This little cat just breaks my heart.
I posted a thread a few days back regarding Revolution dosage because I was trying to help this woman who was caring for a stray cat. Well, I gave her the Revolution to treat the cat and today she asked if I could come over to see the cat and to look at it's ears. She said they were all bloody and she wasn't sure if she could take the cat to the vet due to finances.
So I stopped by after work tonight and I was so shocked by the condition of this poor little cat. It turns out the cat is a male and he is so tiny and thin. My coworker rents the cottage that this cat has been hanging around and she has named him Scrawny. She had to go across the country to Ontario last week for family reasons and a death in the family so her good friend has come all the way from Ontario to house sit for her and has kind of taken over the feeding of this little guy. My coworker won't be back until November 15th and Angela has to leave at somepoint in the near future but she is trying to get this guy on his feet before she leaves.
I think my co-worker thought he might be young because of his size but as soon as I saw his eyes I knew he was a senior. I checked his teeth too and they were the teeth of an old cat. I'm guessing he might be around 13 or 14?
This poor cat has been hanging around this property for a year. The house she rents is actually a little cottage on an acreage that is owned by another family. The family have never been able to touch him and it's only now that he has reached out for help and allowed people to comfort him. He is so sweet and was purring the whole time we handled him tonight. I think he must have been someone's cat at some point in his life because he does not act feral.
Here is a few second video of him when I first arrived.
I gasped when I saw him because I wasn't expecting him to be in such bad shape. He is skin and bones and he is filthy. His ears are a mess and he is deaf. Angela held him while I trimmed the scabs back. One was half an inch thick!! We put hydrogen peroxide on the scabs on the exterior of his ears and they foamed up like you wouldn't believe.
The rest are just pictures:
We filled a sink with warm water and some hypoallergenic soap for pets. We didn't want to freak him out so we used a cloth and gently washed him with that. We tried to wash his feet but he got angry when we tried so that will have to wait until later. Once he was washed we used a hair dryer on warm with a diffuser to dry his fur. He couldn't hear the dryer so thankfully it didn't scare him. He even ate a plate of food while we dried him. So sweet.
I'm going to get some antibacterial soap from a friend of mine who used to work at a vet clinic and has a large supply. We'll use that to continue cleaning his scabby ears. I'll bring some nail trimmers over as well to trim his long nails. He needs to go to a vet but I can only pitch in a bit and Angela doesn't seem to have much money either nor does my coworker. My plan is to try and find a way to get this guy on his feet so he's healthy enough and handsome enough that when my coworker gets back she won't be able to resist him and she will give him a home. She already wants to but her partner is not too keen on the idea.
My hope is to get him examined. He is such an older guy that I wonder if putting him through surgery for neutering would even be worth it. He has a set but I don't think he's interested in using them. He's just trying to survive right now. It sure made me realize how fortunate my own cats are to have a warm home. I can't believe Scrawny has been out there on his own like this. I'm so thankful though that my coworker and Angela want to help him. I will do everything I can too. I'll post an update as things progress.
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