There is a neighborhood homeless cat that lives in 6 or 8 adjacent backyards, and that we have been feeding for a few months. She (we think it’s a she, but we’ve never been close enough to be sure; based mainly on size and lack of visible, er, equipment) seems very thin, even though she eats regularly (at our house at least), and my SO thinks she is pretty old (he claims to see a lot of grey hairs among the black).
This cat is very skittish, and won’t let me come near her. My SO does the feeding, and so sometimes she will let him pet her, but she is still very leery and watchful.
So in the past few days she has come up lame - there seems to be a problem with her left rear leg, in that it doesn’t seem to be able to bend right, or to bear all her weight. We’ve given her a cat bed and a blanket, so that she won’t have to sleep in the dirt (her usual favorite spot) and will feel protected. And we’ve been feeding her more.
My question is whether it would be better for her to try to corral her and take her to a vet to see about her leg, or if the terror of that (for her) would be more traumatizing than it would be worth? I don’t mind about the money (maybe, depending on how much) but I can see that she would be terrified.
And the followup question: if she gets weaker and is clearly close to expiring, would it be more humane to let her pass in familiar surroundings, even if it is outdoors in the dirt, or to take her to a vet where the likely outcome would be that she is put to sleep?
It’s funny how a homeless cat can become like one of the family, even when she runs away if I even seem to be walking in her direction.
I say take her if you can get her. Vets are usually good at restraint, either physical or chemical. If her leg is bad, it can either be fixed, or the kitty can be humanely euthanized instead of eaten by the neighborhood stray dog when she can’t run fast enough to get away anymore. Explain to the vet from the start that it is a stray and you won’t be able to spend alot of money and/or medicate it regularly and take it in for regular rechecks. At least you’ll know that you tried to do something for her that way. Maybe its a simple infection that can be treated with a weeks worth of antibiotics and she’ll be back to normal.
Oh, and tell your husband that cats are born with all the grey they will ever have, they don’t grey as they age. They can grey in scars, but that would be lines and spots of white, not salt and pepper-y white.
I am not sure I would attempt it. Getting a cat who is normally docile and loves and trusts you into a cat carrier can be a dangerous job. I would be surprised if you can manage it with a feral cat–you can expect to get the shit scratched out of you at the very least. The struggle could cause further injury to the leg, as well. You can ask your vet about giving the cat an oral sedative to help with capture, which you might be able to get her to eat by mixing in with some wet food, but such things aren’t really all that strong and she would probably still put up a fight about getting in a cage. If the leg is broken, I doubt you’re going to want to spend the money to fix it. If it’s sprained or something, the cat probably will be put on anti-inflammatories and maybe antibiotics, which are given orally. Have fun with that. She will probably recover without them, but they would reduce pain. It’s a tough situation. Also, it isn’t easy to identify male/female in cats; if she isn’t pregnant pretty regularly I would bet it’s a boy. Good luck, and whatever you decide, you’re a nice person for caring.
Regarding the grey hair, I’ll tell him, but he won’t believe me. As for neighborhood dogs, the yards are all fenced in and the houses touch each other on the sides (this is San Francisco, very narrow lots), so there isn’t really any way for a street dog to get into the back yard(s) around here; the only dogs living in these houses are never outside unsupervised (appreciation to the neighbors on that score!).
Anyway, as it turns out, the leg appears to be getting better on its own, so we are going to let nature take its course.
Not so, at least not for my feline overlord. Pixel is getting a sprinkling of grey hairs on his forehead. And his once dark whiskers are starting to grow in white/grey.
OK. I’ll need to get an updated photo of the little fuzzbucket.
You can get a humane trap from either a local animal shelter, or your vet. Trap the kitty, take it to the vet to be examined, even if its getting better. Make sure he/she has been sterilized, and is otherwise healthy.
Kitties have poor short-term memories, so any trauma from the trip will be outweighed by the benefit of being healthy and pain free.
