What I will do to get Blanche to the Vet

First, thanks to you all for the wonderful welcome in the Newbie introduction area... I'm moving Blanche's story to here where it is on topic

To quickly recap, Blanche showed up under my son's car about a year and a half ago during flooding rains. She was starving, bloody, missing part of her tail, had few teeth and was terrified of people. After all this time I was finally able to touch her a couple of weeks ago and decided I could now get her safely to the Vet without traumatising her mentally.

Thanks for all the good ideas for getting a feral safely captured. I knew about havahart traps (but didn't have one and didn't know whom I could borrow one from) so I developed a plan where I would be able to get her in a crate by me placing her there... Keep in mind that Blanche was not touched at all until two weeks ago. That said, she has "known" me now for almost two years and we have a "relationship" even if it didn't not involve touch prior to two weeks ago. Our relationship has involved food every day, twice a day, an outdoor shelter during the snowy winter and company when she wanted to lie down in the garden near where I would be working outside. Actually now her favored spot is on our front porch - she has become a part of our family - sort of like the autistic child who wont be touched but still longs to be near.

I'm at the stage now, with less than two weeks until the Vet appointment, that I can softly hold Blanche a couple inches off the ground (just for a moment) while she is at her food bowl. This is in preparation for when I put her in the crate on the morning of her visit to the Vet. I want her used to the brief "capture". I'll talk to her while she is in the crate and during her exam. Thankfully the Vet we are supposed to get has delt with ferals before. Blanche has notches cut out of one of her ears so it looks like she was already fixed.

I really believe that trust has already been establised because we have gone from no touch to the brief lift (seconds) in just a few days and she seems ok with the sudden change in our relationship. She purrs when I briefly massage her shoulder blades.. makes me glad! I still have to be careful that I don't catch whatever skin ailment and bugs she has (poor thing) so all will be brief for my sake as well. I am barehanded but clean my hands right after just in case her mange is the type that humans can get. I'm barehanded because I am sure that gloves would pull on her skin and fur and I don't want to hurt her during the trust building.

It really looks like all is going well so far. I'll post more as the date for the Vet trip nears. Thanks again for letting me share Blanche's story.

Thanks for all the excellent ideas... the food in the crate idea is exactly what we did to get her to go into her "shelter" last winter. The shelter was one of those larger plastic clothing storage bins... cut out a "door" and she would have nothing to do with it until the food appeared. Thank goodness she did go in.. it was one of the snowiest and coldest winters on record!
For the crate we have a few challenges... it is a small crate but even so it has been POURING here every day and there isn't a dry place to leave it. SO... I have taken the crate out with me at feeding time. I open the crate door while she is eating but can see what I am doing. I also pick her up and let her squirm a bit for maybe 10 seconds and put her down to eat again - all with the crate there. My gut feeling is that she will be upset, but fine. But we will find out on Saturday!

I haven't bothered with trying to feed her in the crate for a few reasons.. the main reason is she has very few teeth and throws the food around and I don't want any mold to grow inside the crate during this very warm and wet weather. She takes a LONG time to eat with the few teeth she has so it just isn't practical to leave it. If she doesn't finish all the food the bugs come along and then there are ants and flies in her food.. only seems to take an hour or two for them to discover any leftovers.

With less than 24 hours until the Vet trip we have hit another milestone.... Blanche walked up to me for the first time today and pushed her head into my leg in that dance we humans fondly associate with the domesticated cat. Made me tear up a bit knowing how far we have come to this little sign of affection. Tomorrow will set us back just a bit, but I really believe she has turned the corner and has found some trust for fellow beings in her life. I'm glad I was there to provide this small comfort.

Ok... so I couldn't resist trying the food in the crate just to see what Blanche would do....hehehe.... and of course she walked right in. The crate is small enough that with the bowl in there her tail was sticking out so I didn't try to close the door. But, thanks again to all that offered all the great advice. You have been "spot on" with everything Tomorrow I will remember to cover the crate with a towel

On the morning of her appointment, I walked outside to feed her as I do normally, but with the carrier in tow. I called her over and asked if she was hungry, which of course she was... put the food bowl in the carrier and she sniffed, put her head down a bit but walked right in. As soon as her body went inside I CLOSED THE DOOR. And of course all hell broke loose.

She panicked instantly and banged around the inside of the carrier enough in a few seconds to bounce the door off its hinges! One of the side clips was missing and I hadn't noticed it... I held the door in front of her so she couldn't escape and she showed me her little face which had a little bloody nose from bagging into something. I thought my heart would break. Here we were trying to take her someplace to feel better and we were injuring her before she got there! I called to my husband to help me get the carrier back together and got into the car. The trip is only about 10 minutes but seemed like a lifetime. Blanche was catatonic, no pun intended. She was back to being silent. She had been like that when I first met her - no meows or purring. In an instant she was back in the darkness, no longer trusting anyone.

I knew deep inside this would happen but it was still hard to know she surely felt so utterly frightened that the only way to survive would be to block out the world.

