Doing what we can

These cuties were found living outside with their mum and we were asked to take them in so they didn't grow up to add to the unhandleable feral cat population. Fortunately mum is friendly and the whole family should be easy to rehome once the kits are old enough.

Healthy cats like this should need minimal expenditure on veterinary treatment—basically just flea and worm treatment, vaccination and neutering. Animals with serious injuries are much more of a difficulty.

At the moment we've had to impose a 12 month moratorium on taking in animals whose injuries will require surgery, simply because it's so hugely expensive.

You may have seen Wood Green's appeal to raise the £5,000 needed for surgery on an injured dog they took in last week. Most of the operations needed to treat strays we handle will be more likely to fall in the £400-£800 bracket, but we simply can't produce the money to fund several of these each week.

So it was with a very heavy heart that one of our volunteers took a call about a stray cat with a broken jaw. His surgery was estimated at £250; a comparatively small amount, but an amount that we simply don't have if we're to carry on meeting all our other welfare commitments.

Most of the other charities are in the same boat, but by phoning round Janine managed to locate a space in one of the shelters run by the National RSPCA which have an in-house vet so would be able to do the surgery themselves. Obviously there is still some cost involved, but doing it this way will get it down to an amount we can justify as not being likely to put other animals at risk.

Another of our volunteers will transport him there tomorrow morning.

It's not ideal; injured animals should preferably be moved around the country as little as possible, both for their own welfare and to save resources in terms of fuel and volunteers' time.

Little tabby cat

We've just taken in a tabby kitten with head injuries. He's about 6 months old and has no chip or collar—he's young enough that the lack of a chip may simply mean someone was intending to get it done when he was neutered.

Sadly, he's another perfect illustration of the added complications caused by the unreasonable antipathy some people have towards the RSPCA and the way this makes sensible decision-making more difficult for us.

He may not survive, whatever we do. Head injuries are unpredictable and there's little that can be done to treat them except provide supportive care and medication to keep the patient pain-free and to reduce swelling and inflammation. 

He has a broken jaw and will need to be tube-fed, which means inserting a feeding tube under a general anaesthetic. To avoid subjecting him to two anaesthetics it makes sense to wire his jaw at the same time, although this will be wasted money if the head injuries kill him in the end. Anaesthesia always involves some risk, so it's possible that he may not survive the treatment intended to help him, but there's no way to avoid this as he can't be left without food.

Because he's so young we want to give him a chance, and if he does survive he should be easy to place in a home, even if his current owner doesn't make contact with us. However, his chances are probably not much better than 50/50 and arguably the funds needed for his treatment might be better used to help other animals. It's possible that an owner may turn up, but choose not to continue his treatment or request to sign him over to us.

Basil was not much more of a hopeful prospect when he first came in, so let us hope giving little tabby his chance was the right thing to do.

If we had opted for euthanasia and his owner then turned up, there are people out there who would have made use of the situation as propaganda to discourage donations to the RSPCA and knowing that doesn't make decision making any easier.

Sad update
Unfortunately little tabby didn't make it. He deteriorated during the night despite being given iv fluids and the vets advised that it would be wrong to attempt to put him through surgery the following day.

Pumpkin's Progress

When she came in

Now

Hasn't she improved? The white, hairy mop is Marion's little Bichon, looking on.

Do you recognise this cat?

She was found in Longstanton and reported to us as a sick-looking stray. We think she may be hyperthyroid, and she was very matted until the vets groomed her, but otherwise she seems to be old rather than ill. She's a bit wobbly on her back legs, but seems bright and happy.

She was wearing a new-looking collar, but unfortunately with no identification attached and she's not chipped. Someone obviously cared enough to buy her the collar fairly recently.

Pics of Sarah

This is Sarah who was found on Cherry Hinton road. We think she probably doesn't have any owner (or at least not someone competent) as she was extremely poorly because of her uncontrolled hyperthyroid condition.

Once her thyroid levels have been stabilised by medication, she should put on some weight.

