Cats in Crisis Thanet 29 minutes ago CATS IN CRISIS – IN CASE YOU WONDER WHAT WE DO ALL DAY! 1. Currently trying to trap a small colony of semi-feral cats at the Frost Farm Mobile Home Park. Lady who reported the problem actually volunteers in an RSPCA shop but it was Cats in Crisis she turned to for help. 2. Urgent call from a person known to us who said a neighbour’s cat had been savaged by two staffies in the early hours one morning. By 10am, the cat still hadn’t been seen by a vet because the owner had no money. At our insistence the cat was taken to Plunketts where its wounds were cleaned, sutured, pain relief and other relevant treatment given. Cost to us - £180. 3. Injured cat at Two Chimneys Caravan Park – one eye in bad condition ? whether it can be saved. Will be treated at our expense. No contribution to cost offered. 4. Sick/injured cat in Garlinge. Reported by a resident in that area. Possibly unneutered tom. Will need trapping team to attend and get cat to a vet asap. 5. Several reports of at least two, possibly more stray cats in Ethelbert Road, Cliftonville. Females likely to be pregnant. One may already have given birth somewhere as not seen for some days. Trapping not successful so far as cats avoiding traps. Will be a long process for trapping team. 6. Called to house in Clifton Gardens owned, we were told, by Hammersmith Council. Tenants evicted. Two cats left in house. Enquiries resulted in cats being turned out into the street. It has taken over two weeks of daily visits to a neighbour’s property to catch the first cat – an unneutered male, subsequently neutered at our expense. The second cat took a further week to catch. The RSPCA were also called. An inspector attended and left a note saying he was happy to leave trapping to us. He was grateful for our help but that we should get in touch if necessary. 7. Another Clifton Gardens resident noticed our presence and asked for help. She had purchased a kitten from a pet shop some time previously which became sick. She had no money to take it to a vet which we arranged. The kitten was extremely ill and after several investigations as to the cause, was euthanized following diagnosis of ruptured colon. No offer of payment from owner. 8. Approach from very genuine person. Young family. Husband working but has son with special needs and a rather frail wife. Much loved family cat had developed serious skin allergy. Treatment and flea products cost nearly £100 which he did not have. CIC paid. He will probably repay some of it – eventually – in very small instalments. 9. Call from TDC Housing Officer. Following attendance at an eviction, two cats were found in the house. She delivered them to a vet for us to collect. Several months later, they are still with us, both having been neutered at our expense. No offer of payment from owner or TDC. 10. 5.30am call from Margate Police. They had been called to a flat where the tenant had been found dead. Two cats in the premises were delivered to a vet, where they received a medical check and were neutered – at our expense. Both cats still in our care. No offer of payment from Police or any family member. 11. Social Worker requested help. Severely disturbed man with mental health problems and learning disability had elderly, very sick cat. Great concern about cat’s condition. Man eventually persuaded to allow cat to go to vet where it was diagnosed with advanced abdominal tumour and put to sleep – at our expenses. No offer of payment from Social Services or owner. 12. More than one occasion when the Dog Warden has found cats in trouble when pursuing a dog problem. We have always been willing to assist despite never receiving any offer of help towards any of the costs we have incurred. 13. Old lady in her 90s in St. Nicholas had to go into a home. We took in her cat which was a long haired Persian she had tried to dematt. In the process, she badly cut the cat in several places. One wound was so large, it had to be sutured. Cat elderly, currently has cystitis (expensive to treat) and remains in our care as it is unlikely to be wanted by anyone. 14. A woman found a very ill, collapsed cat in Approach Road, Margate. She took it to College Road vets, who scanned it, found it had no chip, and told her to put it back where she found it! Luckily, one of our volunteers had gone into the vet to collect some cat food and heard the conversation. She took the cat to Eagle vets, who found it to be very dehydrated, elderly, and extremely sick. It stayed in the vets over that weekend at our expense. After being discharged, details were posted on Facebook and the owner found. The cat had a serious thyroid condition and the owner was distraught at its disappearance, believing it had gone away to die. She has offered to refund our expenses and is extremely grateful that we were on hand to look after her cat. 15. I was interrupted in the preparation of this résumé by a call from a nurse running an evening clinic at Newington Road Clinic. They have been worried by a stray cat at the premises for several weeks. Apart from concern about the animal who looks unwell and is always very hungry, it is not appropriate for the animal to be coming into a health clinic. A CIC volunteer will attend in the morning to assess the situation, try and locate the owner and ensure the animal receives veterinary treatment. 