...and we drive for what seems like forever but we do get there and park the car and get out. I'm holding the carrier together top to bottom for fear that the whole thing will fall apart, but it doesn't.. someone opens the door for me - not my husband, but someone else and I can't remember what they look like. It is all a fog to me now - "hey, she's just a cat" I keep saying to myself - but somehow I'm feeling that if there is something that measures what we are it is what we do for the insignificant ones.

We sign in and wait. And wait. There seem to be many dogs of differnt sizes and shapes there.. Blanche stares out at them blankly. I'm hoping I haven't broken her. I waited long enough to take her here. Please don't give up now.

Finally we are in the examination room and someone comes in. I say, " You aren't the Veterinarian we are supposed to have!"

"That's right... I'm the vet tech."
I was a fool. Calm down and let the folks do their job...

After a few questions about "why are you here today", and I'm thinking, "she's wild (Blanche) and needs help! and she would have died last year! and she is so afraid of everyone! how does a creature get to be that way!"

But I answered the simple questions. At last the Vet arrived. It was indeed the Vet we were supposed to see. I was adamant about the Vet being someone familiar with ferals - I wanted someone to know how difficult it was to get her there and how hard it was for Blanche to stand being there.

They knew.. of course they knew. I was just brainless, brainless in the way mothers become when they have a child. My children are grown but the "stupid" factor wasn't buried too far beneath the surface.

The tech had Blanche steadied while the Vet examined Blanche. The hair was parted. Now, my eyes are really bad. I need glasses and never wore them around Blanche. Blanche always wiggled a bit out of focus for me, but when the hair was parted I could see.... there were things wiggling there.. tiny tiny... but wiggling... more parts... they were EVERYWHERE.

She was covered with tiny lice. But NO fleas. Still can't figure that out...
But covered...covered. How could I not have seen before?

That's why you took her to the Veterinarian, dummy.

...and so they finished up the exam and gave her some shots. Then they took her away for "the first of several visits to get a bath and take care of the lice". They picked her up and left the room..

.. they take her away in the carrier... I'm wondering if the carrier will fall apart on the way in. She is going to be dipped.. and I'm wondering if they will sedate her. I have to stop and sit down. There are long benches in the waiting room and people are coming and going with their pets. Two dogs decide they are excited to see one another and start barking. A woman comes in with a cat cradled in her arms. The cat looks in much better shape than Blanche .. clean, big, a beautiful coat... the woman is crying. Something has happened. How can something have happened to this cat who looks so much better than Blanche? The cat seems distracted and quiet. The woman sits near me and her companion puts her arm around her to comfort her - she begins to sob. My husband decides to wait in the car.
The woman with the cat is called in quickly and she disappears into the back with her cat. I feel for this woman who I don't know and is feeling such pain in front of strangers. An older couple walks out of the back - the gentleman is craddling in his arms with what appears to be a large, lanky, furry dog who isn't moving. I guess that it is an Afghan. I hear the women behind the counter, the office people whispering as the couple walks out. "He died".
A short while later the woman walks out. The cat is not with her. She says nothing to anyone and goes straight for the door and leaves. Her companion goes to the desk and says "can we get her footprint?"

My heart fills with sadness for these people I don't know, who have crossed my path for a few moments and I'll probably never see again.

I'm getting a bit nervous that Blanche has been so long and as I think this, one of the receptionists calls me up to the counter.
"Blanche will be ready at 1:00. Could you please come back then?"
"Of course."
So I say thanks and that I'll be back then and I open the office door and walk out into the sunshine. It is a hot summer day and our car is parked in the shade. A van pulls up to the walkway and a couple women jump out and behind them, all attached to little leashes, tumbles out several balls of fur that look like St. Bernard Dogs... they are puppies and they are furry bundles of happiness. Their brown and cream coats gleam in the sun and they exude how much they think life is good.
I smile. This is how life begins.
Long ago and far away, Blanche was a bright eyed, fluffy little kitten with her whole life in front of her.

I am very glad to have seen the puppies.
Life begins and it must end... we have to find joy when we can.

I get into the car. "We have to come back later".

Will finish Blanche's story when I get back from my trip

Can't believe it has been this long since I first started the thread about Blanche.

 

I'm so sorry that I never followed up with what happened to her, but long story short, it is 4 months later and she is doing fine and totally bug free!

 

She still doesn't really trust me.. After all, every time I got near her last summer I was trapping her, putting her in a car and taking her to a strange smelly place with dogs and there people there that - GAVE HER A BATH  - oh my!

 

It was good to get her to the vet, though. Her tests all came back negative, so after all the bug baths, Blanche is well on her way to being a healthy old cat.

 

She suprised me a couple weeks ago with a "gift" on our front porch.. . What is amazing about that is that Blanche has almost no teeth!

 

Her skin is healed completely now.. last winter she had thin fur and big bloody patches where it was missing and she scratched constantly. Going into this winter she has a THICK THICK coat - like there is a double coat - long hair that is thick, almost like lamb's wool. The only bad thing is that it is so dried out from the chemical dips that it mats easily - have to whip out the grooming comb and hope she stays put long enough for me to get the mats out otherwise next spring we will be shaving her... if she lets me get near her..