Cats, cats, cats

Patch had another checkup at the clinic this morning and she's doing really well, although it's worrying that she seems to be so allergic to fleas that even one bite means an itchy lump that she'll scratch.

She's still on hibiscrub baths twice weekly and is amazingly good about them—probably because they give immediate relief from itches.

In an ideal world she'd be kept in a home with no other animals where it would be relatively easy to make sure absolutely all biting parasites are eliminated. Being an entirely indoor cat would also help as she wouldn't come into contact with hedgehogs or other roaming cats. As things are, I'm upping the frequency of flea treatment for my own cats, and being rigorous about treating the pen she's living in, while being careful to air and dry anything treated with household flea sprays containing permethrin which is toxic to cats if they're directly exposed to it.

However the added complication is that she seems to be mildly incontinent and does sometimes wet her bed at night, which would make it more difficult to keep her entirely indoors. I'm hoping that it may be possible to work on the incontinence problem once her skin trouble is completely under control as the steroid treatment she's on for the allergies will also tend to increase thirst and consequently create a full bladder which then leaks when she's deeply asleep. She's less than a year old and a happy little soul in spite of her problems.

Sarah, the tabby found on Cherry Hinton road with very severe hyperthyroidism seems to have fallen on her paws as the helpful couple who noticed how ill she was and brought her in have offered to foster her for the moment. Younger hyperthyroid cats sometimes make an absolutely dramatic improvement once their condition is under control with medication, so let's hope this will be the case for Sarah.

Hayley, the other hyperthyroid cat, is probably quite a bit older and she seems to be anaemic as well which possibly means she has other underlying issues. She seems well and happy in herself (much brighter than Sarah was when she came in), so the vet's advice is to treat the thyroid problem; worm and de-flea her in case the anaemia is simply parasite related, and see how she goes.

The vets have advised amputation as the best option for the cat with a severe leg injury as they feel the chances of saving the leg are minimal so it wouldn't be fair to put him through surgical repair and possibly have to amputate at a later date anyway.

No news yet on the cat with head injuries sustained in a traffic accident.

If you might be interested in fostering cats (and sometimes other animals) who are recuperating after treatment, please emain rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk for more information.

Injured cat

I've just been contacted by the 24hour emergency vet to let me know one of the Animal Welfare Officers has brought a cat in for first aid there. She'll have pain relief and emergency care overnight then one of our volunteer drivers will transfer her to our own clinic for further treatment in the morning. They say they're pretty sure she has at least one broken leg, but I should have more details, including a description, by tomorrow evening.

If a cat goes missing it's important to phone round vets—including the emergency out of hours vet, who may be some distance away—as injured animals are normally taken to the closest available private vet for first aid. Depending on how busy they are and whether the cat is found during the middle of the night, there may be some delay before the local branch is notified.

After a fracture repair operation cats will normally need to be confined for several weeks to avoid putting further strain on the repaired section of bone, which could cause the ends to move out of alignment. They also need to come back to the clinic for periodic re-checks. We are always in need of foster homes where they can be kept during this recovery period as it's a waste of funds and a drain on the kennel staff time to put them into our cattery, and it's also much more pleasant for the cats to be in home-like surroundings where they can have more attention to help pass the time.

If you might be interested in fostering cats for the branch, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

UPDATE:
Sadly she deteriorated in the next few days, and the vets took the decision to put her to sleep as they did not think she would survive an operation to amputate the leg with the worst injuries.

Do you know this cat?

She was reported to us as a possible poorly stray, but examination showed that the fur on her throat had been recently shaved—most likely in order to do a blood test for hyperthyroidism as her thyroid gland feels enlarged. She's very thin, which is why the finder was concerned and phoned us, but this is probably due to the thyroid condition. As she obviously does have an owner who is attending to her medical care, we released her again, exactly where she was picked up. 

If she's your cat, or you know who owns her, we'd be very grateful if you could let us know whether she's returning home regularly for her medication. If not, we can arrange to catch her again and bring her to you.

Good news on Riley

Her real name is Roxy and she's insured, so her owner is able to take on the cost of her treatment. We managed to get a definite ID as she's chipped, although there was some delay because they'd moved since registering the chip and the phone number listed was no longer active.

