The day before I'm due to leave town I get a frantic call from a woman about a cat.(An everyday occurrence for me) She said a neighbor moved and left behind this beautiful pure white cat with one blue eye and one green eye. As it turned out, that neighbor did no good for the poor feline.
NSBNews.net photos by Shira Beth Wild / Lady, shown above, had to be put to sleep for good because of her cancerous illness after having been abandoned.
This is not a "shelter cat. It is distinctive thus means someone got it from a breeder for money. The woman had been feeding the cat even though it was hard for her to afford the little expense of feeding one cat. She told me the cat was very scared at first, when the people moved and tossed out what had been their inside only house cat.
Over the weeks, the cat was becoming used to the woman and had become very affectionate and cuddly. She tried to bring it in, but her dog would become unruly. She called me because the cat appeared to have been attacked. Her head was covered in blood and large parts of her ears were missing. I went and picked up the cat, who was sweet as pie in spite of having lost alot of blood and having what seemed to be pretty large injuries.
I brought her to a foster home. We cleaned her up the best we could and I got her some antibiotics. I left for nearly three weeks, but I knew she was in good hands. I would call and check on her, now named Lady, as she was so sweet and lady-like.
She was putting on weight, but her wounds weren't healing. When I got home I took her to the vet to have her spayed, to have her shots and to have the vet look at her non-healing ears. A few hours later I got a call directly from the vet. It seemed Lady had already been spayed. A hard and fast clue that she had been "someone's" pet.
But sadly, the injuries on her ears were not due to being attacked by some animal. She had Squamous Cell Carcinoma ( http://www.felinexpress.com/cat-health/squamous-cell-carcinoma.asp) . White cats in sunny places like Florida, that are left outside, are highly suseptable to this cancer. It is painful and deadly.
My choices were to have the vet remove both ears, a very lengthy surgery and a long recovery time, or put her down -- euthinize her. I chose euthenization.
I was left with so many questions: How could someone toss out their pet ( Lady was over 3 years old) into a world that they are not prepared to live in? Why is it left to someone with very limited funds and a lot of love for cats to make a life and death decision?
After speaking with several vets, vet techs and other cat rescuers that I know and trust I made the right decision. All of them agreed, but it shouldn't have gotten to that point. Pet owners need to be responsible and humane.
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