As you may have noticed, after the debacle of the feral colony and the bullying management, I removed myself from cat rescue (including this blog.) Not that I'd ever gone *looking* for trouble before, but still. But once a sucker-- er, rescuer-- always one, I suppose...My friend, Beatrice's Mom, had neighbors with two cats. However, because these neighbors didn't bother to get these two cats, both male, neutered, they sprayed indoors. So the cats were kicked out. And the cats were not treated well when they were around the humans anyway. And then the humans stopped paying rent and were evicted and they left these two cats behind.
The cats are incredibly friendly and desperately want attention. They'll follow me partway to my car when I've been visiting. Bea's Mom and I did what we could to keep them comfortable-- Bea's mom has been feeding them, and once it started to get cool (and sometimes rainy) here, we made them snug little shelters. And they were scheduled to get neutered this week. We hadn't had any luck finding homes, but at least we were making them as comfortable as possible.
Warning-- the next part is gross.
Well, two days ago, one of the cats, Red, showed up having clearly been in a fight. Remember when Sir Percy got away from Bea's mom and was attacked, coming home with scratches on his face? Poor Red was like this, only worse. His right eye was bloody and weeping, and Bea's Mom was certain that the eye was actually *gone*. She managed to catch Red last night and take him to the emergency vet in Gilbert. $200 later, she was sent home without much in the way of answers (but with some painkillers and antibiotics) and a stern recommendation to keep Red inside and to get him to an ophthalmologist asap.
Eye Care for Animals actually has Saturday hours in south Scottsdale, and they squeezed Red in between surgeries. (We're grateful to them-- by squeezing us in, we didn't have to pay the after-hours cost which would have been $200 more.)
Red will probably never regain vision in his right eye. There's clearly been a lot of bleeding in it, and there's swelling. To complicate matters, there's a corneal abrasion, too, which means that the best treatment for the swelling (steroids) can't be used because it'd pretty much melt the eyeball. (I'm paraphrasing.) The good news is that his left eye is perfectly fine, meaning that if he doesn't have vision in the right, he'll still be able to get around just fine. Also, the bleeding seems to have stopped, also good. Oh, and while the emergency vet thought that the eye pressure was quite high, by this afternoon at the ophthalmologist, it was down in the perfectly normal range.
So we were sent away with many meds (painkillers, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, a lubricant and ... something else. Perhaps Bea's Mom can fill me in on the last.) And now we wait-- we'll go back in 10 days or so to see if things are improving. If he seems comfortable, blind or not, then that's good.
But if he's not-- if things get worse, or if pressure builds, or the eye dries out, etc., then the eye will need to be removed. Please send your prayers and good thoughts to Red, that he heals up quickly and healthily.
The emergency vet cost Bea's Mom $178. Today's ophthalmologist cost $259. Surgery would cost $1500. If you can help with Red kitty's eyes, please contact Bea's Mom at Flurije@gmail.com
AND, even more importantly, frankly, is finding him a home. (And ideally one for his brother, a fluffy black kitty, too, although it doesn't need to be the same home.) We're looking for a Forever Home, but we're also looking for a Foster Home. Bea's Mom is leaving town very soon and anyway, Beatrice is a dominant cat who is making life miserable for everyone in the house because of Red's presence. If you're in the Phoenix/AZ area and could take in a poor injured kitty even just for a few weeks, that would help us (and the kitty) immeasurably.
Even if you can't help him financially or by providing shelter, it'd be a great help if you'd boost the signal on this post, spread it around. Getting this kitty healthy and finding him and his brother homes would be a really spectacular winter holiday present to them. They've had a really raw deal from humans so far.
