He has been watched over by Debra, and she caught just him before she had to leave town to help family, and there was no help available locally for a long while, so he came on over to The Owl House and the SPCA of Tompkins County was able to fit him into an open space just two days later. That doesn't happen often but when it does, it's a huge gift!
His limp turned out to be a combination of the fortunate and unfortunate. It is not a new break, which for a feral could end up being part of a decision toward euthanasia (if you keep a cat in a cage for six weeks after surgery, if surgery is possible, the cat may not be a candidate for return to the streets and if truly feral, not adoptable). It is an old break. However his knee is fused and he cannot bend it at all. So the limp is permanent. He'll need a shelter and a sharp eye watching over him. He was covered in cat-fight bites and scratches, and had a fresh wound on his foot and is missing a nail, so apparently his injury didn't keep him from standing up for himself. For those things we will keep him caged up until after the forecast snowstorm next week. We'll need to look into a shelter for him (or shelters for all the cats at that location).
Nothing is simple.
He's a grand big boy. He will let me scritch his forehead, but he doesn't permit any other handling. He gets downright nasty then. We'll see how it goes when the hormones wear off a bit now that he has been neutered. He's out of the regular wire crate pictured here and is now in a two-tier cage with a hidey box.
The SPCA of TC was able to fit in four more surgeries in February and March for us.
Great job!
ReplyDeleteHe is a handsome boy. I am glad he is getting help. I wish there were more people like you in the world.
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