Sick and Stray
By olisaur
@olisaur (1922)
United States
June 29, 2010 1:53pm CST
In my neighborhood, there are quite a few stray cats.
There's this one particular one that comes to lay around our porch every so often, even though we don't feed him. This morning when I went outside, he was there and he kept meowin in a really funny way. I noticed he had quite a bit of snot on his face, which made me worried because I've never seen that on a cat before.
I went inside without touching him. He went off somewhere else a little later.
I'm worried about him. I want to help, but I don't know what to do. D:
Have you ever seen a stray cat that looked ill like this before?
2 people like this
4 responses
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
29 Jun 10
I have extensive experience with stray and feral cats. This cat has an upper respiratory infection which can become serious enough to kill it if it is not taken care of. If you really want to help the cat, ask your vet if he/she knows where you can borrow a live trap. Once you have trapped the cat, take it, cage and all, directly to the vet. Explain to the vet that this is a stray/feral cat and that you want to get it healthy. The vet may offer a discount of the cost. If you have a local shelter, you may take the cat directly there and they will take care of it, including vet costs. They will either treat it and find a home for it or put it down humanely. A shelter may even have a trap for you to use or even an animal control officer who will trap it for you. Good luck!
http://thecatladyrules.blogspot.com
http://thecatladyrules.blogspot.com@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
29 Jun 10
Stray and feral cats have a very short life expectancy (only 2 years) so if you think you can open your heart and home to this cat, you may just save a life.
@olisaur (1922)
• United States
29 Jun 10
Thanks for you very informative response. :)
I don't think I can really afford a vet visit, so I suppose contacting the humane society would be the best option.
Earlier this year, my family took in an abndoned kitten. It would be really bad is this sickness spread to other cats in the area.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
30 Jun 10
This is why we have vaccinations for the cats. They do prevent just this sort of infection.
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
8 Jul 10
I'm no vet and I have no experience but it sounds like cat flu which is deadly to poor kitties. I've said a prayer to the mother for your cat and also to St Francis, patron saint of animals. We cannot help all strays and we cannot make people who claim to love animals and insist on having them have them neutered or spayed. We cannot stop people from abandoning unwanted animals either. I don't knopw what to do either oli ...I don't think we can actually fix this problem.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
30 Jun 10
We have a lot of stray cats around my neighborhood. This year a male white cat has made friends with me, he is my special case. I feed him and he seems to want affection more than food, even though he is painfully thin. Last week he visited me and had some scratches on his face and a nick in one ear. I got the generic Neosporin and applied it, he didn't try to wash it off. I guess he left it on because the next day they had already closed with no sign of infection.
I help all strays as much as I can. They mainly come in the winter when it's hard to forage food and they need it the most. If not for my dogs, I would take the cats in and get something for my allergies to them!
