In the course of life problems this is small stuff, but it’s making me miserable… one of my kitties is a feral I’ve taken care of for about 8 years. 6 weeks or so ago she was attacked, in my garage. I assume it was by a neighbor cat, but don’t know for sure, could have been a raccoon. Her only injury seemed to heal very well, but subsequently she quit eating. Nothing I’ve tried has tempted her and I’ve been unable to trap her. Finally yesterday I decided she was so weak I could ‘towel’ her and get her to the vet, at least euthanasia is better than starving to death, which is probably only a few days away.
I failed at my attempt to grab her, she got away and after an hour or so of trying to get to her in the garage cabinet she hid in, she managed to get under the sub-floor.
So…I have now managed to torture a near dead cat in her final days, keep her from dying in a comfortable place and will most likely need to pull up the cabinet sub-floor to retrieve her body once she does die, as I doubt she will ever dare to come out :smack:
I can’t seem to let go of this and am so totally disappointed in myself…
Well, whine over. Thansk, I just needed somewhere to dump without putting it on the people who care about me.
I feel for you. But you’ll get over it. You were trying to do the right thing.
I feel bad when I have to make one of our cats get into a cat-box against its will and the put that box into another unfamiliar noise-making moving environment.
When we are guardians of Animals we sometimes have to be cruel to be kind.
I think you still have a chance here. I don’t think the cat has the willpower to willingly starve itself to death, really. I don’t know if you can get her out of the cabinet, but I think you might be able to get her out of the subfloor - put down some smelly food (tuna might work best) and some water and she’ll come out.
Hopefully. This is all pretty moot if she’s got some sort of internal injury that’s keeping her from eating due to pain or whatever.
Sorry to hear about it. Best of luck to you and the kitty.
@Snickers yea, I’m afraid she probably does have internal injuries. She would eat a few bites every two or three days then refuse anything else, including tuna and KMR (kitten milk replacement) .
@Lobsang Thanks, I would feel okay if I had actually BEEN kind, all I accomplished was making a bad thing much worse!
and to EVERYONE, thank you!!! It does help. Time heals …I just have to get over it. I very much appreciate the kind words and gentle thoughts behind them.
HillKat, if I did what you did and that happened to me, I’d be running in circles on the guilt-wheel, too.
Now, this may be waay over the line - and I’ve no doubt people will be quick to tell me if it is - but if the cat is really trapped in your garage, could you shut the garage door and leave your car running to euthanize the poor kitteh? At least death by carbon monoxide poisoning is less painful than either starvation or dying of internal bleeding/renal failure/sepsis. (Please be safe if you try this.)
I offer the suggestion with love and respect, having had to take a couple of pets to the vet to be put down over the years, and it nevereverever gets easier. I’m very sorry you’re going through this.
Thank you so much everyone. You have made this much easier to deal with…
and the great news is… SHE CAME OUT…AND SHE ATE (a little).
…and a little is a whole lot better than nothing.
So now, she is resting, in a corner, in a cat bed and we are staying out of the garage and her way!
That said, as awful as what you suggested seems, purplehorseshoe, it’s actually not a bad idea. If she isn’t on the mend, that would be a far kinder solution than my only idea which was to convince DH to shoot her. He’s an excellent shot (ex-Marine), but I’m not sure either of us has the heart for that…
Thank you.
Cross the collective Straight Dope animal loving fingers and maybe, just maybe, she’s on the mend…
a35362 -yes she should go to a vet,if only for euthanasia to end the suffering… but I’ve been completely unable to capture her. That’s where I failed on Thursday…
You have done and are doing a wonderful thing for this cat: caring and providing for it, and, as others have said, you can never go wrong trying to do the right thing.
I agree with your sentiments of wanting to catch her to euthanize her if nothing else, rather than letting her suffer. If this is not possible I will just leave you with this thought:
A few weeks ago there was some sort of thread (that I only vaguely remember) that posed the question [paraphrasing]: are cats capable of learning tricks and they just refuse, or are they too stupid?
When I ran that one by my husband, his immediate response was, “Well cats certainly aren’t stupid - they might not do what we want them to do but they most certainly are smart animals”. It’s true, and sometimes even the stubborn feral ones will instinctively do what’s right for them in the whole philosophical scheme of things; so if you truly can’t catch the cat to deal with it humanely, rest in the knowledge that maybe this is really the cat’s choice to die this way (I say this as someone who is a big believer in putting animals out of their pain the most humane way possible when it needs to be done).
Okay, but in post #12 you said she came out. I gather she’s out of the hole, but is still in the garage and you’re saying you still can’t grab her, right?
I appreciate your last line. My heart is broken watching her. I really don’t have the heart to deal with another failed attempt to grab her. She appears to be resting as comfortably as one can under the circumstances…she is in a heated bed at floor level with padding below to insulate her from the ground chill. She has food and water available and is in a protected environment. She does not show any signs of pain beyond extreme weakness, which would be expected considering she eats very very little.
I would not be surprised if when I get home this evening she is gone…