16. Two hours previous to item 15, I received a call from a lady in Leopold Road, Ramsgate about a sick cat that appears to have been abandoned by its owners. She agreed to take it to Plunketts vets, who phoned to say the cat seems to have a large growth on its head. It will stay in overnight and we await further information. 17. One hour after item 15, I received a call from an elderly lady on Millmead where we had earlier left a cat trap. The stray cat she was worried about had been trapped and was collected by us and will be taken to a vet in the morning. There are concerns that it may be pregnant. This lady’s own cat had been taken to the vets by us the previous day for a major dental and had been kept in overnight. There is unlikely to be any significant contribution towards the cost for either cat. The dental cost over £200. 18. Cat mentioned in item 15 above was caught later that night. In order to accommodate it, as we are so full, fosterers had to reorganise other cats in order to make room. 19. Very young kitten found wandering near Prestedge Avenue. Taken in by one of our fosterers. Kitten clearly unwell. Treatment not working. Diagnosed with possible twisted bowel. Put to sleep. 20. Sunday afternoon – call from distressed member of the public. Cat though to be an RTA in Tivoli area. Being kicked by youths. Taken to emergency vet. Cat virtually collapsed. Very elderly, appalling teeth and mouth which has direct impact on kidney function. Severely dehydrated, disorientated, renal failure. Given fluids, kept in for observation and made comfortable. Survived the night and was able to take a little food. To remain in vets for the time being. At least if it doesn’t survive long, its end will be peaceful instead of dying on the street. In addition to the above, which is only a small example of some of the cases we have dealt with in recent months, please note the following : 1. We offer help and support to people like C. who has autism and other developmental problems. The little cat she had from us has made a big difference to her behaviour. We offer on-going veterinary care and flea treatment as her budget is only sufficient for food and litter. P. who has moderate cerebral palsy but lives independently. We provide a regular nail clipping service for his little cat as it is not advisable for him to be scratched by her. She is an indoor cat and therefore does not wear her claws down naturally. We provide a nail clipping and transport service for a number of elderly, house-bound or disabled cat owners who have no family or friends to help. 2. We are the only animal rescue locally that offers a trapping service 3. We are the only animal rescue locally that offers help with transport to and from the vets. This is particularly important in the case of neutering to ensure animals are neutered BEFORE they start breeding. 4. We have neutering support from the local RSPCA who offer us spare places on their neutering bus when it attends their centre. 5. We are the only animal rescue locally that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 6. We are totally voluntary. No wages are paid to anyone in Cats in Crisis. 7. We do not have large reserves in the bank. 8. Our workload is greater than any other local animal rescue. Ours is a hardworking, dedicated band of animal lovers, many of whom work extremely long hours consistently over many weeks at a stretch. We often survive on 4 or 5 hours sleep a night, have little or no time for meals, and put a large proportion of our own salaries and pensions into the Charity. We do not restrict our support to cats. We assist with dogs, rabbits and other animals. We undertake dog neutering and link in with the local RSPCA in their staffy neutering scheme, often providing the transport. We also try to help with wildlife where we can. In addition to the above, we run our shop in Ramsgate, the market stall in Ramsgate on a Saturday, and try to attend as many local events as we can with our stall while at the same time, trying to support other worthwhile animal welfare campaigns like the live export trade between the UK and continent. All this while we try to look after the vast number of cats fostered by us – currently in excess of 150 – and try to maintain some degree of contact with our own families. The latter is not easy given current workload. MLK/12.08.13 This is just so far what has been done in August, this has caused our vet bill to be well over £4000 and we are in desperate need of donate directly to Eagle Vets Tel :01843 825999
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 11:59:25 +0000
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