For several months now, I have been increasingly worried about my old girl. She has been fighting an URI. She is not one that can be easily treated or even caught. Two nights ago when I went out to feed, I noticed that she was absent. This caused my heart to skip a beat, because she’s always showing up for food. When I went looking for her, I found her under the bushes, she was reluctant to move. Unfortunately, the bushes that she hides under are very thick and I cannot get underneath easily. However, when I tried, she did move, but she was limping Either she has been in a fight, or she has hurt herself on the icy ground.
Tonight when I went out to feed, she was out there, but she didn’t want to move. This is so not like her. I put the food out and stepped back and watched. She is bearing no weight on her right front leg.
It has become increasingly cold here. Dropping down into the 20s at night. if a predator comes into the yard and goes after her she’s going to be top on the menu.
So I once again have put out one of my top-loader carrier. There is a dark towel, which I hope I will be able to put over her to calm her as I carry her to safety. I also have a pair of Mike’s welding gloves, which come in handy with feral cats who are not fond of being handled. I am hoping in the next few days I will be able to capture her and take her to the vet to be treated.
If tonight is any indication, it looks like she more than likely got into a fight and she’s fighting an abscess. This can go south so quickly I have to move fast, but I have to move cautiously. I don’t wish to cause her to flee and damage her leg anymore than it already is. I’ve tried to just talk to her and let her know that I would like to help her, but she fled the minute. I stuck my head into the room that she was sleeping in. She didn’t even give me a chance to talk to her , I know it sounds crazy but sometimes when they are hurting so bad and trying not to show it, you can reason with them they do understand that you’re trying to help. But she has seen me capture several of her friends in the last couple of months and she never sees her friends again so she’s very leery of me. She is 16 years old. I am praying that I will be able to capture her very soon.
Which one is this, Mary Anne?
She actually started life out with us by being called Little Girl. In 2005 when we were going over the mountain, we found her in the middle of a field. She was extremely emaciated, dehydrated and full of fleas to the point where they were jumping on my arm when I picked her up. She was so tiny. We just assumed she was a kitten. We brought her immediately to the vet and he really couldn’t do any testing on her because she was so anemic so I took her home and started TLC with her.
As she became nourished and hydrated, she started to grow. She wasn’t a kitten at all. She was actually around two years old! It was then that Mike started calling her Old Girl and the name stuck. She didn’t like being inside the house at all and one day, made a break for it, and disappeared under the house. She became part of the colony under the house teaming up with Ghost one of our past ferals.
Over the years she has become more and more elusive but now she is not acting in her normal pattern that I am used to. I have known that something is wrong with her for a couple months now, but have been unable to get close. This morning she still is able to move away from me, so I just have to be patient. If I move to soon, I know I will never see her again. So I just have to wait for the moment that seems right in order to help her.
One of the things in her favor is that she is a black cat and they do have great immune system’s, so perhaps she will bounce back from this injury or wound or whatever has happened to her . Time will tell. I was hoping I could catch her this morning but it didn’t feel right so I didn’t attempt it. She knows something is up and she is steering way clear of me right now. I’m not sure how they know but they can always tell even though I am trying very hard not to try and focus on her.