Need advice with a wounded stray

Okay, I have a cat that is somewhere between feral and stray that was literally born in my yard.  On Friday afternoon I noticed that he had a horrible compound fracture that had to come from either a dog bite or being run over and I did my best to catch him and take him to the vet to know avail.  With the holiday weekend it was my only chance to try to get the leg set for him but even on three legs he was too fast to me.  I knew where he was holed up under a vacant house but I could not see him, much less get to him; so I left him wet food, dry food, and water and hoped for the best.

Today, he limped up to the house to eat with his bothers and sisters in the morning and the evening in fairly good spirits.  His leg looks worse; swollen, gnarled, and with a hole in it, as well as possibly gangrenous with a maggot on it.  The best I can do for him at this point is feed him and spray him with first aid spray.  I was hoping to start adding some fish penicillin to his wet food to give him the best possible chance to recover.  Money is tight and I can't afford the bills to treat his injury at the vet.  And, again, he is too wild to live indoors during his recovery.  He lets me pet him on his terms, but he is still too feral to do more than that.  The fact that he is eating and defecated on his own today gives me hope, but I think it will be touch and go for him at best.

I'm in California so there is no way to get liquid antibiotics for him from the pet store and I was wondering an anyone knew the dose of penicillin powder to add to the food for him?

You need to get a humane trap and trap him. You can maybe rent one from your Humane Society..or a rental place..you know those places that you can rent equipment.  I don't know about the penicillin dose..He is going to die if you don't trap him. Sorry to be blunt. Thanks for caring

GungGung said:

possibly gangrenous with a maggot on it. 

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You sound ambigous. You want him to the vet and try to catch, but soon thereafter you tell you dont afford to, and plan on trying on your own...   I suspect this ambiguity doesnt help you with trapping him and getting him to a vet...

Vet is the absolutely best option.  Try with some sort of a trap, if you cant catch.

IF you after all decide to fight on home.  There are some chances he will make it anyway. Weak semiferales die off. So him surviving so far means he is not of the weakest of them.

And here he does get food and water regularely.  His siblings are apparently not hostile although he is sick.  (sometimes the fellows got hostile to a sick member of the pack, this is one of the reasons feral cats usually try to hide they do have problems).

I know of several homeless who did survived horrible wounds, being "amputaded", part or even whole leg.  Their story known as they in the end did find adopters.

Maggots in a wound looks terrible, but it is better then it looks: maggots kills of bacterias so as long they do have maggots, they prob wont get gangrene...

Fish aquarium antibiotics seems to be usable. We had a couple of treads about them both in this forum, and the Health forum, perhaps half a year ago. Try to use search function.

I dont know anything about dosages, usually Im  sending people to the vet as I should. Unless a simple case where it is OK with home remedies.

But I hope some of the participants will give you them. Here or in a PM.

Although, as said: your first and best option IS to get him to the vet.  Home treatment is just the last line of defence, when everything else fails.

But the recovery time you can do home, he doesnt need to be the whole time in the hospital.

Good luck!     *vibes*

ps. I believe the recovery at your place inside will go OK.  THIS may be his best chance to be an inside cat and being fostered in an accelerated rate.

Sick/ wounded and getting help, opens the "easy socilized" window wide open again.

Just make sure he has a nice own place, and realizes he is safe there and nobody is threating him. As soon he realizes this and cools down, he will copy and adapt.

The problem is I have two dogs inside, a German Shepherd and a Chihuahua.  It's just not feasible to bring him in not just because of the dogs, who are relatively cat-friendly, but because he is frightened of them.  We were going to take him to the vet before the holiday weekend but we could not catch him.  It's been four days now and until today I honestly thought he had passed on.  Now he's climbing on things and seems to be interacting well with the rest of his litter mates who are adolescents. If his leg didn't look so horrible I would think he would be alright just for the sake of him having a good appetite and acting mostly like he would normally.  The simple fact is this long after the injury I can not afford the bills what the vet would charge to treat him as it would certainly involve surgery, possibly amputation.  Getting him some antibiotics is the best I can do by him at this juncture.
 

