Monday, May 7, 2012

Trapping Sick Cobbles

I posted  here that Cobbles was in trouble with an eye infection.  I think Cobbles is probably the most feral cat we feed.  If she were a curry, she would be a vindaloo or a phal.  We don't see her regularly.  She shows up usually in the afternoons (from the direction of the maisonettes), but inconsistently, bites at my spoon, hisses at me, eats and leaves. She is a very young cat.  I would guess less than a year old.  But I don't know. 

Cobbles before her eye infection - she shows up and hisses at me

She eats


She leaves


When I wasn't able to trap her last week and she left, I could only hope that she would come by again.  Saturday she surprised both me and Nik by surfacing while we were in the front garden with Morris and Mandy planning our next chore.  We dropped everything and got the trap ready, and with much patience we were able to trap her, and get her to our emergency vet about an hour and a half later. 


At the vet with a trapped Cobbles, waiting for Dr. George

Dr. George Artemiou
After seeing her, Dr. George told us in the case of a feral cat with an eye infection such as hers, there is really nothing that can be done, because the treatment  requires putting a course eyedrops in the infected eye every day.  How can you do that with a feral cat like Cobbles?  He said you cannot sedate her every twelve hours; it is dangerous for her and impractical.

Cobbles stays at the vets to be spayed

So this saddened us greatly, as there is nothing we can do to help her, and she could, like Jazzy, lose her eye completely.  As if things aren't tough enough for her out there on the streets already.  But we left her there anyway to be spayed today, and she will be picked up tomorrow if, pray God, all goes well for her.  It occurred to me that being in a cage for a few days, stressful though it is, may offer her body and immune system some time to go to work for her.  There are stresses on the streets, too, and in my opinion they are much worse:  the threat of other terretorial cats, the stress of finding food, the speeding cars, etc. The doctor warned me not to be too optimistic, and while I understand, from my experience with sick animals, you just never know what is going to happen.  You really don't. So there is always hope.

Cobbles hisses at us

She'll be eating well for a few days, and safe from harm at least
I think a few days off the streets and some consistent good food will be good for her, vulnerable as she is right now.  Please say a prayer for Cobbles.

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