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PLEASE!Injured Feral Manx kitten walking on front legs! Need Advice!Prayers!Vibes!

post #1 of 12
7/13/09 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 
This poor, poor kitten has either a broken back and/or mangled/broken back legs - it belongs to an informally managed colony that I am feeding for a month. It has an almost identical twin which is why we haven't been able to realize it's existence let alone it's pathetic condition
It is very skilled at walking on its front legs, so I suspect this is a healing condition. Now, the hard part will be trapping it, but if it's a female & continues to grow and goes into heat, I can't imagine it surviving that ordeal. So, this leads to several questions:
1) should I feed a high quality food to the colony, in order to hopefully get more nutrition into the kitten?
2) Should I just call AC to come and trap & kill it?? (We live in a "pro-dog, cats are just disease-carrying nuisances" community here) This will also jeoparize the entire colony. The businesses & adjacent neighbor haven't expressed any objection to allowing the colony to exist there.
3) If I intend to try trapping, undoubtably I will be catching more than just the kitten - shouldn't I have a plan in place to TNR (there is a local program for dogs/cats, but if you're calling about a cat, it takes months to get a response ) because once trapped, ferals are very difficult to re-trap
4) I am feeding very late at night (it's behind Denny's) bet. 11pm to 1am and the regular feeder usu. feeds bet. noon - 3pm, which , IMO, is why I am seeing more cats. I feel it is safer for ferals to get care during these hours; however, it's taking a toll on my health - do you think that 5am (still dusk) would still be okay???
Please, I need any and all advice; prayers; vibes....Thank you! Susan
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post #2 of 12
7/13/09 at 11:35am
Cats are not truly nocturnal, but rather "crepuscular," which means they are most active at dawn and dusk. Feeding then should work great.
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post #3 of 12
7/13/09 at 12:08pm
I think your plan for feeding sounds fine.

Obviously, the welfare of that poor cat is a concern. Seems like the best thing for her sake, and the colony itself, is trapping her and getting her the care she needs or and I hate to say this, having her humanely euthanized, if that's what's best. I know you mentioned there's a local program that's slow to respond, but would it be worth a call alerting them to an emergency situation. If they can't/won't respond do you have the equipment and resources to trap the cat and get her vet care? Are there other individuals that might be able to with trapping? Sounds like TNR plan is in order in the long run, but for now the priority needs to be getting a hold of that cat somehow. I know you know that.

Bless you for caring about this cat and your willingness to help. Sending many vibes and prayers.
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post #4 of 12
7/13/09 at 1:39pm
Be careful behind Denny's that late at night!

Were it me, I'd try to trap the injured cat myself. Is there a vet you have a relationship with who might help or know of someone with traps? If you trapped the wrong cat you could always just release it back into the colony. It's best to go ahead and get to her. Even if the best you can do is have her euthanized, you've saved her a long and painful death. Then again, it could be birth defect and she may adapt and do just fine as a pet.
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post #5 of 12
7/13/09 at 2:18pm
I feed my feral colony as late as 8a.m., but there are more out just after daylight. Of course in the winter thatis just after daylight...

Yeah, she definately needs to be trapped before her first heat, one I was working with years ago had a damaged spine and before I could get her spayed she died attempting to mate.
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post #6 of 12
7/13/09 at 10:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bookworm View Post
Yeah, she definately needs to be trapped before her first heat, one I was working with years ago had a damaged spine and before I could get her spayed she died attempting to mate.
Oh, that poor baby That is also my great fear for this kitty.
My father, bless his heart, brought me over a new trap and said that if all else fails, to have the vet put the bill on his account. I will try for the rescue group first, but meanwhile, will try to get the kitty. On Wed., the actual caretaker will be in town for two days, so I am hoping to go thru her.
I am so haunted by the fact that this kitten has suffered for so long - it was around 6/24 that my dad saw it dragging it's back legs. It was about 10 or 11 at night (his church's mens' group meets at Dennys after their night meeting) - the kitten got behind a fence before he & another man could catch it. He alerted me, and both the caretaker & I visited the area, but there was no sign of the kitten. And then a few days later, she, and then I, spotted the identical twin & assumed, incorrectly, that my dad was mistaken
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post #7 of 12
7/14/09 at 12:42am
Oh, poor little one...

