Adding a Stray to my Cat Family
His gold eyes came right through the screen and into my heart when a fellow rescuer posted his photo on Facebook. This thin white and grey tabby cat had shown up in someone’s yard, starving and with a gash under his neck. The people who were feeding him were going to take him to the vet and have him scanned for a chip, but someone in the house came down with COVID-19 and they were all quarantined now. My rescue friend was begging for someone to help, so I shared the post.
But those eyes, they haunted me…
Checking back a few days later and finding the cat was still not helped, I found myself writing that if someone could get him to me or meet me someplace, I would take him to my vet to have him treated and scanned for a chip.
I was then put in touch with the people who found him, who then told me his owner died about a month ago, and the family put the cat out! My guess is his wound came from a scrap with the local ferals over food, and his neck was becoming infected.
I met with someone in front of my old vet’s office to get the kitty, since the cat was 30 miles from me, then I put as-yet-unnamed cat into my carrier to whisk him off to my vet, just two miles from my home. At this point we we not sure if we had a boy or girl, cat or kitten due to his small size. I never got a good look at him until we got to the vet, but he was all purrs and love nips during the drive. This had obviously been a well-loved cat once…
At the vet, those gold eyes looked confused: where am I and where is my daddy?
Now we knew we had a boy, neutered, approximate age 12 years old, underweight at just 6 pounds! His Combo test was good, so we ran a senior panel to make sure we had no illness causing his low weight. All numbers were purrfect; kitty was just way underfed during the month he was abandoned and trying to fend for himself.
A rabies shot, FIV and Leukemia shot, and cleaning out of the neck wound done, my foundling was named Mr. Maxwell Sheffield (Maxwell because this number 20 kitty is my MAX number) and taken home to recuperate.
Maxwell is in my cat room with the door open, so a few of my other cats have come in to meet him. My Simon sticks by his side, determined to let Maxwell know that he is safe and loved, even if Max does occasionally hiss at him!
So far he’s had greetings from quite a few of my cats, and Maxwell rarely hisses at anyone now. He’s still staying upstairs, and spends time sleeping to let that huge neck wound heal.
I got my first kiss from Maxwell a few nights ago, and today, day 5, he came into my office while I was interviewing Kitten Lady Hannah Shaw on my radio show today! He’s now peacefully sleeping in the chair by the window as I write, feeling safe and secure being near me. Although he has a lot to explore ahead of him (wait until he realizes there is a whole downstairs and even more cat friends!), Maxwell is already making this his new home, and the sadness he must feel over losing his daddy and his home will soon be replaced by love and new happy memories.
I hope his daddy is looking down from heaven and smiling, knowing his best friend has a new mommy and kitty friends to love him. He has a forever home here with us, and we look forward to getting to know him.
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