Help, my feral cat has been hurt

amore

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For the last year I have been feeding a feral cat. She comes every day and gradually she's become friendlier (she lets me clap her but not pick her up). She is pregnant and don't think she's got long to go. My problem is that she disappeared a week ago and turned up today with a scar on her head (about an inch in size) and a line where her fur is missing. The scar is already scabbed over. It looks like someone has maybe shaved her as it's a very neat line where the fur is missing (from the scar -inbetween her ears and partly down neck). She looks abit down but she ate abit and drank lots of milk. She still looks huge so she's not given birth yet. Do you think someone did this to her? Am I best just to leave her to heal naturally? Thing is I wouldn't be able to catch her to take her to a vet as she still too wild. If I could I would get her spayed aswell. Unfortunately where I live there is no capture, sterilise and release program. I can't stop worrying about her.
 

ktlynn

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Hi Amore - Welcome, I'm glad you found TCS.


I don't believe that someone actually injured your feral kitty. It does seem though, that she's injured herself. Sometimes when there's a wound, there is hair loss around it, giving it a "shaved" look as you've described. The good news is that it appears to be healing and as long as you don't see signs of infection (swelling, oozing) it will resolve itself.

Are there any humane organizations or animal shelters in your area? If so, call them and ask if they have a humane trap for this kitty. Many shelters (at least here in the US) will lend traps to people trying to spay/neuter feral cats. They usually require a deposit which will be returned to you when you bring back the trap.

I'm glad you want to get her spayed. I strongly agree with you that it's the right thing to do, but it sounds like her pregnancy's too far along now. When you call the shelter about a trap, ask also if they have a foster care program for momcats and their babies. Explain your situation and find out if they'd be willing to take this mom and her kittens if you're able to get them. The goal would be to socialize and find homes for the kittens, and get the mom cat spayed and released back in her familiar area where you feed her.

Thank you for caring about this cat. I hope you can find some help for her.
Please let us know how it's going.
 

sicycat

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My ferals will show up with a cut or slight injury occasionally and its very scary because the thought of trying to take them to the vet terrifies me. They were fixed over 2 years ago and they were very young then and I didnt have to take them we had a volunteer from a shelter work with us to trap and fix them. Anyway, Snowflake once came back a few months ago completely limping on her back leg. It was horrible to watch her because she didnt want to put any weight on it at all so I thought it was broken. I debated on what to do. I put Transfer Factor in her food for about a week and watched her and miraculously it healed up and she's walking completely normal again. Then last week she had a cut on the inside part of her ear and it was bleeding. The next day it already had a scab and looked much better. Feral cats have a way to heal themselves up a lot faster than indoor cats in my opinion.

Good luck with the babies and getting momma spayed ~ She will have a much better life.
 

ldg

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Welcome to TCS!
I hope we can find a way to help.


The others have already given you what advice I could give.


However, I agree that you need to try to find some type of care for the momma and her babies - and at the very least, you need to try to find a way to trap them and get them spayed and neutered once she's had the kittens and they're 10 - 12 weeks old.

I have very little in the way of Italian resources, but please check out these links. I don't know where you are in relation to Rome - but perhaps you can e-mail them to see if they know of anyone in the area who can help?

http://www.igattidellapiramide.it/index.htm
http://www.romancats.de/romancats/

These are also links to organisations for animal protection in Italy:

http://worldanimalnet.org/new.asp?co...=we&prov=&cat=

http://www.h4ha.org/shelters/Italy/29-0.html

I think it would be worth contacting any or all of them to see if there's anyone who knows someone in your area who can help.

The very first link says about its work

"I Gatti della Piramide is a cat shelter in Rome, Italy. “The purpose of the cat shelter is to provide much more than a place of refuge for the many cats and kittens that are abandoned here. In fact, various ways and means are used to find new homes, to get adoptions at a distance, and to have them neutered, since this is the only method of limiting the number of stray cats, that are still a widespread problem. Moreover, the cats are vaccinated and given medical care, since often they have been abandoned precisely because they are sick of pregnant.”

Because they obviously have some type of transportation network, perhaps they can assist in finding foster care for the momma and her babies?

I hope you can find someone to help with this situation.




Laurie
 
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