Injured and emaciated elderly stray. I caught him and have him comfortable in my shed. Need advice.

I want to try to make this as short as possible as to start moving forward. In my neighborhood there is a stray cat colony. We have had many different cats come and go on the property the past 5 years we have lived here and for the past 4 or so we have had a few cats who frequent the property. We refrain from feeding them usually but will provide water sometimes. They do not let most people touch them or pick them up and don't seem to have any affection toward people. My mother, the cat lady she is, got them to be more comfortable around her and have warmed up to me.

We now only allow these two cats in particular we named Pat and Katrina to sleep and hang around the property in order to keep some control over the effects the nearby cat colony has on our property. They are not here all the time but we see them often and we have very little interaction with them. They have both previously been caught and altered. We know this because of their snipped ears. Their ages and sexes are unknown although I suspect Pat is a male and elderly.

Recently Pats health has rapidly declined, getting very thin and slow. We decided to offer him food and he gobbled it up. He was so desperate for food he ate out of my hands and I discovered he had no teeth. We fed him a few times throughout the next week hoping he would improve but he just kept losing weight fast. Saturday night we went outside and saw that he was holding up his right back leg,wouldn't put any weight on it, and was much weaker. We decided to try and catch him but he disappeared and didn't come back until last (monday) night.
I was able to catch the frail old thing and put him in a extra large cat carrier with a pillow and warm blankets. I cannot bring him inside as I have indoor cats and don't know what diseases he might have. I have him safe in my shed just outside with lots of warm blankets as we are having some cold weather at the moment and are expecting rain. We have food and water available to him as well and I check on him periodically. He is extremely weak, seems to be a little out of it, and his eyes are gooey. There are no wounds on or around his leg and when I touched it he pulled it away but didn't cry out or anything.

I want to help this poor kitty. I cannot really afford any more vet bills as I have a budget for my own pets although I might have wiggle room there but I cannot adopt another cat right now for many reasons. I called my vet and a tech there wasn't very sympathetic and gave us little to work with. I could take him to my local shelter but I wanted more advice and opinions on what I should do first. He doesn't seem to be in any real pain and seems quite comfortable as he is right now but isn't really doing much moving around. I would really appreciate any advice and opinions, I just want to do the right thing. I just want to help, ease any pain or discomfort, and give him dignity. I will keep him comfortable for however long I need until I know what to do. I guess this is kinda longer than I intended but I appreciate any help. Thank you for reading!

You're right, that is a tough one.  The bottom line is you have to do what feels right to you.  Offering him comfort and shelter is nice.  Vet care would be better, but I understand budgets, and honestly, there is no cure for old age... only prolonging the inevitable.  I think the cat probably is not ready to die or he would not have let you catch him.  providing food, shelter and a somewhat safe place to hang out are nice, things to do.  The leg  concerns me.  Not putting weight on it IS showing pain -  animals hide pain very well.  Showing weakness is a death sentence, but without a vet to examine the cat, its hard to tell what may have happened, if it got hit by a car, or beat up by another animal.  Honestly, it could be anything.  The natural way of life is that animals live and die.  Do you have any low cost vet clinics in your area that could take a look?  Perhaps if you call the clinic that does the TNR, they might be more sympathetic.  But then you still have to make the decision about taking him in... and whether or not you want to take responsibility for life and death decisions once you know the options.  Having a sick cat hanging out though, I would want to know what is wrong with it just to keep everyone else safe. 

That really is a tough spot and I agree with only you can make the call on what to do. 

If there is no obvious wound to the leg it may be broken. With a pet cat and a broken leg a lot of times the treatment is just confined rest while it heals. It all depends on where the break is and how bad it is. But you would have to do x-rays for a solid diagnosis. You could contact a local rescue and explain the situation. They may have a vet that works with them who is able to provide lower cost exams to see what is going on. 

Personally, I would figure out a set up in an area that gets some daylight while keeping him confined so he can rest. Plan for 8 weeks of care to give him sufficient time to mend with safety and food. With money being a concern I wouldn't do the vet at this point until you see if he will make it on his own. A cat with unknown history and a medical problem you are looking at exam, tests, and more; unless you can find a vet willing to triage a sick feral/stray and focus just on the main concerns. Most feral/strays that reach an older age are pretty hardy so it may be that just keeping him safe, warm and fed is enough for his body to heal on its own. While he is under your care put $20 a week aside. At the end of that time make a decision about long term depending on how he is acting and your family feels. If you decide to keep him you should have enough money set aside to offset the vet costs at that point to make sure it is safe to bring him indoors. 

Do you have a low cost spay/neuter clinic that you can call? Maybe they know a vet who could help look at the cat to at least figure out if there's more that can be done. I admire your reaching out to this fella and helping him. And yes it is a tough call.

If he lets you maybe You can try to syringe water into him to keep him hydrated. A vet nurse could give sub fluids to at least keep him hydrated while he recuperates. My vet has allowed the vet tech to do sub fluids so we don't pay the office visit fee but that was only after already seeing the cat.

I hope you can figure something out. At least get an xray done to see whats going on and start feeding him kitten chow to get as many calories in him as possible. Keeping him in your shed sounds like a doable plan. A litter box and food/water as well as some one on one time with the cat will help keep him in spirits. Keep us posted!

So how is the cat?  Were you able to find a low cost clinic that would take a look at him?  Has he shown any improvement? gotten any worse?

Do you know who the colony caretakers are?  If you don't, you might try looking in the neighborhood mornings and evenings and see if you see someone coming to feed the colony and catch them and talk with them.  I know a lot of feral colonies are cared for by a neighborhood in general, just whichever house they go to is where they get fed, but a lot are also cared for by a group or a few individuals perpetually.  If you could speak to the folks that are doing the TNR, and apparently someone is due to the ear snips, they probably could give you history or background on the poor old guy.  Most colony caretakers know their regulars very well, and they may be wondering what has happened to him.  Most have a vet they work with that provides low cost care and of course, the spay/neuters.  Do you think you could find out who is the caretaker?  Or catch them during feeding times??  I was just thinking they may be the best person to help you out!