Picked up extremely skinny stray

So as you guys know about my rescued cat. She ate well along the day and night yesterday little meals every hour or so.. but today she.doesnt really want to eat is that normal? By the way her stomach was sucked in yesterday but as she ate she got a little tummy! so i know that should be very good thing since my last cat that also has been rescued went thru the same.. but why is it that she doesnt seem very hunry this morning?? Oh and i camt take her to the vet right now because i havent gotten paid which breaks my heart because all that little bit of work money was going to go towards her.. but i havent gotten paid and i wish i can take her to a vet but i honestly cant right now.. i didnt sleep well last nighr either because i wanted to keep an eye out on her:nod:

Norachan said:

Hi Josie,

Thank you for helping this poor little cat. She's soooooo skinny, she wouldn't have made it without you.

I hope everything goes OK at the vets. Keep us posted.

Fingers crossed that she just needs a few good meals. 

:cross:  

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Thank you i do have bad news. I cant take her to the vet how i planned because i havent gotten paid.. i live with my parents. And i work a part time job so i dont get paid very much but all my check was going towards her.. until now i dont know what to do

ShadowsRescue said:

Thank you so much for rescuing this sweet soul.  I hope you are able to get her to a vet soon.  Keep us updated on her progress.

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I cant get her to a vet soon i dont have money. And i know i shouldnt have animals if i cant afford it. But i couldnt leave her all alone this way.. so im going to try whatever i can possibly do to help her. I was going to spend all my check on her but i dont get paid yet so im screwd :'(

JosieMeow said:

 

ShadowsRescue said:

Thank you so much for rescuing this sweet soul.  I hope you are able to get her to a vet soon.  Keep us updated on her progress.

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I cant get her to a vet soon

i dont have money. And i know i shouldnt have animals if i cant afford it. But i couldnt leave her all alone this way.. so im going to try whatever i can possibly do to help her. I was going to spend all my check on her but i dont get paid yet so im screwd :'(

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Could you borrow money from you parents and pay them back when you get paid?

ShadowsRescue said:

Could you borrow money from you parents and pay them back when you get paid?

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I cant because my mom already pays for all the other 12 cats we have.. she doesnt have a good job.. :/ she really cant.. she does her best to give the help she can..

JosieMeow said:

I cant because my mom already pays for all the other 12 cats we have.. she doesnt have a good job.. :/ she really cant.. she does her best to give the help she can..

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Sometimes it happens, most of us here understand money problems, believe me!

Just know, she definitely needs to see a vet, and asap. Until then, she is safe and loved, and fed. Nobody here would ever tell you that you shouldn't have taken her home if you can't afford to give her the care she needs, just do your best to get her to the vet as soon as you can.

She has alot more now than she did on the streets alone. You are a true hero for helping her.

catwoman707 said:

Sometimes it happens, most of us here understand money problems, believe me!

Just know, she definitely needs to see a vet, and asap. Until then, she is safe and loved, and fed. Nobody here would ever tell you that you shouldn't have taken her home if you can't afford to give her the care she needs, just do your best to get her to the vet as soon as you can.

She has alot more now than she did on the streets alone. You are a true hero for helping her.

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Usually people have told me i shouldnt bring animals to my home if i cant afford it. But i always give in to them i always think i can help them out i know i can.. but in situations like this i seriously just want to cry because its stressing me out because i know she needs to see a vet but i dont have the damn money for it. I kind ofhte myself for doing this. I just want to see her healthy

Of course you had to rescue this poor cat when you saw she was starving to death. I would have done the same! You are doing your best to care for this cat and feeding it, and it's a good sign that she's eating and drinking water. Do you have any friends or family who would lend you money to take her to a vet? How long until you will get paid? Does she have fleas? Fleas can cause malnourishment and anemia. I hope everything works out for this kitty, keep us posted.

She may be used to eating at night.  Just leave food out for her along with fresh water. 

You are doing a wonderful thing in helping her.  I hope the best for her.  Hopefully you will get paid soon and she can get a bit of vet care. 

MsAimee said:

Of course you had to rescue this poor cat when you saw she was starving to death. I would have done the same! You are doing your best to care for this cat and feeding it, and it's a good sign that she's eating and drinking water. Do you have any friends or family who would lend you money to take her to a vet? How long until you will get paid? Does she have fleas? Fleas can cause malnourishment and anemia. I hope everything works out for this kitty, keep us posted.

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My only family that can help is my mom and she already does a big part since we own 12 cats. It couldnt hurt me to take in one more and help her out because thatwouldve haunted me if i left her all alone hungry. Its so inhumane for me to do such. She doeshave fleas.not many.. but we are taking them.off her everytime we see them. Its not too many.. by the way how can i tell how old she is? Atleast around what age she might be?

