So at this barn where Tucker-babe keeps one of her horses, one showed up mysteriously. It was displacing the barn-owners’ cat, who is less than a year old, so they were looking for someone to take care of it until, with any luck, the cat’s owners could be found. Tucker-babe agreed (after asking me my thoughts about it) to take it home.
I never realized just how different Persians looked from, um, “normal” cats. That face looks like it has been thru a garbage compactor. And all that long hair (in her case, blackish and yellowish), well, it sorta reminds me of the 1961 (or so) classic movie “The Creeping Terror,” which featured a killer sneaker-wearing shag carpet from outer space. This cat doesn’t walk like a “real” cat. The long hair greatly obscures the legs, so it looks almost like she’s a small creeping shag carpet.
But definitely someone’s pet at some time. So far she hasn’t meowed yet, but she does purr when petted, and does like to rub against your leg, while wrapping her tail around it. So she doesn’t seem to be a feral cat, just a lost one. Don’t know how long she’s been “on the road,” though. Her hair is matted pretty badly, and when you pick her up or pet her, she’s obviously skinny.
So, our little project for the next few weeks is to try to cut out some of the worst mats, and fatten her up. Maybe then she’ll be looking a little better–although she doesn’t appear to have any injuries. She just hasn’t been well-groomed or well-fed for a while.
Oh, well, that’s all. Really my main point was that I’d never paid much attention to Persians (not that I ever saw any IRL), and never knew how (IMO) creepy they look.
That was a very nice thing you guys did. I always feel so bad when cats are abandoned like that.
Be very careful if you try to cut the mats out, cat skin is very thin, and it is easy to cut it or tear it, resulting in infection. You might want to take it to a vet or groomer for a shave. They can do it quickly and with minimal stress, without the risk of cut skin. It’s pretty cheap too.
My Abby is part Persian, she probably had a Persian ancestor way back. She is short haired but still gets mats easily. If I can catch them early they are fairly easy to comb out. She has a little smashed in face, I think it is so cute. She is such a princesss.
Also, since it might be a lost pet, the Humane Society (or a vet in your area) should be able to scan it and see if there’s a microchip implanted to help locate the owners. (assuming they aren’t vile creatures who dropped it off because they didn’t want it anymore).
I would also suggest taking her to a groomer’s for a really good wash, brush and (if needed)cut. Afterwards, when you bring her home continue to brush her at least once a week to keep the mats from forming. That also helps acclimate her to being brushed. If a cat (esp a longhair like a Persian) is not acclimated to being brushed, they can throw a bloody fit when they DO get brushed. My MILs Himys are that way. If you try to brush them, you have to be wearing long hawk-hunter glvoes to protect your arms and it takes three people to do it.
She sounds like a sweetie. I’d keep her if I were you.
Oh, yeh, it’s grotesque. Persians weren’t always that way, but the extreme look is what wins in the show ring, so over the years they’ve been bred to that unhealthy flat face.
There are people working hard to preserve the traditional, undistorted look of breeds such as Persians, Siamese, and so forth. Here’s a page about traditional Persians, with a link at the bottom to another page with lots of pictures of the old-style Persian.
Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs, at the other extreme, haven’t always looked like aliens from another planet with their ultra-long, narrow wedge heads. Lynn Bodoni can tell you just how wonderful traditional “apple-head” Siamese are.
My Stella is a persian. She really looks like she ran into the wall one time too many. <splat!!>
Stella’s a rescue kitty; her previous owner’s didn’t treat her very well and now she’s terrified of a comb. We try to keep the tats trimmed but it’s an ongoing saga. And she doesn’t have a traditional meow. It’s more like a raspy “meh”. But Lord can she purr!
A friend of mine took in a stray Persian cat. She was skinny and matted, and wearing a collar and name tag “Prissy” with a disconnected phone number. Bastards.
My friend renamed her Chrissy. He took her to the vet to have her groomed. They shaved off a lot of her fur: the mats pull at the skin and can be painful. She has to be shaved fairly regularly–every 3 or 4 months I guess. He hasn’t found any way to keep the mats from building up. Chrissy is much happy after she’s been groomed though.
She has the flat face look and pretty pale gray and white fur. She’s a very sweet kitty, definitely not a streetwise alley dwelling cat.
Some people will just drive their animals to an unfamiliar location and turn them loose to fend for themselves. Grrrrr. How is a cat with a smooshed up face supposed to kill and eat mice and such to survive?
I’ve been lucky with some of the kittens and cats I’ve adopted. I rescued a 4 week old kitten from a shopping mall parking lot once that grew to be an absolutely beautiful snow white Turkish Angora. Another that I adopted was a very sweet and lovable Himalayan. Niether of them needed much special fur care thankfully, they mostly took care of themselves.
But yeah, get that cat to a groomer at least once and have a vet check them out.
I hate people who do this. A friend of mine acquired her Shih Tzu this way…when somebody threw it out of their car in front of the pet store where she is a dog trainer. :mad:
I had thought all Siamese were ‘apple-headed’… but then I don’t know a lot about cats. I did have a Siamese once (given to us by a friend who couldn’t take care of it anymore) that was an apple-head… well now I know.
Yay you for helping! You might want to take a picture of the kitty before the groomer has a go, though they don’t often have to do much trimming around the face. But naked kitties can look radically different and any little bit to help get owner and pet re-united can’t hurt.
People who dump pets in the country-side have a special spot in hell just for them (at least on my planet they do). Growing up, it was heartbreaking to always have those poor creatures showing up. One little mixed breed dog never did give up waiting for his owners to come back, he’d wait by the side of the highway for hours everyday. Poor Henry.
Then there was the time a goat wandered onto the property and we live twenty miles from the nearest town! That one I can’t quite explain. I mean, did the goat pee on their carpet one time too many or did he jump out of the car whilst on a family vacation?
Sometime early last week this cat started hanging out at the barn.
Thursday, we took it home.
Yesterday (Saturday), one of the other people at the barn posted some flyers in the area.
This afternoon Tucker-babe got a call. It sounds like the owner. Here’s the story, as we understand it:
The owner lives across the pasture from the barn. He got the cat about three months ago when the previous owner moved to California, and was not able to take the cat with him. His understanding is the cat is about six years old.
The previous owner was a single guy. The current owner (don’t know whether he’s married or not) has two small children. Possibly, kitty didn’t feel she was getting enough attention and went seeking greener pastures, so to speak. One good thing is that, according to the current owner, she is up on all her shots. And I believe it’s the real owner, because his description of her and her habits (like her *weak, croaking little “meow” and intermittent “snorting”) were dead-on down the line.
So, this evening Tucker-babe loaded up the kitty and took her back. For now, at least. In my experience, when kitties think they’re getting a better deal somewhere, they don’t always stick around. So. . . this one could come back.
*Earlier, I had mentioned that she had not yet meowed, but since that message she did, probably because she had run out of food.