First Rescue Of 2009

Yesterday Pam saw a beautiful little Siamese/Persian cross kitten that appeared to have been abandoned, on the rocks with the other stray cats. She said that he was really friendly, was very hungry, rushing from bowl to bowl for food, and appeared to have a bad cold. It seems that our priorities in trying to help the stray cats here will always change, depending on which animal appears to be the most vulnerable at any one time, OR the most likely to be successfully re-homed. This little kitten seemed to meet both criteria, AND, as the weather was freezing and wet, and Annie had kindly agreed to take him in for a few days, we picked him up yesterday afternoon.

All seemed well; he was very loving and sweet and totally comfortable with people. It was when we started to put food down that we noticed a BIG problem. The poor little thing is currently unable to open his mouth properly to eat! He is therefore now back with Pam whilst we try and get him sorted out.

Begona, our vet, couldn’t open his mouth either for a proper look; she thinks he has some kind of infection in the muscle causing his jaw to lock. He had one treatment last night, and we take him back again later. There is little sign of improvement yet but we are hopeful as, apart from this, he appears a very healthy little chap. In the meantime we are feeding him by syringe a lovely concoction of pate, BabyCat biscuits and milk, all liquidised into a smoothie. Some is going in and a lot is coming out again all over us! We have also decided that he probably hasn’t got a cold, as what is coming out of his poor little nose is food! As he cannot open his mouth to eat properly, when he laps he is too close to the food, and the liquid is going up his nose as well, which then results in projectile sneezing.

This is sweet and comical in a way but also very worrying how desperate he is to eat, and I really hope we can sort this fast for him.

We are wondering if this has been an ongoing problem and one of the reasons why he has been abandoned. He is small enough to have been recently weaned and would have had no problem feeding and sucking from his mother. Anyway it never ceases to amaze me how cruel people can be here, abandoning defenseless animals, and as i have written before, I worry that things may get worse in the coming months as people everywhere struggle financially. It is not that it costs a huge amount to feed a cat, but as soon as an animal becomes ill, vet bills I am sure can become a huge problem.

As I have also written before, whilst I want to try and help as many of the strays animals here as I can, the ones I feel most sorry for are the tame ones who are actually abandoned pets. This is definitely what people need to try and remember when they see off hungry strays. The feral cats who are born wild are far better able to look after themselves that a dumped pet cat, who will also be missing human contact and desperately looking for love and affection.

Only this afternoon I met the latest stray cat looking for food in the square. He is a gorgeous, mainly white tom, REALLY friendly (he even let me pick him up) and very hungry. He was begging from the customers in La Plaza until I gave him some biscuits in the middle of the square. We will look out for him over the next few days, and I will try and find someone to take him in so that we can check for a chip and decide what is best for him.

I know that strays can be a problem, particularly in the restaurants, but some of them ARE recently abandoned, and these poor animals if very hungry, will keep coming back until someone gives them some food.

Anyway, here’s hoping I have some better news of our little kitten over the next few days.