Rusty

On Thursday, I received an email from Patty, one of the members of our feral cat team.

"Hi Sarah, Sorry to bother you with this, however, I need some help. Last night I got a call around 7:00 about a cat out in a ditch by some garbage bags on Pinkie Road. This was quite far out of town. I was able to track this cat down as he was curled up in the ditch by the garbage bags. I was able to pick him up and get him into the car. I have never seen anything like it. He is skin and bones , literally. He has no muscle left and I don't think he could have run from me if he wanted to. He is a tame male - fixed and tattoed. He would be a good sized cat, however right now he might be 4 or 5 pounds! I checked at the shelter and of course no one is looking for him. I am desperately in need of a place to foster him. Someone who would be able to nurse him back to health. He is a nice boy and is purring like crazy and head butting. Thanks for your help, Sarah.

Patty"

We quickly got Rusty, as Patty dubbed him, to the Victoria Vet Clinic. They assessed him overnight, and concluded that while he was in bad shape, with some TLC, good food and water, he would make a full recovery. They estimated that Rusty was 4-6 years old. As Patty said, no one was looking for him. However, we have posted him on www.petlynx.net as we do with all of our tame rescued cats.

I emailed Denise, one of our fantastic foster homes, and asked if she might be willing to take Rusty on. She jumped in with both feet, and has already brought him so far in such a short time! I am excerpting some of her emails below so that you can see Rusty's progress:

Thurs May 8th

Hi, I picked Rusty up and he is doing fine. Checking out his surroundings. He is so thin and dirty. I will wait until tomorrow to give him a bath though he might appreciate being clean again. His head looks so big because of his thinness. I got him kitten food which they recommended. They noticed some blood in his stool today so I will watch for that as it could be several things. They thought he might need to be dewormed as well which we can do later on once he is kind of settled in. He was already talking to me and head butting. He is obviously missing some loving. Nicole is coming tomorrow to take a 'before' picture. It is interesting he isn't eating as ravenously as Lola and the kittens but he is very hungry. Probably his tummy has shrunk so much he can only tolerate a little at a time.

Thurs May 8th - Part two

Well, he is already trying to escape his room. He has been wiped down and brushed so he smells better. I will give him a better bath in the next couple of days. The smell of the other cats seems to stress him out as he has bitten me twice and growls at the smells in the room. It was funny he was eating and growling at the same time. He keeps chuffing at the smell too - very cute. He will be ok once he gets used to them. He likes to be fed by hand - probably shouldn't get him to used to that!!! I scoop the food on my finger and he goes to town. I feed him a little bit every hour and he is eating it all up.

Fri May 9th

Rusty had a good night. He seems more livelier this morning. He was able to balance on his wobbly back legs and scratch a box. He loves to chat and tell you all about everything. I almost had him where I could rub his tummy but not quite. Might be a few aches and pains there - poor thing. His poo is still very loose - vet identified that - again could be food, worms - haven't seen any yet though. I am going to go get the pumpkin food again at Metro today. The cats have been checking each other under the door, so far no growling or hissing there.

Sat May 10th

Well, it is a busy weekend so far thats for sure. Rusty had a real bowel movement last evening - no diarrhea, hopefully that continues. He actually jumped into a laundry basket today and onto my bed. He isn't to sure about the other cats yet. I took him out for a few minutes yesterday and first he walked by them like they weren't there but once he realized they were there he started growling and hissing. Probably because he is in no condition to protect himself. Today I have given him the run of the house while my other cats are outside in their run and he follows me around the house. He so wants to be cuddled and petted but I think it causes him pain. He tries to lie on his side but can only do it for a few seconds. Yesterday I tried petting him while he was curled up against me on his side and he really attacked my hand. I have been giving him the anxiety drops. It doesn't take away pain but it relaxes everything. You know I haven't seen him sleep yet which is kind of weird. Oh, and he nipped my shin last evening trying to get attention. So he certainly knows all the feline tricks for attention. He is big into head butting. He loves to be kissed on top of his head, he reaches up to receive it. He is lying by my feet right now as I am on the computer. Once he heals he will be such a cuddle bug. I think the biting will stop - he is just in pain right now. Nicole is coming here later to take pictures. I bought medi cal kitten food at the vet's. When Rusty eats he closes his eyes and goes at it. He has the saber tooth fangs like Raja and squishes his food so I have to keep stirring it up or feeding him from the spoon. His coordination is getting better every day though. He isn't nearly as messy in the litter box as day 1 - couldn't balance well. He still isn't able to get at his back end, that will be for another day. He also does not like the carrier. He was looking into it and growling and chuffing. I think his name should be something related to survivor he is such a trooper.

We are so grateful for Patty's eagerness to help a cat in distress, and for Denise's willingness to nurse this sweet cat back to health. I must confess that I suspect that Rusty was yet another "dumped" cat from the outskirts of town. We have rescued so many cats like this: Caramel, Junior, Molly, and now Rusty.

More to come on Rusty's progress.

-Sarah

PS Sorry for all of the talk about poop, but in cat rescue, we pay a lot of attention to it as an indicator of health!