Friday, March 29, 2024
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Rescue Stories: Every Cat Matters, Jackson and Koda, and Purchase a Calendar!

Jackson
Jackson

Often when we think of rescue we think of kittens, and while they do constitute many of the cats rescued by Pittsburgh C.A.T., the abandoned, lost, abused adults are really in more peril. People see them, but aren’t sure they need to be rescued, so often no one helps them. They may be frightened and act out, and they are less likely to be given a chance at a temperament adjustment than a younger cat, usually considered less adoptable. Possibly worst of all, they know what they are missing, being homeless where once they’d had a home. These cats may not be cute and fuzzy and cuddly, often they have injuries or chronic illnesses, but just as often that turns out to be nothing a little medical treatment and love can’t heal to find an amazing cat underneath it all.

JACKSON

Jackson being silly.
Jackson being silly.

Jackson was found at a campground but came into our clinic from Beaver County Humane Society (BCHS) because he had a suspicious puncture wound on his leg. Unknown puncture wounds are potentially from a bite and therefore a source of rabies, so those cats are put on rabies quarantine in a cage by themselves and not handled at all. He also limped on his hind leg and the guess was arthritis, bad enough that his leg might need to be amputated. But after his quarantine period was over and the knee was x-rayed it was found to be full of shrapnel—he’d been shot. No rabies, and that knee could be treated without losing his leg. He was also diagnosed with asthma at that time.

He was so friendly that he was given roaming privileges in the clinic when people were present. His ears had had hematomas and he had scratched at them so much the cartilage had broken down, but that scratching was what left his skin open to be infected with the last few ringworm spores hiding somewhere in the recesses of the clinic, so off he went for treatment.

Finding a home for Jackson was going to be difficult, and even finding a foster who could care for all his conditions. Kelli decided she had room for him to visit her house and enjoy some time in a home and took him home to foster.

KODA

Koda
Koda

Koda had a rough time of it at some point, and by the time he was surrendered to a veterinarian he was thin, just under eight pounds, had a heart condition, was missing the tips of both ears, had a malformed foot with only three toes on a bad leg he sometimes didn’t want to walk on. He was lethargic with little appetite. He tested FIV+ and went to our clinic for care.

In March after two months at the clinic he had signs of liver failure so a feeding tube was implanted. After two months on the feeding tube he rarely interacted and just seemed despondent. Karen decided to foster him in May to see if being in a home made any difference, but even she understood he might be a hospice cat.

Karen tube fed him four times a day and kept track of his six medications and two supplements, and continued to offer him canned food. After two weeks of persistence he finally nibbled a bit, then his appetite for canned food increased to where, a month after he’d come to her house, she could stop the tube feedings. She gave him his freedom with her household and he continued to improve, even finding a bromance with her diabetic cat, Boyfriend. By September his weight was over 12 pounds, closer to normal for a cat his size. And he just may not be a foster anymore.

Koda and Boyfriend
Koda and Boyfriend

Stevie and Noah’s page in the calendar

 

Koda and Jackson's page
Koda and Jackson’s page

Purchase your calendar here or read more about the calendar and Pittsburgh C.A.T.

Stevie and Noah’s stories are heartwarming but their care over weeks and months is not free—Pittsburgh C.A.T. still has to pay for all the exams, xrays, tests, surgeries, treatments and medications that helped them to survive and thrive. Pittsburgh C.A.T. will do whatever needs to be done for a kitten who shows a chance of survival, and also to find a loving forever home when the kitten is fully recovered and ready. Help Pittsburgh C.A.T. help more kittens and other cats and purchase the 2018 calendar, full of more stories and information. All proceeds go to help pay Pittsburgh C.A.T.’s medical bills for current and ongoing rescues.

Pittsburgh CAT Calendar cover.
Pittsburgh CAT Calendar cover.

Calendar is 8.5″ x 11″, 28 pages saddle-stitched and includes information on Pittsburgh C.A.T. and clinics and adoption.

[ss_product id=’e68e11ae-c0c2-11e6-ac56-002590787d08′ ]Pittsburgh C.A.T. 2018 Calendar[/ss_product]

Read more about Pittsburgh C.A.T.


Read more stories in my weekly Rescue Stories series and read about my Rescue Stories series.


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Weekly schedule of features:

Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life

Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters

Tuesday: Rescue Stories

Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork

Thursday: New Merchandise

Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy

Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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