JosieMeow said:

Usually people have told me i shouldnt bring animals to my home if i cant afford it. But i always give in to them i always think i can help them out i know i can.. but in situations like this i seriously just want to cry because its stressing me out because i know she needs to see a vet but i dont have the damn money for it. I kind ofhte myself for doing this. I just want to see her healthy

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Here I am praising you like crazy, saying what a hero you are in my eyes, how many people who would simply leave her there and turn away, obviously seeing how badly she needs help, so why say you kind of hate yourself?? What?!! 

You are such a caring young man, few and far between. Especially at your age.

Stop beating yourself up for not having lots of money, did you know that you would find her? No.....

You are doing what you can at the moment, and that is alot.

You know she needs a vet and soon, and I'm sure you will get her seen as soon as you can. Meanwhile she has food and love. 

Not saying this about her, but look at it this way, if she were to have some major thing wrong and had a week to live, she will spend that last week with comfort, warmth, food and fresh water, snuggles and love, pets, and affection.

She would leave knowing all of this. Oh and a name! Perfect name for her btw

If you hadn't taken her, she would spend her last week starving, so hungry and empty, sad, alone, scared, pleading with others who see her only to be ignored, cold, and end up finding a bush or a hole to hide in and wait to die, feeling this.

Do you see? She is much better off now than if you had not brought her home. Just do your best to get her to a vet as soon as possible.

In her condition, fleas can hurt her badly. They cause anemia, and she certainly doesn't need another thing against her right now. A flea comb helps if you have one.

Just be sure to comb through to her skin, over and over, all over. In between comb swipes, stick the comb in soapy water or under running water so they don't hop off onto your floors only to find another cat to hitchhike onto.

As for age? If she lets you, look carefully at her teeth, not just the front but her molars and all back teeth, see what you see and describe it. Color, buildup of any kind near the gums, etc. and her gums too, healthy, pink/red, or darker red and swollen at all, or pale white, barely any sign of pink color.

I would also like to see a closeup pic of her face and eyes.

JosieMeow said:

So as you guys know about my rescued cat. She ate well along the day and night yesterday little meals every hour or so.. but today she.doesnt really want to eat is that normal? By the way her stomach was sucked in yesterday but as she ate she got a little tummy!

so i know that should be very good thing since my last cat that also has been rescued went thru the same.. but why is it that she doesnt seem very hunry this morning?? Oh and i camt take her to the vet right now because i havent gotten paid which breaks my heart because all that little bit of work money was going to go towards her.. but i havent gotten paid and i wish i can take her to a vet but i honestly cant right now.. i didnt sleep well last nighr either because i wanted to keep an eye out on her:nod:

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I don't know where you live, or what kinds of help is around there, but there are actually resources out there that might help with her vet care.

@ShadowsRescue, can you post the link for him?

At least she is eating and seems happy with you, so even though you can't take her to a vet right away, she is not suffering for it.  If she does have something fatal, at least you are making her last days comfortable.  If not, she may end up being a fat cat like @catwoman707's rescue.  I've rescued two cats that were that skinny.  One was a declawed cat who had obviously been put out, possibly when his owner died -- not uncommon around here, sadly -- I was helping a young woman with a trailer full of kittens when this guy just ran in the door and dove into the food bowl!  I picked him and the bowl of food up and put them in my car, afraid he had something her kittens would catch.  A trip to the vet showed tht he was negative for feline AIDS and leukemia, but he was very old and had some kidney issues.  Being declawed and probably a house cat all his life, he had just been starving to death  The way he ran into her house shows he was not at all feral, and he turned out to be very sweet.  A wonderful family adopted him after we got his weight back to normal (never fat but no longer a skeleton) and he lived another two years.  Unfortunately the next time I rescued a cat that skinny (also a sweet cat, must have been dumped, showed up at my back door looking for food), I put him in a crate overnight and kept him separate from my other rescue cats, and the next day I took him to the vet  Unfortunately, he tested positive for leukemia and he was extremely anemic, so the leukemia was active, not just positive, and I did choose to have him euthanized, but held him while he got the quick shot in the butt and then he purred himself to sleep in my arms over the next 10 minutes before the vet came back to give him the final shot, which he did not feel because he was deeply anesthetized then.  It was sad that he was so sick, but I know I made his last day happier and he passed over peacefully instead of slowly starving to death.  However it turns out with this cat you rescued, you are showing her love and caring and that's a wonderful thing.

 Not sure if this is the article or reference you are referring to

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/when-you-cant-afford-a-veterinarian

I'm anxious to hear what you say after examining her teeth. Teeth and oral health can sometimes tell alot about a cat.

If I were to just tell it like I see it, which I tend to do alot of times, okay all of the time... my guess would be one of two things.

