Oh my goodness what a day....I don't know who else would want to hear it so I'm posting it here with all the feral cat folks...
I care for 7 feral and formerly-feral kitties at the horse farm where I keep my horse. Two are re-homed ferals that catch mice and come for feedings but are not social at all. Three are TNR kittens (now 2 years old) that some person in a black BMW dumped there. At least they were all neutered and ear tipped. One fat Bengal-cross just showed up, and the flame point Siamese tom cat just showed up too, and when I catch him, I plan to neuter him but it's not that easy...
Anyway. Two of the kittens I was able to get to before 12 weeks and they are both socialized. I can pet them, pick them up, head butts, kisses and all that. The third kitten was shy and I couldn't gain his trust early on, so can only be petted during feedings.
Bingo...and I've mentioned him before...he went on a hunger strike while I was out of town (paying someone else to feed everyone) for 2 weeks on company training, and then when I got back he disappeared. He came back but clearly he was making a point with that act.
Anyway, Bingo is my buddy. He is always there when I come to the barn to take care of my horse every day, and we always have our private hug and kisses time in the tack room when I'm done with my chores.
I noticed he was losing weight in past weeks...figured maybe a tapeworm. It's always flea season here in South Florida. So I gave him some anti parasite treatment mixed with food and it was hard to get him to eat it. Eventually he ate some mixed with kitten food. Over the weekend I noticed he was trying to hack up a hairball. Again yesterday...no hairball though. I forgot to bring Laxatone again too. He just seemed very frail and weak, like when I had to go out of town last year after I got back and he was all upset because he thought I was gone...(See the "feral kitten is mad at me" post).
Today I go to the barn. He's there, like always. He eats a little with the others then follows me to the barn for his private feeding on top of the fridge. He followed me into the tack room for snuggles and that's when I saw his breathing. His sides were literally heaving.
I have to be at work tomorrow at 5AM...and it's a day from hell tomorrow. I was hoping to get home early and rest after a long day today. I quickly dressed my horses ongoing leg wound (a whole other story) then got my dear boyfriend (who has a horse) to clean her stall. I threw in the feed for her, grabbed Bingo in the nasty cat carrier at the barn (ugh) and away we went, calling the vet on the way.
The carrier had a rusted door whose latches were frozen and the door was useless. I wedged it against the back seat of the car tightly and hoped for the best. 1 mile down the road, Bingo gets out and is now walking over my shoulder and onto the dashboard....while I'm on the phone with the vet. He's freaking out because, well, it's his first car ride since he was dumped, and he's sick. He found a safe place halfway between the front and back of the car ( it's a 1992 Pathfinder with the rear seats folded flat and a lot of cat food back there). I called ahead again to the vet letting them know my cat carrier was crap and I needed help in the parking lot.
The manager (bless his soul) of the clinic met me in the parking lot with a carrier. By this time Bingo was back in the front seat. I scruffed him, held his front legs with the other hand and was going to load him like a cannonball into that carrier the vet was holding but he decided to spread his hind legs and brace against the door with *literally the strength of a lion* I couldn't hold the 7 pound guy! He scrambled backward and snagged the side of my nose with a claw and got it stuck. That was awesome.
Blood running down my face, he's stuck on my cloth steering wheel, and anything else he can reach. I scruffed him again, grabbed his legs and stuffed him in the carrier this time. OMG.
Luckily I carry paper towels, and neosporin so I held pressure on my freshly pierced nostril while checking in at the vet, looking ridiculous I'm sure. They immediately put him on oxygen and did x-rays and blood work and tested him for feline leukemia and HIV. The vet said there was something on the X-rays that looked like fluid possibly in his lungs. After an hour he improved slightly, but the vet said the prognosis was not good and he would not make it through the night unless he was oxygen. Even better, the clinic was technically closed at that point, as they are not 24 hour, and there was no way he could stay.
With no other option, I asked what do I do then? They referred me to a 24 hour clinic that could keep him overnight. I borrowed a non-crappy carrier from them and away we went, stopping for gas in the 280k mile '92 Pathfinder since I was on fumes and we had a 10 mile or so drive ahead. If you wonder "Gee why are you driving a 27 year old truck with that many miles around?" It's because of days like THIS that make it impossible to afford anything newer.
