I posted this story on the Crossing the Bridge section, but I wanted to share it with anyone in this forum who may have doubts about whether or not to trap a feral cat who needs help. A lot of people seem to worry about tough love and the emotional harm to the cat. For those of you who are in this state of mind, please read about Buster and then go and trap that feral and get help for him/her! And do it so that Buster did not suffer in vain.
I was called last Friday to trap Buster. When I got there, I saw this poor little boy. He was a complete skeleton, dirty and matted, breathing with difficulty and his tongue hanging from his mouth. He was trying to get the last of the afternoon sun's warmth from a sandbag he was laying on.
The people who had been feeding him noticed about 4 months ago that he had difficulty eating. But they did nothing except continue to feed him and to mash his food more.
Finally with the weather getting bad, they decided to call someone to help. I tried on the first day to give them an outdoor heating pad for that night since it was going to snow, and they were only going to set the trap the next morning due to the raccoons. But they said no and not to worry.
I found out soon enough that they only wanted to trap him so he could be euthanized which is why they waited so long. And when they learned on my first visit that I would have him treated if his illness was curable, they took the trap and hid it and did nothing with it.
This morning, my 4th visit in 5 days and after many unreturned phone calls, I set the trap over the protests of his "caretakers" who had decided they would just grab him and kill him. He went in the trap immediately while I stood there, and despite the fact that they had just fed him. When I put him in the car, he seemed so relieved to be in a warm place and with a soft voice telling him everything would be better now. He fell asleep while I was driving and talking to him.
I prayed the entire trip to the vet that it was only a tooth abcess or injury in his mouth, and that he would recover and be able to have a true loving home with real parents and other kitties to love him and share many afternoon sunshines.
But the vet just called and told me he was too far gone to sustain his life without him suffering, and that he had FIV, multiple abscesses and infections, and difficulty breathing even through the anesthesia.
I had planned on taking him home even in the worst cast scenerio, just to give him a week of warmth and love if he was able to be handled. But they told me they had to anesthetize him just to examine him and I would not be able to get close enough to him to make him comfortable.
So now I beg everyone to remember this little boy, who suffered so much unnecessarily, and to pray that he has extra special love and petting, lots of sun to lie in, a shiny beautiful coat that he can proudly clean again, a warm bed that is all his, no more smell or mattings and no more hunger, and lots of other kitties to groom him and people to love him on the other side of the bridge.
I was called last Friday to trap Buster. When I got there, I saw this poor little boy. He was a complete skeleton, dirty and matted, breathing with difficulty and his tongue hanging from his mouth. He was trying to get the last of the afternoon sun's warmth from a sandbag he was laying on.
The people who had been feeding him noticed about 4 months ago that he had difficulty eating. But they did nothing except continue to feed him and to mash his food more.
Finally with the weather getting bad, they decided to call someone to help. I tried on the first day to give them an outdoor heating pad for that night since it was going to snow, and they were only going to set the trap the next morning due to the raccoons. But they said no and not to worry.
I found out soon enough that they only wanted to trap him so he could be euthanized which is why they waited so long. And when they learned on my first visit that I would have him treated if his illness was curable, they took the trap and hid it and did nothing with it.
This morning, my 4th visit in 5 days and after many unreturned phone calls, I set the trap over the protests of his "caretakers" who had decided they would just grab him and kill him. He went in the trap immediately while I stood there, and despite the fact that they had just fed him. When I put him in the car, he seemed so relieved to be in a warm place and with a soft voice telling him everything would be better now. He fell asleep while I was driving and talking to him.
I prayed the entire trip to the vet that it was only a tooth abcess or injury in his mouth, and that he would recover and be able to have a true loving home with real parents and other kitties to love him and share many afternoon sunshines.
But the vet just called and told me he was too far gone to sustain his life without him suffering, and that he had FIV, multiple abscesses and infections, and difficulty breathing even through the anesthesia.
I had planned on taking him home even in the worst cast scenerio, just to give him a week of warmth and love if he was able to be handled. But they told me they had to anesthetize him just to examine him and I would not be able to get close enough to him to make him comfortable.
So now I beg everyone to remember this little boy, who suffered so much unnecessarily, and to pray that he has extra special love and petting, lots of sun to lie in, a shiny beautiful coat that he can proudly clean again, a warm bed that is all his, no more smell or mattings and no more hunger, and lots of other kitties to groom him and people to love him on the other side of the bridge.
