“There’s an injured cat on the way in!”
The message reverberates around the clinic. My experienced team quickly reorganise themselves from routine GP work ready to become A&E.
A Good Samaritan arrives with a black and white stray cat that looks close to death.
The poor soul did not have the strength to lift her head. She was cold and muddy. The injuries on her hind leg were concealed by a seething mass of maggots.
Despite the distress this causes the pet lovers at the Clinic, they start assessing her. In particular, they find that she is not wearing a collar, nor did she have an idENTICHIP. This means we cannot contact her owner to allay their fears about her absence, nor get permission to spend the money needed to save her life.
It is clear to us that she cannot survive without our help. At the very least we must deal with her obvious pain, the shock and remove all the maggots. The poisons they are releasing are killing her.
Indie and Denise volunteer to be the ones to painstakingly pick each maggot off with tweezers, shaving the fur to prevent escape and even lifting the edges of her damaged skin to locate every last one. But it soon becomes clear that the leg will not be salvageable, and that she is weakening without a drip.
One of them comes to me. “I will pay for the fluids. Please can we get her onto a drip, even though she is a stray?”
Obviously, as with all waifs, she gets the care she needs. Perhaps her owner will claim her and settle up later?
The next day she is off the danger list, but she needs an amputation.
At this point, the wonderful Paws and Claws become involved, transferring her into their care, and taking responsibility for her needs.
Later, I hear that she has been reunited with her owner.
We are so very grateful that she received their help. We would ask at Christmas time, if you would like to make a charity donation, please go to http://www.pawsandclaws-ars.org.uk/ and click on The Pavilion to sponsor a cat.
Alternatively, pop into The Mewes Vets and buy a beautiful 2017 calendar for £8, with all of the money going to Paws and Claws.
