Sad day for a stray cat.
Discussion
My wife has been struggling to bond with our two latest rescue cats. As they're not very affectionate, see my thread on getting them into carriers, she feels like she's let them down.
She's not been well for the last week which means she's a bit emotional and was in tears yesterday as she feels a bit of a failure with these cats and that they'll never love us like the last lot did.
Just after midday today she called out to me from the kitchen that there was a stray cat in the garden. Bedraggled and slightly emaciated looking thing that appeared, from her size, to be about two or three years old. She was obviously starving and was eager to eat the chicken offered. She was friendly and affectionate and would put out her paw for more chicken.
I rang the local vets for pets as I know they have a microchip scanner. The deal with them is if a stray is microchipped they'll keep it in whilst they trace the owner. If it isn't microchipped and there's nothing wrong with it you have to take it home and sort it out yourself. Fair enough.
I kept the little thing occupied whilst my wife put a cat carrier together. As soon as that was done she went to pick her up and noticed she had some terrible growths/wounds on her belly.
We took her to the vets and the assistant took her into a back room. Another assistant appeared and disappeared into the back room. We could hear the beep of the microchip scanner.
A minute or so later the vet came out, inbetween doing an op. You could see he had tears in his eyes. She had extremely advanced breast cancer and despite her size was probably about eight years old.
A few things he said stuck out. 'This would've been treatable'. 'I can't cure everything, but I can prevent pain and suffering'. 'I'm going to make a professional decision with, or without, the owners content'.
We can only assume from this that she was microchipped and that he was devastated that an owner could do that. He said he'd make sure she was comfortable and that she'd have a good meal.
Why did this cat, that we've never seen before, choose us in its hour of need? We have no idea. My wife has taken it as a sign to say 'Look, you can look after stray cats and do what's right for them'. Maybe one of the previous lot told her that we'd make sure she got the best treatment we could offer.
We can't call her 'that cat' or 'the stray' so my wife has decided that to us she will be known as April.
R.I.P. April.
She's not been well for the last week which means she's a bit emotional and was in tears yesterday as she feels a bit of a failure with these cats and that they'll never love us like the last lot did.
Just after midday today she called out to me from the kitchen that there was a stray cat in the garden. Bedraggled and slightly emaciated looking thing that appeared, from her size, to be about two or three years old. She was obviously starving and was eager to eat the chicken offered. She was friendly and affectionate and would put out her paw for more chicken.
I rang the local vets for pets as I know they have a microchip scanner. The deal with them is if a stray is microchipped they'll keep it in whilst they trace the owner. If it isn't microchipped and there's nothing wrong with it you have to take it home and sort it out yourself. Fair enough.
I kept the little thing occupied whilst my wife put a cat carrier together. As soon as that was done she went to pick her up and noticed she had some terrible growths/wounds on her belly.
We took her to the vets and the assistant took her into a back room. Another assistant appeared and disappeared into the back room. We could hear the beep of the microchip scanner.
A minute or so later the vet came out, inbetween doing an op. You could see he had tears in his eyes. She had extremely advanced breast cancer and despite her size was probably about eight years old.
A few things he said stuck out. 'This would've been treatable'. 'I can't cure everything, but I can prevent pain and suffering'. 'I'm going to make a professional decision with, or without, the owners content'.
We can only assume from this that she was microchipped and that he was devastated that an owner could do that. He said he'd make sure she was comfortable and that she'd have a good meal.
Why did this cat, that we've never seen before, choose us in its hour of need? We have no idea. My wife has taken it as a sign to say 'Look, you can look after stray cats and do what's right for them'. Maybe one of the previous lot told her that we'd make sure she got the best treatment we could offer.
We can't call her 'that cat' or 'the stray' so my wife has decided that to us she will be known as April.
R.I.P. April.
That is very sad. So rare for cats to get mammary cancer unless she was never spayed (which sadly sounds likely)
The vet made a right call, hard as it would have been, esp if she was a sweetie.
My guess is that she wasn't chipped (scanners beep if no chip found aswell)
It is so lovely that your wife gave her a name, she sounds like a really caring lady and I sympathise re struggling to connect, been there with one of my cats, took a long time for her to relax.
The vet made a right call, hard as it would have been, esp if she was a sweetie.
My guess is that she wasn't chipped (scanners beep if no chip found aswell)
It is so lovely that your wife gave her a name, she sounds like a really caring lady and I sympathise re struggling to connect, been there with one of my cats, took a long time for her to relax.
Poor thing, it's lovely that you took her to the vet, most would scare her away for being in the garden! At least she was comfortable which is all that matters at this stage.
Thanks for helping her though, it's very sad when a car or any other loved animal dies. My whole family has cats so I can relate.
R.I.P April!
Thanks for helping her though, it's very sad when a car or any other loved animal dies. My whole family has cats so I can relate.
R.I.P April!
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