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

DTConsult@cableone.net

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