Rescue Journal

saints welcomes little tyke

Carol  ·  Nov. 15, 2016

the last of that ongoing family of indiscriminate breeding cats (mom is in perm, foster care with volunteer penny>). tyke is not doing great. i picked him up last night and took him straight into the vets. he was anemic from massive flea and worm infestations so it was a bit of a risk going ahead with his neuter but i decided because of his extreme shyness, it was better to get it all over with in one fell swoop. he did in fact recover well from his surgery, he is a young relatively healthy cat, only about 2 years old. tonight i brought him home to saints but he does not feel at home, he is so afraid. his world has been turned right upside down and his lifelong shyness makes this especially hard for him. i wish i could have gotten him with the other kittens when he was young, innocent and a great deal more adoptable but that wasn't an option back then. hopefully he can make the adjustment and we can work on his human socialization. in the meantime he will be on recorded in and out monitering to ensure he is eating/drinking/peeing and pooping so he stays healthy while we work with him.
now i know tyke has had a rough start without a lot of advantages and i know folks will think this is someones fault. but here is the reality...not all people live relatively easy middle class lives. in fact many people, esp. disabled or sick seniors struggle with much less than you or i. many lower income people love their pets but as they themselves live with less...so do their family pets. and i do know that while living with less..tyke was very well loved.
i don't know what the answer is other than do what i did. offer to help with vet care/neutering or re-homing if or when they felt help was needed and leave judgements and sermons out of it.
i don't believe it is helpful to leave pets and families stranded on no hope/no help islands because of burnt bridges. and nothing burns bridges faster than negatively judging the decisions that others make.
hope always floats that with a safe and intact bridge built with respect and trust that one day you can re-answer a "need help now" call.
dad cat is still in his home, and will remain there. we neutered him 2 years ago. i will drop off some flea meds for him this week and better put it on my list to drop some off periodically. fleas are not fun for him or his family and decent flea products are expensive.

just for the record and because i don't have a picture...tyke is adorable. he is a stunning little boy.

Comments

Val

Welcome to the best place on earth Tyke <3 He will learn to love it and come out of his shell I'm sure :)

Laura

Welcome to Saints Tyke, look forward to meeting you when you are comfortable and ready.