stray? kitten

mellymoo74

Pickles was out in the rain (tomcat is not that foolish) so I went and got her.
She quite likes a dry in a warm towel oddly.
I gave had a smear and a nose bite so she really approved.

meritaten

OH! he looks exactly like my neighbours cat when I was a child! Kimmi! a stray who followed Mrs B home and although wanted in - was very skittish and scared. who after some months thought he owned the place! her other cat Ginge wasn't impressed and they had some very heated discussions on who was in charge! Ginge won! Kimmi was a very sweet cat though, who charmed the visitors that Ginge ignored. Kimmi and Ginge got along by totally ignoring each other. I am sure Kimmi thought he was an only cat and Ginge thought the same but got kudos by terrorising the dog. Kimmi didn't seem to realise there WAS a dog in the house!

Smodlet

Thanks. I can see only a little nick on his ear, am sure it is much worse than is apparent. Little Dude has those and he is a neutered dude, did not stop him getting into fights when he was younger, over territory rather than females. We had him and his sister done at six months for all the reasons mentioned on this thread; disease, injury. Had them chipped at the same time, too, on the basis that the loss of your womb/boy bits is likely to take your mind off of a pain in the neck.

The poor, little guy. I wonder if the vet will think it worth doing something about his legs or letting them be. Does he have trouble walking/running/climbing?

I think you and OH must be such wonderful people, Mellymoo. We tried taking in a stray once but Dude would have none of it. We really thought he was going to pack his handkerchief, tie it to the end of stick, throw it over his shoulder and leave, with me in tow, of course... maybe he could have given Boris Johnson a run for his money. Sorry, I'm in a really silly mood tonight.

mellymoo74

He jumps fine
His lower half is low to the ground when he walks.

He stayed in last night lol
I now have to work out how to feed 3
And what to do with him when I let the dogs out

his_missus

One of my cats had nicks in both his ears due to fighting. We managed to get him to the vets soon after the second one but the vet said there wasn't anything they could do to repair it, just gave him some painkillers. I can't tell from your photo if it's a fresh nick or healed but my Blackie's healed up quite quickly. The neighbours could always tell which was my black cat by his ripped ears, they gave him a rebellious look.

mellymoo74

Thanks hismissus tomcat has a nick
Stripeys is a bit deeper and it fully healed (it's flap like)

Vets for him this weekend (if I can get him in a carrier) he's snotty sounding (not sneezing, no ulcers and eating fine)

Smodlet

Will you take him before the week end if he seems to be deteriorating? It terrifies me how quickly a cat can go downhill, once they get sick. Dude's sister did, may the powers bless her. At least she is free, now. She hated it worse than we when we had to move here. With the horrible neighbours we now have, I almost wish I were with her.

mellymoo74

I will smodlet
I really want the nervous fella to get a bit more comfortable as he's being chipped, deballed and injected at the weekend.

He's been snotty since he came round that's why I don't think cat flu.
He's actually looking tons better (legs are still wonky) his coats looking better and he's put some weight on.

Pickles still hates him
She's been patrolling

Apparently last night she just kept going into the hall where he was and hissing

mellymoo74

Gonna get him tested for FIV we take it from there
OH is besotted because he's wonky.

Smodlet

Oh my... I was afraid to mention it. And what about FeLV? (Feline Leukaemia) I guess Tomcat and Pickle have been with you long enough for you to be sure. Just googled this, please read this: http://www.catchat.org/index.php/fiv

It seems FIV is not necessarily as devastating as we (certainly I, until I read this) thought.

Oh, my days, Melly, I know what it's like. When our first, stray, black cat got really sick, I opted to have him tested, had to convince OH but the relief when we found out neither of those were the issue. He had some weird, rare auto-immune thing which made his system think his teeth were foreign bodies and had to be attacked. It was awful. He had to have them all out, even though they were perfectly healthy teeth, and have steroids via a drip every time the illness hit but, in between, sometimes for years, sometimes months, he had a great quality of life, instead of feeling ill all the time. His gums became like iron, it felt really weird when he tried to bite me - warm, wet and chuffing hard. Ultimately, the steroids did shorten his life but it is not about life at any price; quality is more important than quantity, I firmly believe, and it is what I would want for myself.

Please keep us updated and very best of luck with Stripey. My thoughts will be with you both.