I don't think anyone meant you to let the cat go inside your home. Rather a cage or something inside the garage. This cat is feral so it's not going to be nice

I am sorry, so sorry for this cat. You MUST get him to a vet or he will most likely die from this serious injury. It could turn into a bone infection quickly and no antibiotic will save him at that point. He may well be eating and acting normal, but if this injury is as bad as you say, an infection could set in very quickly. :shame: The leg might be too far gone to save and will need to be amputated. According to how you describe it, the leg is severely injured. If you can't afford a vet, you must still get this cat to the vet. He will suffer and probably end up dying. It is the most humane thing to do, get him to the vet and let them evaluate the injury. Money or not, this is what needs to be done.

Well I've been trying to catch him after getting advice from here, but it's like he knows.  The second I go out there, with or without food, to catch him he runs off and hides.  If I just want to pet him he's fine.  I just had the little stinker run off on me again and I only have another hour or two to even make the attempt.  He will only come out in the mornings and evenings when it is cool as I imagine the flies are much worse in the heat of the day.  On the plus side, he still seems strong and mobile despite his injury.  The leg is obviously dead, though, and will have to come off if we can ever catch him.  He's eating anywhere from a half to a whole can of wet food twice a day, plus the dry kibble we leave out for his litter mates.  Even if the price of helping him will be a burden we are doing what we can.  Wish us luck.
 

A trap is usually the trick.  Good luck!

Well we caught him with a humane trap and got him to the vet.  The leg will have to come off as we expected and bill will be... unpleasant to say the least.  He will also have to stay pent up for three weeks during recovery, but the doctor seems confident he will be alright.
 

You did a very nice thing to try and help this cat. 

I will admit to a bit of selfishness in that he was born in my yard so I feel responsible for him and he reminds me quite a bit of a cat I had years ago that has since passed on.
 

GungGung said:

Well we caught him with a humane trap and got him to the vet.  The leg will have to come off as we expected and bill will be... unpleasant to say the least.  He will also have to stay pent up for three weeks during recovery, but the doctor seems confident he will be alright. 

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I can't tell you how glad I am that you were able to trap this guy. Not surprised to hear that the leg will be amputated :shame: Poor baby and I am sorry about that. You did the right thing by him. I am sure the bill is astronomical Maybe the vet will be kind to you due to your kindness of saving this cat :cross: Please do keep us posted.

GungGung said:

I will admit to a bit of selfishness in that he was born in my yard so I feel responsible for him and he reminds me quite a bit of a cat I had years ago that has since passed on.

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Sometimes these very special kitties come into our lives and worm their way into our hearts.... sounds like this is one of those kitties. :rub: Thank you for caring for these cats the way you do. :bigthumb:

Our little amputee...


 

Oh thank you for caring about this little waif. What a cutey pie. It's possible since you will have him enclosed for a time he may tame down some..or not..it's up to him. Either way..Did you get him neutered when he was getting his leg off? Hum..if not maybe you could do that before he goes back out..if he does. And again you are wonderful for caring about him.

We had him neutered, given advantage for fleas, and vaccinated while he was there.  Our vet was really good with him.  We brought him in between 10:30 and 11:00 in the morning, literally minutes before I had to leave for work, and we got a call just before 2:00 that he was out of surgery and someone could come to pick him up.  He's still a little doped up and we have to wait until tomorrow to feed him and start giving him his antibiotics and pain meds, but all in all it went better than we could have hoped.  Well, minus the bill for $885.  Although that was still reasonable from what I understand.  The vet said he had no chance without the surgery.

Also, I would like to give my thanks for the honesty of one of the employees at the local animal shelter.  At the advice of people we talked to at the feed store we went in and asked if they would be able to treat him and while the man at the desk hemmed and hawed, another working behind him quietly signaled that they would just destroy him.  That employee saved his life as surely as the vet did and he has my thanks.
 