Bingo was slightly sedated (thankfully) so there was no crashing around in the carrier this time. We got there, checked in, explained the story (he's not even really my cat!) and thankfully the other vet sent over all the records and they were already prepared for his arrival.
The emergency clinic vet said she didn't think it was fluid in his lungs. She said the lines we were seeing on the X-ray were boundaries of things like lungs, trachea, bronchial tubes that were normally not as prominent and she believed Bingo was having his first (and lethal if not treated) asthma attack.
He is a barn cat. The barn is full of hay dust, dirt, atomized horse poo and goodness knows what else and Bingo loves sleeping in the dusty rafters waiting for rats to happen by. I've seen him trotting away with a rat so big he had to hold his head up high so it wouldn't drag on the ground.
So he's overnight in the oxygen chamber, with IV fluids, resting comforably now. The awesome overnight staff already love him and are keeping him company through the night. I'm hoping by morning he will be improved enough with the O2 and the steroid shot to return to the barn, and I'm sure I will need a rescue inhaler for him.
Long term though, Bingo and his sister Leelah, need to be adopted out of there and live inside. They are the kind of personalities you try to find when you look for a cat and her are two, brother and sister, who are absolute sweethearts. I would take them both if I could, but I live in 950 square foot house with a "man and his dog" (14year old American Eskimo), plus my 18lb Maine Coon rescue cat "Romeo", and "Church" (from Instagram _thecatnamedchurch_) who was a disabled barn cat that I took in because his cataracts made barn life simply too dangerous with horses, dogs, trucks and everything.
Oh, and there's also the feral of 7 years I've been feeding in the driveway twice a day who I had to catch and take to the vet a few months ago because he was bitten by another cat and his leg was abscessed...now he wants to come inside and sit on my lap (and on the bed)...I think he was a pet that was abandoned a decade ago and he re-feralized if that's a word. Anyway, he lives on the porch now.
So no way I could take Bingo, or both him and Leelah for that matter.
I did everything I could do...I couldn't leave him at the barn and go home seeing him like that. I couldn't just leave the first vet and drop him back off at the barn knowing he wouldn't survive the night. They said at the emergency clinic...no news is good news, and it's 11PM and all is well.
Thanks for reading....it's been a hard day.
I care for 7 feral and formerly-feral kitties at the horse farm where I keep my horse. Two are re-homed ferals that catch mice and come for feedings but are not social at all. Three are TNR kittens (now 2 years old) that some person in a black BMW dumped there. At least they were all neutered and ear tipped. One fat Bengal-cross just showed up, and the flame point Siamese tom cat just showed up too, and when I catch him, I plan to neuter him but it's not that easy...
Anyway. Two of the kittens I was able to get to before 12 weeks and they are both socialized. I can pet them, pick them up, head butts, kisses and all that. The third kitten was shy and I couldn't gain his trust early on, so can only be petted during feedings.
Bingo...and I've mentioned him before...he went on a hunger strike while I was out of town (paying someone else to feed everyone) for 2 weeks on company training, and then when I got back he disappeared. He came back but clearly he was making a point with that act.
Anyway, Bingo is my buddy. He is always there when I come to the barn to take care of my horse every day, and we always have our private hug and kisses time in the tack room when I'm done with my chores.
I noticed he was losing weight in past weeks...figured maybe a tapeworm. It's always flea season here in South Florida. So I gave him some anti parasite treatment mixed with food and it was hard to get him to eat it. Eventually he ate some mixed with kitten food. Over the weekend I noticed he was trying to hack up a hairball. Again yesterday...no hairball though. I forgot to bring Laxatone again too. He just seemed very frail and weak, like when I had to go out of town last year after I got back and he was all upset because he thought I was gone...(See the "feral kitten is mad at me" post).
Today I go to the barn. He's there, like always. He eats a little with the others then follows me to the barn for his private feeding on top of the fridge. He followed me into the tack room for snuggles and that's when I saw his breathing. His sides were literally heaving.
I have to be at work tomorrow at 5AM...and it's a day from hell tomorrow. I was hoping to get home early and rest after a long day today. I quickly dressed my horses ongoing leg wound (a whole other story) then got my dear boyfriend (who has a horse) to clean her stall. I threw in the feed for her, grabbed Bingo in the nasty cat carrier at the barn (ugh) and away we went, calling the vet on the way.
