Poor Marbles

So today I did an irrational thing. I took in an injured cat. Here's the story...

While browsing the "Pets" section on Craigslist the other day, I saw an ad for a free cat. I don't want another cat, but I clicked on it anyway, just to see what lame excuse this person has for getting rid of their pet. However, it turns out that they're giving the cat away because she has a large infected wound on her side and they can't afford to take her to the vet.

I felt compelled to help so I emailed the owner to get more information. Turns out, the cat has had this wound for at least a month, and she's isn't walking much anymore...mostly just lays in one spot all day. I knew that if someone didn't do something, the cat would die soon, so I asked Dimas if I can step in. Thankfully, he said yes!

I picked her up today and she was in worse shape than I expected. Malnourished, dehydrated, and with a ridiculously large and complex-looking infected wound on her chest & right side. I took her straight to the vet, who tested her for FLV & FIV. Luckily, she was negative for both. Since there really wasn't a large abscess to drain, he decided to give her an IV with fluids and penicillin and gave me some antibiotics to give her at home. He told me that the wound looked like an old dog bite and he had never seen one that bad. On top of that, she's not much more than skin and bones, so he told me to let her eat as much kitten food as she wants. This alone should help to fight off the infection. At least I hope so....if it doesn't get better she'll need surgery.

So, I cost our family $140 by doing this and though I know it wasn't the right thing to do monetarily, it still feels like it was the right thing to do in every other way. The family that had her was in pretty bad shape. The house was in more of a disarray than I've ever seen....and I'm pretty messy. No car, no money....and they had a couple of skinny dogs and little kittens that they were trying to keep fed....I hope by taking their cat I've helped them in some small way. They seemed like really nice people...the husband even cried when I took the cat away. Sigh.

Her original name was "Mommy Cat" (How creative, right? lol), but Dimas has since deemed her "Marbles." Cute name! I knew he could do it! He's been so great about all of my craziness, and the first thing he did when he got home was go check on her.

I'm hoping to get her healthy, spay her through one of those free or low-cost programs, and then get her adopted into a loving home. I've been trying to contact local rescue organizations to see if they can assist in any way....especially with finding her a new home...but no responses so far. She seems to be doing pretty well, considering. She's a quiet, very sweet cat who likes to be rubbed behind the ears, just like most cats.

Yuna, by contrast, is fat and healthy and extremely curious about our new visitor. Her nose was glued under the door of the office, where Marbles is recovering. There was some hissing and growling, but that's to be expected.

Anyway, here's hoping she doesn't end up needing surgery. Pray for a speedy cat healing!