December 16, 2009

• Oh, You’re Down… Here… Let Me Kick You Again…
  
  Mouthy’s eye has become infected again and had to go to the vets this morning to have the stitches removed and have the eye cleaned out.  This vet is a specialist for cats and thinks the eye may be almost useless and will run tests tonight and tomorrow before deciding on what has to be done.  So, after seven months off the street, she may lose the eye completely.  Maybe it will actually alleviate the long-term problems, but this cat has been through so much.  I hate to see it happen, but if it is for the best, then I guess it will have to happen.
  
  Puffy, the Feline AIDS cat is getting better.  When she was brought in she was skinny because her entire mouth was an open sore.  They tried to swab her gums and they basically came off like wet paper.  They got her infections under control and she is eating and healthier, but there is no cure.  She can be released back, but to where?  I almost feel like an asshole saying it, but do I really want her in the group with Moustache, Wrong Place, Toughy, Princess, Baby, Big Orange and the others?  It can be transmitted through bites from a fight or sharing food.  They all share food!  They are street cats.  The vet said the group may already be infected and the stronger the cat the better off they will be, but I know Princess and Wrong Place do not have strong immune systems like the others.  Part of me thinks I should take her somewhere safe, away from the others, but then I’m doing to her what everyone here does with their cats… dumping the problem somewhere else.  I really don’t know what to do with her.
  
  And to top it all off, I got a call that someone found one of our CNR cats very sick by the bridge and took her to the vet by my house.  I went to see who it was after work.  It’s my buddy Wulai.  I knew it was him when I walked in the door and he answered me when I called his name with his little, squeeky meow.  Looking at him, I couldn’t tell as he was laying on his side, an IV in his arm, not even able to move his head and urine dripping down to the tray below him. 
  
  The vet showed me the tests and the X-ray.  All liver, kidney and system functions are normal.  There is no damage internally or externally to him.  The only thing that looks different is the stomach and intestines are inflamed as if they are infected.  This is a sing of being poisoned. 
  
  I’ve seen the after effects of poisoning on cats and even had to bury one less than 72 hours after being released after being fixed and given a good meal at my house.  I’ve never seen what they look like when they haven’t died (and I don’t want to say yet, but you should see the poor guy).  He still knew my voice as he talked back every time I spoke to him, but unlike any other time I have ever seen him, he didn’t move.  Wulai is (I refuse to say ‘was’) the kind of cat who not only rubbed against your leg for affection and attention, he put his whole head and body into it and sometimes it was like taking a ground shot baseball to the shin.  He always wants to be everyone’s best buddy, and what can I do for him except stand at the cage and speak softly to him to let him know that I’m still there for him, even if I can’t be at the vets 24 hours a day to ensure he is okay.
  
  I have to go and check on the rest of the crew now and make sure the others are accounted for and okay.  Wulai lives in the pride along with a lot of babies and female cats including Mommacat, Crazy, Crazy Momma, Calico, Orange Nuts, Callie, Bunny and a few others.  If it was in food, I’m very afraid he isn’t the only one who may have eaten it.  Wulai was only #11 of the 46 cats we have taken in to CNR.  He’s one of the old timers, and now he’s just laying there not knowing anything except the pain. 
  
  They all deserve so much better, I just wish I could give them more…
  
  

  
  left – Wulai relaxing with his best friend Princess
  right – Mouthy, the one-eared, one-eyed cat
  

  • 7:02 am
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