GungGung said:

We had him neutered, given advantage for fleas, and vaccinated while he was there.  Our vet was really good with him.  We brought him in between 10:30 and 11:00 in the morning, literally minutes before I had to leave for work, and we got a call just before 2:00 that he was out of surgery and someone could come to pick him up.  He's still a little doped up and we have to wait until tomorrow to feed him and start giving him his antibiotics and pain meds, but all in all it went better than we could have hoped.  Well, minus the bill for $885.  Although that was still reasonable from what I understand.  The vet said he had no chance without the surgery.

Also, I would like to give my thanks for the honesty of one of the employees at the local animal shelter.  At the advice of people we talked to at the feed store we went in and asked if they would be able to treat him and while the man at the desk hemmed and hawed, another working behind him quietly signaled that they would just destroy him.  That employee saved his life as surely as the vet did and he has my thanks.
 

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 How wonderful for honesty.

Gung Gung, I know this kind of expense can be overwhelming, but think of this as your charitable donations for this year (and maybe next).  He is a beautiful cat, bless his little heart.  You should feel very good about helping him and knowing that you saved his life.  He will repay you in time, I am sure!
 

GungGung said:

We had him neutered, given advantage for fleas, and vaccinated while he was there.  Our vet was really good with him.  We brought him in between 10:30 and 11:00 in the morning, literally minutes before I had to leave for work, and we got a call just before 2:00 that he was out of surgery and someone could come to pick him up.  He's still a little doped up and we have to wait until tomorrow to feed him and start giving him his antibiotics and pain meds, but all in all it went better than we could have hoped.  Well, minus the bill for $885.  Although that was still reasonable from what I understand.  The vet said he had no chance without the surgery.

Also, I would like to give my thanks for the honesty of one of the employees at the local animal shelter.  At the advice of people we talked to at the feed store we went in and asked if they would be able to treat him and while the man at the desk hemmed and hawed, another working behind him quietly signaled that they would just destroy him.  That employee saved his life as surely as the vet did and he has my thanks. 

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First off, Look at his picture... OH what an absolute, complete angel, he is. Look at how grateful he is that you saved his life. My heart :heart3: is completely joyful at seeing that picture of him looking at you as you took the picture. Bless you and your family, You have a new family member now and he will forever be bonded to you... :heart3:

Thank GOD for that shelter employee. OMgoodness, that was a very kind-hearted person to be so honest, even though using "sign language" behind his bosses back.... GOOD FOR HIM I would like to send him a big THANK YOU too. :bigthumb: Poor baby.... HEY do you have a name for this beautiful boy???? :love: I am grateful to you and it is so heartwarming to hear stories like this one. YOU ARE A CAT CHAMPION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :high5: :heart2: Please keep us posted.

We named him Skittish from the time he was a baby in the yard, and he lived up to the name.  Of his litter of four he was the last one to let me pet him (minus his one brother that still refuses to be touched) but he was also the most affectionate once he got used to us.  That trademark skittishness was what made his so hard to catch in the first place.  He is eating well and seems to be recovering nicely.  The only snags we hit with him were being afraid of the blanket we put in the cage with him and the fact he will not take his pain meds no matter what we do.  He thankfully loves to take his antibiotics mixed with food, but I guess the pain meds are too bitter for him.  Although he does not seem to be in much pain given his reactions to things, so we are lucky in that regard.  At this point he is actually letting us take him out of the cage to pet him, so I can only say he is doing well and remain hopeful that he will continue to do well in his recovery.

And hopeful we will remain then :cross: I am sad he won't take his pain meds BUT it does sound like Skittish (cute name :bigthumb :rub: is doing well and is allowing you to pet and hold him. Again, and I can't say this enough, my heart is bursting from how you saved his life. He IS your special kitty. More pictures ix: when you can!!!