These health related methods are designed and approved by vets for you to do at home, even though most vets do not want you to know about them!
Wow, has it been six months already? By my calendar, it has. Back in January, the dogs and I moved in with roommates who have two cats.
One of the abandoned cats is a tortoise shell named Liddy. She was one of the last to be trapped for spaying. For two years, no matter what we did to lure her into the trapping cage, she would not walk into it for the food prize. Finally, I hired a neighbor to build me a drop trap. Voila! Now she is spayed, never to be stressed by motherhood again.
In the spring of 2007, one of Liddy’s last litters turned out to consist of only one. Surprisingly, that kitten was a white one. With little enthusiasm left for creative naming, we called her Snowball. When she was about 6 weeks old, as she wandered into our yard, I noticed she had an eye infection. I decided to trap Snowball early for two reasons: to take her to the vet to get medicine for her eye and to socialize her for adoption.
Her eye healed quickly. Then, her true feisty nature came out as we loved, fed, handled and played with her. She played fiercely with her new toys, as well as with one of our indoor cats. They loved to wrestle! Snowball cleaned up so nicely, revealing that she was actually white with apricot-tipped ears and tail. Needless to say, her coloring and youth made her very adoptable. A wonderful lady chose her at a local rescue agency adoption event. Not only did Snowball get a quality forever home, but she also received a new name. Blanca. Since then, I followed up several times with Blanca’s owner. She is happy and doing very well.
Perhaps you can sense her wonderful personality through the photos in this post.
I plan to write more stories about the challenges and successes with managing this cat colony. Feel free to email me DTConsult@cableone.net if you have questions about the TNR process. I do not see myself as any sort of authority on the subject. Initially, I got information of TNR from AlleyCats.org And I have a wealth of experience from which to draw on to help others faced with the needs of homeless cats. United Animal Friends has helped me some with each spay/neuter and some free dry food from time to time. I spend about $90.00 a month out of my pocket to supplement that food. Some cats needed extra vet services, like antibiotics, treatments for ear mites, eye infections, and more. It has been an expensive venture. I would be extremely grateful if you feel inclined to donate, using the PayPal button on the sidebar. Huge thanks to you if you choose to do so.
One of the abandoned adult cats, Samantha, had a litter of two. (Samantha is a tortoise shell who is missing one eye. She is still homeless). One of them is Tiger Lily, a Tabby-Tortoise Shell mixture. She was no more than five or six months when she was attacked by a dog on 11/30/07.
One morning, my husband Stew heard what first sounded like a cat screeching from an altercation with another cat. Then the screeching became so unusually loud an d intense that he ran outdoors to investigate. He saw three dogs chomping down on tiny four-pound Tiger Lily who was airborne, fighting for her life. Stew immediately jumped over the four-foot fence and pounced on the dogs to force them to let go of Tiger Lily. Soon after, I ran out to find the terrified kitty hiding under a dilapidated motorcycle. It did not take long for me to grab protective gloves and a small recovery cage for an immediate trip to the animal hospital. I thank God that the hospital could take her right away.
Tiger Lily’s back left femur was fractured and completely severed. Remarkably, that was her only major injury. The animal hospital assured us that, once her leg healed fully from the surgery, she would be able to jump, climb and otherwise live a normal kitty life. We decided to keep her inside at all times. Even if she never gets to climb a tree again, we are excited she made a complete recovery.
Before the dog attack, Tiger Lily would not let us touch her nor come anywhere close to her. Once she started to recover in a padded cage in our home, she began accepting our love, food and medicine. She would purr as each of us held her for long periods. I imagine she warmed up to us because she understood on some level that we were helping her with her broken leg. Thanks to my 60 y-o husband’s bravery and love for animals, she has a safe indoor life ahead of her with us.
Tiger Lily has become a really sweet, loving, domesticated pet. She loves it when I bring a clump of grass inside for her to play with. She loves to play tug of war with an old shoe string. She lets me nuzzle the side of my face along the side of her face, during which she purrs so beautifully. Everything she does reminds me I am so happy we rescued her.
With x-rays, meds, special food, surgery and follow-up visits, the bill totaled $1,190.00. I had to put it on a credit card in order to save her. I got donations to help pay for most of that. I would be so very grateful for any contributions to help me with Tiger Lily’s ongoing care. (there is a PayPal donation button on the sidebar of this blog) She has had further surgeries because of conditions like bad gums that came from her feral origins
And I welcome comments to this post. Thanks for visiting!
Debby Taylor
