Elderly Cat Found Near Death Highlights Warning About ‘Community Cats’
We are seeing a scenario repeated over and over again involving stray cats that we feel we must warn against.
It involves what are sometimes called ‘community cats’ - strays that stay local to one area, and are fed by multiple people, without one person taking any further responsibility for the cat, like searching for a lost owner, arranging neutering, vet care, or rehoming.
In these situations, we have found that whilst a cat is fed fairly regularly by various people, little action is taken until the cat suddenly needs urgent care.
For example, our help is often only sought when the cat becomes pregnant, shows up with a burst abscess, or is noticeably unwell, in spite of him or her having been around for months and being known to several local residents. By this point, the cat has suffered tremendously and in some cases, may be beyond help.
If you know of such a cat in your area, then we urge you to not merely feed but to investigate further; find out whether the cat is a stray, get him or her scanned for a microchip, neutered, and placed on waiting lists for rehoming at your local rescue centre. Push until you get either answers or results, because, contrary to popular belief, cats cannot cope perfectly fine on the streets; the hundreds of pregnant, FIV positive, scarred, emaciated, traumatised, sick, and injured stray cats that we see every day are a testament to that.
Perhaps we can make our case better by telling you the story of Dijon, a 15+-year-old cat who has recently come into our care. Dijon was a community cat, well-known in her area as far back as 2017, with many people feeding her, but no-one in particular taking full responsibility for her welfare. That was until she was found in critical condition one day, and rushed to our North London Cat Clinic. There it was discovered that the wet, emaciated and elderly cat was hypothermic from sleeping outside in freezing temperatures, severely dehydrated, anemic, with end-stage kidney disease, and a mass in her abdomen.
These are not issues that have appeared overnight. Many people were aware of Dijon - they fed her, stroked her, and perhaps worried about her or felt sad about her situation. However, nothing was done until she was effectively shutting down. As a result, Dijon missed out on years that could have been spent happy and comfortable in a loving home, and she is now very, very sick as a result of having poor living conditions for such a long time. She could easily have not been found at all, and in this icy weather, had she gone another 48 hours without treatment, she may well have perished.
For whatever time Dijon has left on this earth, we will make sure she is warm, comfortable, fed, happy, and very much loved. However, we can’t ever give her back the time she’s lost. We can’t take back her suffering. So please, if you know of a cat like Dijon, don’t wait until it’s too late. Do something now.
The person that rushed Dijon to our clinic also kindly contributed towards her initial veterinary treatment, however, we are still in need of funds to cover the full costs of diagnostics and her ongoing care. To donate, please go to https://www.catcuddles.org.uk/donate#donate-money, or click the button below.
Published by Rae. Find out more about the Catcuddles Team >