Fundraiser Update: Poorly Stray Cat Rescued on Halloween Shows Huge Improvement

You may recall a recent fundraising appeal for Ketu, a stray cat who came into the care of the charity on Halloween 2017.

Ketu arrived in terrible health, owed to years spent living as a stray. Being an unneutered Tom, he had a lifetime's worth of old fight wounds on his body, from which he had contracted FIV. He was also senior in age, with filthy fur, severely rotten teeth and a potentially cancerous growth on one paw. Pictures taken by our vet of his condition can be found below.

Thanks to a fundraising appeal at the time we were able to bring Ketu in quickly and get him the vet care he so desperately needed, including surgery to remove the growth. Though we were doubtful of his prognosis, we wanted to at least give him a chance at a better life and your donations enabled us to do that.

Since then, to everyone's surprise and amazement, Ketu has improved considerably. His surgery went well, and thanks to an amazing foster carer he's gained strength and also comfort and confidence around people - we expect that he hadn't been touched for years before his rescue.

It's not been all plain sailing though - Ketu still has a long way to go. He's not physically nor socially ready to be adopted yet. He's still very fragile, with a sensitive stomach and issues adapting to a litter tray, and is still very introverted and timid.

He is not going to be an overnight success story but an ongoing project for the charity that will last months, and cost many hundreds of pounds. He has already surpassed the funds that we're raised and allocated to his care, though those initial donations undoubtedly saved his life, and we are extremely grateful for them.

For this reason, we're hoping to raise an additional £500 to set aside just for Ketu, in particular for his ongoing vet treatment, as we plan to create a plan of action for him with out vet in the next week. Please consider donating even a small amount at https://www.catcuddles.org.uk/donate/.