Since it's a manx, it might be a birth defect. I've heard of, when two genetically tailless cats breed, a kitten coming out with even less of a properly formed spine than either parent has. My cousin's cat that has trouble with urinary control and sensation is also tailless, although she can walk fine, and they think that might have something to do with that.

The good news in spinal birth defect cases is you don't have to treat an injury, you just have to either set the cat up to have a decent quality of life (or have it put down if that's not possible). Obviously it would need to be fixed--even if it managed to breed safely, you don't want a critter with that kind of genetic problem making more. I would be tempted to try to make it an indoor cat for its own safety and so that it can use one of those wheeled contraptions to lift up its back half so it won't be dragging itself around all the time. If that's not possible...unless it's clearly in pain, I wouldn't put it down, since it must be otherwise healthy to have the energy to drag itself around fast enough that you're going to need a trap to catch it.
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post #8 of 12
7/14/09 at 3:55am
I'm thinking that as she isn't able to get to the food as well as the others she will be hungry enough to not be too wary of the trap, the hard part will be keeping the others out of the trap and giving her a chance to go in. Maybe invest on really smell canned food to distract the rest of the colony some distance away, and something less attractive in the area you have spotted her?

The one I had wasn't born that way, yours may not be in as much danger from mating, although I hope you can catch her before that. I took her away from a group of men who thought it was fun to throw beer bottles at cats. It ws an impulse thing, I saw it happening and walked over and put a stop to it, without thinking about did I have over 25 cents to my name at the time. (Or without thinking tht the type of men who torment cats may well hurt a small woman. They just stared when I snatched her up, no one said a word to me.) I was waiting for payday to get her to the vet, but she didn't give me enough time. I'm thinking her spine had been broken and when the tom cat started doing his thing it was the final straw for her spinal cord. At least she had four days that she was fed and cuddled and happy.
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post #9 of 12
7/14/09 at 2:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bookworm View Post
I'm thinking that as she isn't able to get to the food as well as the others she will be hungry enough to not be too wary of the trap, the hard part will be keeping the others out of the trap and giving her a chance to go in. Maybe invest on really smell canned food to distract the rest of the colony some distance away, and something less attractive in the area you have spotted her?

The one I had wasn't born that way, yours may not be in as much danger from mating, although I hope you can catch her before that. I took her away from a group of men who thought it was fun to throw beer bottles at cats. It ws an impulse thing, I saw it happening and walked over and put a stop to it, without thinking about did I have over 25 cents to my name at the time. (Or without thinking tht the type of men who torment cats may well hurt a small woman. They just stared when I snatched her up, no one said a word to me.) I was waiting for payday to get her to the vet, but she didn't give me enough time. I'm thinking her spine had been broken and when the tom cat started doing his thing it was the final straw for her spinal cord. At least she had four days that she was fed and cuddled and happy.
Great advice
And bless you for standing up for that poor kitty against those bullies - we certainly know who the truly courageous person was in that situation
I am glad that she knew love at the end of her time down here on earth
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post #10 of 12
7/15/09 at 5:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by catsknowme View Post
Great advice
And bless you for standing up for that poor kitty against those bullies - we certainly know who the truly courageous person was in that situation
I am glad that she knew love at the end of her time down here on earth
Ha ha, not brave, just angry. I seem to fluff up like a cat when I'm mad, I don't know how else I've gotten away with some of the stuff I have. One of these days I'm going to run into someone who doesn't bluff, I sure hope adrenaline takes over for me at that point!
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post #11 of 12
7/22/09 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bookworm View Post
Ha ha, not brave, just angry. I seem to fluff up like a cat when I'm mad, I don't know how else I've gotten away with some of the stuff I have. One of these days I'm going to run into someone who doesn't bluff, I sure hope adrenaline takes over for me at that point!
I am sure that your adrenaline will kick in just fine
...I could sure use some vibes that the rescue group calls me soon! I am sure that I will be trapping more cats than just the injured kitten, and I want to get them TNR'd when I do (another cat is starting to look "preggers").
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post #12 of 12
7/23/09 at 4:48am
Lots of vibes, and thanks for what you're doing.
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TheCatSite.com › Forums › Ferals and Rescue › Cats S.O.S › PLEASE!Injured Feral Manx kitten walking on front legs! Need Advice!Prayers!Vibes!