We work very closely with a very large rescue. They are a dedicated bunch of hard-working, tirelessly driven group of people who take in almost every kind of animal plight imaginable. I love to help out because it allows us to give back to those pets who need us most. It also allows me to see things I would likely spend a whole life practicing and never get to encounter. I see cases with them that I had only read about in textbooks in vet school.
Some of the cases have happy endings and some don't. But every case is treated with love and given every single available option for treatment that we have available. If they bring the pet to us we know that they want to do whatever is possible to get that pet well. We have few restrictions and we don't have to debate with treatments based on a financial or emotional constraint. We can jump in and get to work.
Yesterday a 3 week old kitten was brought to us for care. She had been "found" by someone who brought her to the rescue. She was a small brown fluff of meows. She resembled my baby birds at home. No real structure just wisps of baby fur. The shear degree of her pitifulness tugged at your heart from the moment you touched her. She was so tiny you couldn't help to root for her.
She had a half closed left eye, and a very painful bottom. After the fur was cleaned away we noticed that she had a very deep wound that ran from her anus along the left side of her spine almost half way down her back. That hole was completely full of maggots. And it hurt like crazy.
We spent most of the afternoon trying to get the maggots out, keep her warm, get her to eat, and treat her for her infection, discomfort, and tissue trauma.
As much as she had already endured she was too weak to fight such a devastating wound. She died overnight.
She is another victim of an over abundance and neglectful oversight by the human beings around her.
She is also the reason that vets try so hard to urge people to spay and neuter. Our hope is that if we have fewer and fewer breeding cats, then hopefully we won't have so many unwanted litters, and hopefully those kittens won't be trying to live and defend themselves on their own and fall victim to another cat attacking them or a wound that then succumbs to the harshness of the environment.
Please spay and neuter, and please encourage your neighbors to do the same. TNR works, it just needs a greater effort on every one's part.
Some of the cases have happy endings and some don't. But every case is treated with love and given every single available option for treatment that we have available. If they bring the pet to us we know that they want to do whatever is possible to get that pet well. We have few restrictions and we don't have to debate with treatments based on a financial or emotional constraint. We can jump in and get to work.
Yesterday a 3 week old kitten was brought to us for care. She had been "found" by someone who brought her to the rescue. She was a small brown fluff of meows. She resembled my baby birds at home. No real structure just wisps of baby fur. The shear degree of her pitifulness tugged at your heart from the moment you touched her. She was so tiny you couldn't help to root for her.
She had a half closed left eye, and a very painful bottom. After the fur was cleaned away we noticed that she had a very deep wound that ran from her anus along the left side of her spine almost half way down her back. That hole was completely full of maggots. And it hurt like crazy.
We spent most of the afternoon trying to get the maggots out, keep her warm, get her to eat, and treat her for her infection, discomfort, and tissue trauma.
As much as she had already endured she was too weak to fight such a devastating wound. She died overnight.
She is another victim of an over abundance and neglectful oversight by the human beings around her.
She is also the reason that vets try so hard to urge people to spay and neuter. Our hope is that if we have fewer and fewer breeding cats, then hopefully we won't have so many unwanted litters, and hopefully those kittens won't be trying to live and defend themselves on their own and fall victim to another cat attacking them or a wound that then succumbs to the harshness of the environment.
Please spay and neuter, and please encourage your neighbors to do the same. TNR works, it just needs a greater effort on every one's part.
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