Community Cats They’Re in Your Community, Too Anyone Can Help a Community Cat
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Community Cats They’re in Your Community, Too Anyone can help a community cat. If you notice cats When you’ve seen a cat who seem to not belong to anyone, ask for help. There in your neighborhood, are a good number of organizations and indepen- chances are you wondered dent rescuers who are committed to making life better whether he belonged to for these animals. Even cats who are truly feral can be someone, or if he was lost, helped by TNR, Trap-Neuter-Return, a process in which or if he was feral. Regard- feral cats are altered and less, you probably worried brought back to their that he might be hungry or home area to be fed by in need of help. “Commu- a caretaker, never again nity cats” is a term applied fighting for food or mating to feral cats, abandoned rights. cats and cats loosely owned by a kind person who puts food out for them. In this issue we’d like to introduce some com- Whether you’ve seen them or not, they’re out there. munity cats we recently They’re everywhere. They’re slipping in and out of the welcomed into the MEOW green belt, peeking from under your neighbor’s garden family. These are a few of shed, living behind the car dealership down the street. the lucky ones. They have been given shelter from the That flash in the corner of your back yard may very likely rain and cold ,and medical treatment to heal their in- be a community cat. Some of these cats are indeed jured bodies. Their meager dumpster foraging has been feral, which means “existing in a wild state, not domes- replaced with fresh and nu- ticated.” However, many of the cats which can be seen tritious regular meals. Their in our neighborhoods and countrysides are not actu- lives have been changed ally wild. They have known the benefit of human touch, forever for the good, and and they crave it again. They belonged to someone all because someone no- once, but have somehow found themselves struggling ticed them. Someone saw to survive in this homeless world something. Someone said that has become their own. something. Someone did Perhaps they lived an indoor/ something. They have outdoor life and lost their way, been promised a future. becoming a stray cat. Per- Their joy is palpable. haps their human companion moved away and decided to leave them behind, in hopes that a neighbor might take them in. Many people hold the mistaken belief that cats can fend for themselves outdoors. Tasha ~ Walking Tall Heathcliff ~ In the Nick of Time She had found a Over the past few months, residents at a large apartment safe spot for her complex had been seeing a lanky grey cat with a limp hang- new family under ing around. They didn’t know who to call, or what to do, so a model home in they did nothing. Monroe. This sev- en-month-old kit- As time passed, the cat was no longer able to limp. Now his ten was already left front leg dangled as he hobbled on the other three. Fi- mother to a litter nally, a woman acted and was able to get help. The cat was of six little ones. soon caught in a trap. Protecting and raising a family Approaching the covered trap, the strong odor of infection on her own was hard. She was thin and her bone struc- was present. Bad sign. Lifting the towel, the trapper saw the ture could easily be seen under her sparse fur. Tasha is pleading eyes of a thin, silver blue cat. He was most definitely a type of Manx mix known as a Rumpy, meaning that tame. He was clearly in a lot of trouble. She took him straight she has no tail whatsoever. Some of her kittens share the to Clearview Animal Hospital, where she works. Manx qualities of their mother. When this little family was rescued and brought to MEOW in late August, we noted This cat, now called Heathcliff, that Tasha’s right leg had either a congenital deformity was very cooperative, allowing or an old injury causing her to walk on that collapsed the painful removal of his col- hock, rather than completely upright. Sometimes she lar, which had caused his in- would stumble a bit in the litter box. In spite of these jury. His collar may have fit him things, she seemed quite comfortable and was an ex- when he became lost or was emplary mother to her kittens. Weeks later, when the kit- abandoned. Or, it may have tens had become independent, Tasha was seen by an already been too loose. In any orthopedic surgeon to determine whether a correction case, he had gotten his left front might be possible. leg through the collar up to his armpit. Over time, the tight col- In January, Dr. Mark Engen of Puget Sound Animal Hos- lar had cut through his skin from pital for Surgery in Kirkland performed the complicated front to back, slicing layers of surgery to restore stability and strength to Tasha’s right muscle, until finally the collar leg and foot. Dr. Engen had to free up the fused bones was stopped by the underside before placing new bone grafts, a metal plate and six of his bony shoulder joint. Once screws to ensure proper position and function to Tasha’s the antibiotic began to take effect, the doctor inserted a drain foot. and made countless sutures, hoping they would hold until the cat’s immune system was able to mount a defense. She was prescribed cage rest for four weeks after sur- gery, until her x-rays showed that her bones had healed. A few weeks post-op, Heathcliff is doing great. Foster mom Tasha was the very best patient. She didn’t complain at Dr. Amy Cottrille calls this boy a “healing machine.” Heath- all. She is very happy to join her foster mom for cuddle cliff had nearly lost his battle with that infection. Another day sessions on the bed, never trying to jump down. During may have been too late. Up and around again on all fours, her regular splint changes she was calm and coopera- Heathcliff shows his appreciation daily to Amy and her family tive with the hospital staff. She is surely one of the sweet- by purring, nuzzling, and snuggling. He seems to know that he est cats we’ve ever had the pleasure to know. owes his life to the kindness of a few caring people who acted in the nick of time. So much has changed for Tasha. She has raised her family and bid them a fond farewell, her coat and her bodyweight are now healthy, and now she’s strutting her stuff and walking tall. Hunter ~ Sole Survivor Forbes ~ Good Fortune In the woods above Sul- He didn’t know what had hit him. All he knew was that tan, the first five years of something was very wrong. He had terrible pain in his Hunter’s life had been head. He was struggling to breathe. He couldn’t see,and anything but easy. This he couldn’t move. He was so cold. round-faced red tab- by gent grew up as a He wanted very much community cat, loosely to get up and run away owned by the man who when the people gath- was kind enough to put ered around him. A food out for the approx- gentle man was talk- imately ten cats who ing to someone on his hung around. The man phone. “Please help! described Hunter as There’s a badly injured a survivor. Three years cat here in the street. ago, a coyote or bob- He’s bleeding. We don’t cat had taken the rest know what to do. Please of his cat family, leaving hurry!” While this is not our usual mode of “cat rescue,” only Hunter. His back still bears the scars. Hunter’s left a short time later two MEOW volunteers arrived at the eye had been torn too. He got no medical care. The accident scene. They wrapped his battered body in a man tried to take care of him as best he could, some- towel and placed him in a carrier. times trading his food stamps for cat food. More cats had eventually come along to repopulate the area and Life was about to change for this fluffy young adult brown now the gentleman was asking for help. tabby. The doctors and staff at Animal Emergency Ser- vices – East sprang into action. X-rays revealed a se- When we first met Hunter, his amber eyes were barely vere contusion on the left side of his head, with a large visible, squinting through his swollen lids. The inner eye- blood clot behind the eye. The impact had caused lid of his left eye was torn and protruding. According a condition called pneumothorax, meaning air was to the doctors at Northwest Animal Eye Specialists, this trapped between the lungs and the chest wall, making injury may have been due to trauma, corroborating the it very difficult for him to breathe. Dr. Tucker used a sy- account of the attack. To make matters worse, Hunter ringe to extract the air to improve his breathing and he also had a congenital condition called Entropion Eye- was placed on oxygen. The air continued to seep from lids in both eyes. This is the rolling-in of the eyelid, caus- Forbes’ lung for a time and his pleural cavity would have ing the hair on the surface of the eyelid to rub on the to be tapped again later.