The face of hoarding

His name is CAT. He is 12 yrs. old. He SHOULD be at least 15 lbs. He is 10lbs. He is a Maine Coon.

I got a call on Thurs. of last week. "Is there room at your house?"

Of course! What is one more?

Back story. I had a coworker that I used to "babysit" her cat if she had to go out of town or had to have surgery. He gets along great with all of my cats and dog.

She retired 1.5 yrs ago and NO one had heard from her despite calling and stopping by her apartment.

The call came after she was Baker Acted for not cleaning up her apartment. The smell was so bad the neighbors called to complain. Once the authorities got into the apartment they had to wear Haz. mat suits with outside breathers. It looked like she had not thrown anything away for the 1.5 yrs. she had lived there. The litter box was over full and CAT had been going potty all over the apartment.

Animal Control was called and they took CAT with them.

She refused to talk to anyone. "I am a grown adult and can do or not do anything I want."

It took 9 days before she started talking. The first thing she did was ask about CAT. When she was told that he was at the shelter and she was going to be charged with animal cruelty/neglect and would never get him back she asked them to call me to come get the cat. I picked him up on Sat.

He is home and eating everything we put in front of him. The vet said he should be fine in time. Right now it is a matter of getting cat food into him instead of the human tuna she fed him when she remembered to fed him.

Welcome home CAT!

It turns out this is the 3rd time we KNOW of that this has happened to her! This was the worse as she lived in an apartment with shared walls. The other times she was able to still take care of CAT.

The other two times were in stand alone houses. One a rental the other she was buying. Come to find out she does not pay her bills as she cannot find them or her check book or reading glasses. She was without water for 2 months this time. It was the bills not being paid that tipped off the authorities the last two times. This time it was the neighbors complaining about the smell.

One condition of her release was that she went to live with her sister in Kansas OR move into a residential home. She has instead moved in to an extended stay motel. I have called the authorities to let them know her whereabouts as she is a danger to herself because she is diabetic and will not wear her glasses when she drives.

I have offered to take her to where ever she needs to go. She REFUSES any and all help and is very ugly about it. "All I need from you is for CAT to live with you." She then pushed me out the door and slammed it shut. She is now refusing to answer the phone when I call. I have given my name and numbers to everyone I can think of as a contact that cares and will help if at all possible.

Until then I know I have made one life better by being here. CAT is loved, cared for, on his way to being healthy.

We are putting out all of the kibble he will eat and give him half a can of wet food twice a day. He is eating and going potty great! His tail is at full mast now and he is trotting around the house like a happy cat! (Hissy is this a good plan???)

His new name is HANDSOME !!! We both found our self talking to him and saying "well hello there Handsome" and such so..............

Thanks for all that responded. I will keep a weight log and update weekly.

HUGS to all!

Kim

I took him to the vet before I brought him home. He was given the all clear. "Love,feed, love, feed. He will be fine."

I wish I had a camera when I showed him his blanket. All clean and fluffy. He rubbed his head all over it and rolled over and over just soaking it all in. PURRRRRRRRRRRRRing the whole time!

He is SMART! He seems to know when a can if for him and when it is for us. Could be that he got his first! Feed the kitty THEN feed us. LOL

Kim