Let's hope Roxy makes a full recovery—she'll certainly be more comfortable in her own familiar home surroundings than in a cat pen in a foster home.

We always need to recruit more foster carers for animals recovering after treatment. If you might be interested, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Sunday at 61 Burleigh Street

Huge thanks to everyone who donated so much fantastic china and books this week—please keep them coming.

As summer winds down, we could still do with more lightweight summer clothes since, at this time of year, shoppers are more likely to buy from charity shops than spend on new things they'll only wear for a few weeks if they need to replace clothes.

On Saturday we took in another injured cat, Riley, who will need surgery to repair her broken jaw. Your donations and purchases at our shops provide the funds to pay to treat her and other similar animals, so please keep up your support.

If you would like to make a donation by mobile phone to help with the cost of treating Riley, text the message PETS00 £10 to 70070 to donate £10 to RSPCA Cambridge. Your phone provider will add £10 to your bill and send £10 to our bank account. If you are a UK taxpayer and you complete the gift aid options we will receive an additional £2.80 at no cost to you.  

(The last two characters of PETS00 are zeros, not letters.)

Another stray cat

He's an un-neutered male and taken to the 24 hour vet under an RSPCA log number from the NCC because he was fitting. They've just phoned to say they think they've got the seizures under control, but he's very dehydrated and they suspect he may have eaten slug pellets or some other poison.

They're giving fluids and hoping there's no permanent damage to his kidneys. He's quite a young cat, but the next 24 hours will be critical.

Who owns Tinker?

I'm fostering a very elderly fluffy grey cat who must have an owner out there somewhere as she's wearing a collar that looks almost new and is in good body condition considering her age - vet estimates at least 15+.

Unfortunately she's not chipped and her collar has a bell but no tag.

Cats!

I don't know what's got into the cat population of South Cambs. Over the past seven days we seem to have had nothing but calls about sick or injured strays, mostly turning out to be very old cats with "senior citizen" problems rather than traffic injuries or infections. 

I can only think that some of them are ones who don't go out unless the weather is really nice so that the neighbours don't normally see them. Many old cats do look thin, so from the neighbours' perspective it's not unreasonable to assume that the unknown cat suddenly appearing in their garden is lost and thin through lack of food. At least two of the current crop turned out to have owners who were very distressed that their pets had apparently been "kidnapped", and of course it's potentially quite dangerous if cats who are on medication are removed and don't get their pills at the correct time. There's also the worry that some owners may not know how to search for missing cats—unless they phone round vets and animal homes rather than relying on putting up posters they may never trace a cat who's been picked up as a stray.

I can't stress enough how important it is to ask around and put up notices before insisting that animal welfare charities should take away an apparently stray cat who is simply thin and somewhat unkempt-looking, rather than having any obvious injuries or infections. Removing an owned elderly animal is stressful and potentially dangerous to the cat and can cost the charity hundreds of pounds repeating veterinary tests which the real owner may already have had done.

Clarence is home!

Clarence was handed in to us as an injured stray, and we were delighted to get a call from his owner who had recognised his picture in our rehoming gallery.

Clarence was chipped in Switzerland before his family moved to the UK, which is why, although we could detect that he had a chip, we couldn't use it to trace his owner.

This is becoming quite a common occurrence as more people move between countries with their pets and I'm not sure what the solution is, other than, possibly, re-chipping animals after the move.

Logically you'd think that registering a chip for a pet passport to get permission to enter the country ought also to mean some kind of record that could be used to trace the owner of a found pet.

Sore eyes

Star waiting to alight from the catmobile

One of the regular visitors to our clinic is a lovely lady with a little dog, who also feeds all her local stray cats. As she has mobility problems and no transport she gets very upset if any of them are poorly because she really doesn't have any easy way to get them in a basket and take them to the vet herself. She's also a bit of a worrier, so my heart rather sank when I had a phone call around 10pm on Friday.

In the past she's had me out on searches for at-risk feral chickens, possibly injured muntjac deer and various cat and dog problems and the weather was absolutely chucking it down outside, so I was relieved that this time she seemed to think the morning would be good enough.

