spay/neuter clinic/vet that deals with ferals (there's a wait list for appointments), but now that he's decided to become a friendly cat, I'm going to just bring him to my normal vet. I've dealt with abscesses before, and infected wounds, so based on my prior experience, I think this will be ok until tomorrow morning, when I plan to wake up, call the vet and take him in ASAP. The wound doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. I watched him for a while tonight and he's not trying to scratch at it or anything. However, I definitely don't think its something that can wait until after tomorrow though.
So I guess I just need some good vibes. We were able to get pretty close to this guy when we were feeding him at the hotel, but not close enough to see just how beat up and rough he looks. He looks like he's had a really hard life, and it makes me want to cry when I see how much he loves us petting him now. Its like he just discovered what human touch feels like and he can't get enough of it. But because of all the minor things wrong with him, and the wound thats definitely not minor, I'm just concerned that he's not going to be healthy overall. I'm afraid he'll test positive for leukemia and having lost a cat to leukemia, I'm just not mentally prepared to deal with that again. Or, I'm just afraid that he'll have more problems that we haven't been able to see yet. I just hope everything can be fixed on him.
So if you can send some vibes my way, kitty (no name yet) and I would greatly appreciate it. Hopefully we'll be at the vet in about 12 hours, and hopefully the vet will be telling us that he's going to be ok.
If anyone has ever taken in a stray with lots of problems and had a good experience with it, I'd love to hear that right now. All of my cats are strays and socialized ferals, but while most of them came to me slightly beaten up, none of them looked as bad as this little guy does
.
So I guess our initial assumptions were right about the fact that he's not really feral at all, so because of this, we've been able to get a better look at him. Last night we noticed that he has a pretty large scar on his back, that looks like it might have been a bite from another animal. Part of his bottom gum looks inflamed, though he's inhaling food, so it doesn't seem to be bothering him. My husband thinks he can feel a tick under his chin, but we want a vet to remove it, since his chin is still kind of hard for us to access. He's ok with us touching it, but only slightly, and he looks like he has ear mites. Then tonight we noticed that he also has a wound on his neck. It doesn't look infected, and its not abscessed, but it does look like its partly an open wound. I'm actually wondering if its a botfly larvae based on the shape of it, and the fact that I can see a hole in the middle of it.
I was waiting to take him to a spay/neuter clinic/vet that deals with ferals (there's a wait list for appointments), but now that he's decided to become a friendly cat, I'm going to just bring him to my normal vet. I've dealt with abscesses before, and infected wounds, so based on my prior experience, I think this will be ok until tomorrow morning, when I plan to wake up, call the vet and take him in ASAP. The wound doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. I watched him for a while tonight and he's not trying to scratch at it or anything. However, I definitely don't think its something that can wait until after tomorrow though.
So I guess I just need some good vibes. We were able to get pretty close to this guy when we were feeding him at the hotel, but not close enough to see just how beat up and rough he looks. He looks like he's had a really hard life, and it makes me want to cry when I see how much he loves us petting him now. Its like he just discovered what human touch feels like and he can't get enough of it. But because of all the minor things wrong with him, and the wound thats definitely not minor, I'm just concerned that he's not going to be healthy overall. I'm afraid he'll test positive for leukemia and having lost a cat to leukemia, I'm just not mentally prepared to deal with that again. Or, I'm just afraid that he'll have more problems that we haven't been able to see yet. I just hope everything can be fixed on him.
So if you can send some vibes my way, kitty (no name yet) and I would greatly appreciate it. Hopefully we'll be at the vet in about 12 hours, and hopefully the vet will be telling us that he's going to be ok.
If anyone has ever taken in a stray with lots of problems and had a good experience with it, I'd love to hear that right now. All of my cats are strays and socialized ferals, but while most of them came to me slightly beaten up, none of them looked as bad as this little guy does