That either she is old and has some kidney failure/disease going on, OR she is felv positive.

Now just so you know, neither one of these are death sentences, but need to be controlled with the help of diet and possibly meds.

Kidney function loss can show up like this, without proper diet and possibly meds. 

Felv can be bad for her IF her weight/lack of, is because it is taking her down beyond help.

I have a thread here somewhere I will find and you can see Baby's incredible transformation. She is fat and happy now, living in a wonderful place with the kindest lady ever, who only has felv positive cats, she says because they are impossible to rehome.

Okay so I just located the thread about Baby, but it wasn't finished.  Titled One of my latest rescues is extremely/gravely sick, possibly FIV positive, can use some advice

The outcome to this was, Baby tested positive for felv, my vet recommended euthanization right then, but I couldn't do that, I needed to allow her even if only a week, to not leave this world without anyone loving her. No idea how much time she had, but it didn't look good.

Week to week, she slowly responded to good food and antibiotics. (she had an extreme URI )

I had her, loved and cared for her for about 5 months before her going to her new permanent home.

Baby weighed 4 1/2 lbs at the time I rescued her. 

After lots of antibiotics, I mean literally a good 4 months straight (but she was very sick) she left here a fat, lovable 11 lbs

Baby's before and after pics-oh, the first pic she doesn't appear to be as skeleton like as she was due to her fur, but I was afraid to handle her due to her boney body! She felt like lifting a 3 month old kitten. 



So you see? You just never know. My goal for her was to give her whatever amt of time she had left, feeling good, loved, babied, special, and well fed.

I can't bare for a living creature to leave this world alone and suffering. Unloved.

So no matter what happens, just know in your heart you have already done so much for her, made a world of difference to her.

Hmmm....well I thought we had a link that lists all of the help resources, maybe I'm mistaken though.

I appreciate the one you posted though, thank you.

Let me see if this list will show up big enough to read it.


Here's another list.


Okay they showed up good.

You can also find places and groups in your local area who will help. My rescue group, when contacted, we would take this cat to our vet immediately. We are a non profit group too, but that's what rescue is about. Your little girl is in need of help, and we will not ever deny helping a cat in need.

If you have lots of time, just search all over for help, you might be really suprised at the help available to people like you.

Hi Josie,

I'm glad to hear Pixie is still hanging in there. As everyone said, you've done a great thing by picking her up and taking care of her. It doesn't matter if you can't afford a vet straight away. She's much more comfortable now then she would have been on the streets.



I've had a few hungry ferals who eat like crazy for the first 48 hours, then slow down after that. Their stomach shrinks when they're not getting fed regularly so once they've stuffed themselves they have to wait for it to go down. As long as she is eating a little and still drinking it's nothing to worry about.

When you comb her for fleas sit somewhere with a hard floor, rather than a carpet. If any fleas jump off they'll have a harder time surviving on a hard floor. Also, place a bowl of hot water near your feet. If the fleas jump off they'll look for something warm. thinking it's another cat, jump into the bowl of water and drown. (ha ha!)

I guess you know to keep her separate from your other cats, right? Just in case she has anything that she could pass on to them.

Good luck with finding a cheap vet to take a look at her. I hope some of the links Catwoman and ShadowsRescue sent you are useful.

Keep us posted.

D Thank you all for those very kind words. I appreciate it! Thanks for taking your time to write to me. It makes me think alot.:nod:

I took her to the vet today! I couldnt stand sitting on my butt seeinf her this way. I did all i couldve. I dont have a car so it made things alot harder. But anything to save her

Oh Josie I'm so happy she's negative on both! You are
HER angel! I wish more youngsters were like you. Her ears could just be nasty from being outside and flea infected. She might also have ear mites. Like I said before, I rescued a pregnant stray who only weighed 5 pounds and she lived for 17 3/4 yrs.

You have a sweet soul. God bless you!!!!

Thank you again. You all have given me so much more inspiration to keep my head up and keep moving forward.

I hope my Pixie gets your cats luck! I want her to gain wieght and live longer..
I also told my mother that if anything was to happen to Pixie i am not going to dump or get rid of her just like that. I will forever love her and will keep her ashes. Because she deserves to always be loved forever and ever.

I definitely dont want that too happen. But if it does then i have no choice.
I know i am trying my best!


I also asked my Dad to please let me borrow money. So i have 100 now. And my Mother LOVES animals just as much as i do. So she gave me 20. And now i am set to do the ear test!

I was looking for places that might be able to do it free. But i dont want them to draw blood out again. I dont want her going thru that anymore. So i rather pay where they already have her blood at. I dont want to be on the bus with her either, . It brakes my heart to see scared so im going to avoid that. Unless i have too.

Have a Wonderful day. You guys are beautiful.