The carrier had a rusted door whose latches were frozen and the door was useless. I wedged it against the back seat of the car tightly and hoped for the best. 1 mile down the road, Bingo gets out and is now walking over my shoulder and onto the dashboard....while I'm on the phone with the vet. He's freaking out because, well, it's his first car ride since he was dumped, and he's sick. He found a safe place halfway between the front and back of the car ( it's a 1992 Pathfinder with the rear seats folded flat and a lot of cat food back there). I called ahead again to the vet letting them know my cat carrier was crap and I needed help in the parking lot.
The manager (bless his soul) of the clinic met me in the parking lot with a carrier. By this time Bingo was back in the front seat. I scruffed him, held his front legs with the other hand and was going to load him like a cannonball into that carrier the vet was holding but he decided to spread his hind legs and brace against the door with *literally the strength of a lion* I couldn't hold the 7 pound guy! He scrambled backward and snagged the side of my nose with a claw and got it stuck. That was awesome.
Blood running down my face, he's stuck on my cloth steering wheel, and anything else he can reach. I scruffed him again, grabbed his legs and stuffed him in the carrier this time. OMG.
Luckily I carry paper towels, and neosporin so I held pressure on my freshly pierced nostril while checking in at the vet, looking ridiculous I'm sure. They immediately put him on oxygen and did x-rays and blood work and tested him for feline leukemia and HIV. The vet said there was something on the X-rays that looked like fluid possibly in his lungs. After an hour he improved slightly, but the vet said the prognosis was not good and he would not make it through the night unless he was oxygen. Even better, the clinic was technically closed at that point, as they are not 24 hour, and there was no way he could stay.
With no other option, I asked what do I do then? They referred me to a 24 hour clinic that could keep him overnight. I borrowed a non-crappy carrier from them and away we went, stopping for gas in the 280k mile '92 Pathfinder since I was on fumes and we had a 10 mile or so drive ahead. If you wonder "Gee why are you driving a 27 year old truck with that many miles around?" It's because of days like THIS that make it impossible to afford anything newer.
Bingo was slightly sedated (thankfully) so there was no crashing around in the carrier this time. We got there, checked in, explained the story (he's not even really my cat!) and thankfully the other vet sent over all the records and they were already prepared for his arrival.
The emergency clinic vet said she didn't think it was fluid in his lungs. She said the lines we were seeing on the X-ray were boundaries of things like lungs, trachea, bronchial tubes that were normally not as prominent and she believed Bingo was having his first (and lethal if not treated) asthma attack.
He is a barn cat. The barn is full of hay dust, dirt, atomized horse poo and goodness knows what else and Bingo loves sleeping in the dusty rafters waiting for rats to happen by. I've seen him trotting away with a rat so big he had to hold his head up high so it wouldn't drag on the ground.
So he's overnight in the oxygen chamber, with IV fluids, resting comforably now. The awesome overnight staff already love him and are keeping him company through the night. I'm hoping by morning he will be improved enough with the O2 and the steroid shot to return to the barn, and I'm sure I will need a rescue inhaler for him.
Long term though, Bingo and his sister Leelah, need to be adopted out of there and live inside. They are the kind of personalities you try to find when you look for a cat and her are two, brother and sister, who are absolute sweethearts. I would take them both if I could, but I live in 950 square foot house with a "man and his dog" (14year old American Eskimo), plus my 18lb Maine Coon rescue cat "Romeo", and "Church" (from Instagram _thecatnamedchurch_) who was a disabled barn cat that I took in because his cataracts made barn life simply too dangerous with horses, dogs, trucks and everything.
Oh, and there's also the feral of 7 years I've been feeding in the driveway twice a day who I had to catch and take to the vet a few months ago because he was bitten by another cat and his leg was abscessed...now he wants to come inside and sit on my lap (and on the bed)...I think he was a pet that was abandoned a decade ago and he re-feralized if that's a word. Anyway, he lives on the porch now.
So no way I could take Bingo, or both him and Leelah for that matter.
I did everything I could do...I couldn't leave him at the barn and go home seeing him like that. I couldn't just leave the first vet and drop him back off at the barn knowing he wouldn't survive the night. They said at the emergency clinic...no news is good news, and it's 11PM and all is well.
Thanks for reading....it's been a hard day.
My kind of person! 
