WELCOME TO CAT WORLD, 2nd Edition

[Thomo]

It is some time since I last posted in this topic, and this concerns the cat that we took in in some time ago, this was the one we named TC. Sadly, we had to have him put to sleep on the 7th of December 2016. His life's story, although quite long, and having arrived in England from Spain via France, and eventually coming to us was remarkable and will never be forgotten. He changed our life in a way that is described in my other topic "Growing Older".
After we lost TC, we decided that this may be the time to call an end to our work with Stray, lost or unwanted cats, this was not to be.

On the 18th of May this year, I received a call about a cat in desperate need of help, this poor animal had been in the care of our local Vets for 10 days, and unless a new home could be found within 24 hours, his life would have been ended. He had been found by a local Lady in the St. James area of this Town, and had been going to her home for food for some time, and some distance away. He was in a bad way, and she took him to the local Vets, what they discovered transcends belief. One side of his mouth was torn, and he had at some time been shot twice with an air weapon, he was not neutered and was only about 4 years old. He had been "chipped" however, and the Vets had written to the address concerned, no reply was received, this situation required immediate action, and we took it. He was neutered in the afternoon of the day that we received the call, sponsored by the lady who had called me.
This little lad arrived here on the 19th, and we renamed him "Arnie" as in I will be back. He was absolutely worn out, and quite clearly he had almost given up. He has now been with for just over 6 weeks, and the transformation is amazing, he still walks badly, but this is getting better, he has two .22 pellets in him, one in his right upper foreleg, and another in his left scapula, neither of which can be removed at present. He has integrated well with our other rescued cats, although this took time, and he has membered how to play. He eats, sleeps and drinks as he should, and knows where all the facilities are. The affection that he gives us far outweighs any doubts that we may have had, and now that we have him here, we are sure that we did the right thing.
Now I will have to learn again how to post pictures on here, these will be attached in due course, I may need a little help.

[Thomo]

This is Arnie when he first arrived here with us.




Arnie four weeks later.



This is Arnie's general X Ray picture.



For the second time in two weeks, I again must thank fellow member and friend Ian "panbiker" Lambert for his assistance, "with men such as these".
Arnie as you can see is a small brown tabby. With each day that passes, there is improvement in his well being, confidence and ability to cope with his new safe environment. Taking on yet another animal in need was not an easy decision, but we are extremely happy to have him here, there was precious little time left for him. For the first couple of weeks, he kept very much to himself, he was weak, undernourished and had obliviously been through a great deal of pain and suffering, he spent a great amount of time sleeping. His survival was not just down to us, we were the last resort. There were other caring people involved, three local Ladies with enough compassion and understanding to help, despite their own problems, and of course the local Vets who were heavily involved and waived his care fees whilst he was with them.
It is quite clear that Arnie was shot at close range, and was possibly cornered and facing his moronic attacker, or even worse, restrained. It appears that any attempt to remove the two pellets at present could result in at best amputation of his right foreleg, or at worst if the removal of the other pellet in his left scapula were to attempted, death. Fortunately, none of his bones were hit or damaged, but there is damage to other things, tendons and nerves in particular. Now only time will tell, we just hope it all ends well. He is now safe, loved and cared for in the best and only way we can.

[Wendyf]

He is very handsome!

[Moh]

There are some cruel people about - they want shooting.

[PanBiker]

Smashing little cat Thomo

You will see that I have edited your post. You are almost there with the image posting.

You just copied the wrong string for insertion, you need to do the Image URL rather than the BBCode link

Insert using the little mountain icon and you will have it right.

[Whyperion]

I note I mentioned on 1st edition of new neighbours - time flies, their daughter is now 2 ! They have I think 3 cats, one never goes out but a rather proud white tip-tailed black cat wanders around, and rolls over on our patio bit. If I am out working (!) in garden it normally hears and pops over looking for affection - and if door is open nibbles at our (newish) cat's food. Stoneface still visits and gets on OK with the Black friendly one, wheras our fiesty small female - that caused her previous family to have allergies, gets on with neither with the odd noisy fur flying , normally solved with attempting to top-up food bowls, except at least one will follow the newest opened packet even if it is the same flavour.

[Cathy]

Well done Thomo and Arnie will be even more adorable when he fills out a little bit more.
He's a lucky cat.

[Thomo]

Pet ownership whilst not essential, can be most beneficial, and in particular to they who are in old age. If a pet is a rescued animal, it comes with the knowledge that you are trying to help a less fortunate creature and the love and appreciation that may be received usually outweighs anything else. As it is with most things, there will be an ultimate price to pay.
This morning we had to say a sad goodbye to little Evie, rescued at 1500 on Christmas Eve 1999, hence the name Evie. She has always been very small, yet had the spirit of a much larger animal; she was also the last remaining cat of our original six. She has seen many other cats that have come to us over the years, and always made them welcome and made friends with them. When we brought “Arnie” the cat that had been shot twice, here 14 weeks ago tomorrow, she never left his side for over five weeks.
Evie would have been 18 years old in November, and was always a brave and feisty if small cat. It will take some time to get over her passing. But, we still have eight other rescued cats who we will do our best for, plus another five who come here each day for a bit of food and love. Most of these probably have an “owner” it is they who should be taking care of their animals. It will be some time before I get over the loss of little Evie, she is to be cremated and her ashes returned here to be placed in a new pot in the back yard with a nice shrub on top.
Right now I feel raw, it is not the first time, and I know it will not be the last.

[PanBiker]

Sorry to hear that Peter, our two have just had their booster jabs today. Millie is 16 and Primrose 11, no consolation to you of course.

[Wendyf]

Sorry to hear that you have lost Evie. It's awful to lose a pet especially one who has been with you for a long time but we recover and start thinking about who will arrive next to be loved!!
I have been thinking a lot recently about a lovely white cat who was only with us for a couple years. We called him Wesley because of the grey W on top of his head and he was killed chasing a squirrel across the road on the day Dodi and Diana died. We could never understand the fuss about Diana, but the loss of our Wezzy broke our hearts.

[Cathy]

Sad news Peter, Evie knows you did your best for her over all that time.
And here's a kiss for Arnie Xx

[Thomo]

Yesterday the pain and sorrow of losing our little Evie was beginning to ease a little, and had been replaced by a degree of resignation. We had done the right thing by her there being no alternative, and her passing was swift and painless. What followed later yesterday when it was time to pay the bill caused not only dismay, but a deal of anger as well. We already knew what the Vets charges would be and had made an assumption based on previous experience as to how much extra the cost of cremation might be, we were well off the mark to the tune of over £100.
No blame is attached here to the Vets, that lies I understand in Doncaster where animals are cremated, it does however beg the question, why so far away? Access to Vetinary care and animal welfare in our area is restricted, and to a degree monopolised. However, we will get over this, but if there is any doubt over the ashes we receive, not being genuine in respect of Evie we will not be happy at all, we can provide a DNA sample.
In light of this, it is perhaps understandable why so many animals are abandoned when they have problems, and end up as “strays”. Thankfully there are still a number of caring people locally who help when a bad situation develops. We know who they are, and are as always eternally grateful for their efforts. Keep up the good work and good luck to you all.