Got there just before ten and kitty was obligingly waiting to show off his eyes, which were indeed looking sore, so I popped him in a basket and off to the clinic. He really is an extremely laid-back cat and let the students take a blood sample with no problems at all. He's thin, although he's been eating ravenously, so he may be hyperthyroid; we'll have to wait for the blood results to come back and in the meantime he's in my spare cat pen with a prescription for eye ointment.

He is neutered, so someone obviously was looking after him at one point, and it is possible that he does have a home and was only looking for extra food because he has a medical problem.

Merlin's vet check-up

Merlin looking rather woebegone as he waits to see the vet

Merlin had his 9-day wound check yesterday and all looks good so far. You can just see the external fixator on his right-front leg in the photo. The green lumps are vetwrap self-adhesive bandage wrapped round the screws that join the splint to the pins which actually go below the skin and are attached to the leg bones, holding them in place so they can heal in the correct position.

There's a photo and diagram showing how external fixators work on the veterinary central website. Considering that the pins are essentially going into the leg through small open wounds which won't be able to close until the fixator is removed, animals are surprisingly unworried by them. The main risk is  the potential for infection, which is why the wounds need a periodic check.

Tuesday off to new foster home this evening

Katie's back from her holiday, so she came round to collect Tuesday this evening. Tuesday was a little star, walking into her carrier like a seasoned traveller. The same could not be said of Merlin who howled: "OTHER KITTY BEING FED!" in the background the whole time, while my own Coco who has a bit of a nervous tum at the best of times, decided to mark the occasion by using the litter tray. Madly squirting lavender odour eliminator before answering the door didn't entirely help and poor Katie and her sister must almost have been knocked off their feet by the composite wave of "fragrances".

All I need is a good supply of filmy scarves to complete the "mad cat lady" effect.

There are good reasons why RSPCA HQ encourage branch volunteers to avoid taking on too many animals at once.

Beautiful photo of Tuesday in today's Cambridge Evening News which may help to trace her owners.

Thoughts on prioritising admissions

Flis, not liking having her photo taken!

Tricky situation yesterday where a gentleman brought a stray cat to  a  local vet expecting that they'd be able to get the cat into a shelter for rehoming. Blue Cross, Cats Protection and Wood Green are all absolutely full of cats. Previously we'd have gritted our teeth and taken him as there's no-where else. However in our current financial state we just can't use funds that are already fully committed to board a cat who doesn't need to be in kennels.

Fortunately the finder was very good about the situation and agreed to take the cat back where he came from and monitor the situation. It's a young, friendly tom, so almost certainly does have a loose association with someone and at least is not going to give birth to kittens at any moment. From a welfare point of view leaving him in situ is really much more satisfactory than keeping him cooped up in a cattery or going down the route of putting down another cat in order to make room. 

Another injured stray

Royston Vet Centre have just phoned to let me know that an injured stray cat was taken in to them last night on an RSPCA National Control Centre log number. He's got a broken leg and jaw, but they think the injuries are at least several days old as he's coping well and eating ravenously in spite of the jaw injury.

They scanned him for a chip and found one, but it looks as though the owner may have moved and not updated the record as there's been no response to any of the landline, mobile or email contact registered in the PetLog database. For the moment we'll have to treat him as an ordinary unowned stray and organise continuing care and fracture repair via our clinic. The Royston vets have kindly volunteered to contact other local vets in their area in case he's been transferred to another practice or possibly rehomed to another owner.

If your pets are chipped, please remember that it's essential to update your details if you move or change your mobile or email providers. If you're going on holiday for a significant length of time and leaving the cat to be fed by neighbours make sure you remain contactable in an emergency.

Maisie

This is Maisie, the cat with the broken jaw who came in just over two weeks ago, still looking a bit sorry for herself. As you can see from the pics, the left-hand side of her face is still not quite right, but she should be able to have the metal wire out next week. I think she's almost blind on the bad side except that her pupil contracts in bright light, so she can probably see light and shade.