Prior to my trip, the sanctuary accepted two more cats: a very young, sick mackerel tabby who we are calling Gracie and a old hammered tomcat (Himalayan mix) who we are calling Hamilton.

Both cats have been tested, vetted. Gracie has a wound on her belly and she has been spayed. Hamilton is no longer a grumpy tomcat. He is still at the vet’s because he was in really bad condition. Not only did he have multiple wounds from fights, but he had a severe flea allergy that morphed into a staph infection.

When I got the call on Gracie, I was told the man had a sickly Siamese Chocolate Point who had shown up at his door. He was feeding her but he already had 6 indoor kitties and didn’t want another. Because Siamese mixes are in great demand and move out of here quickly for adoption, I told him I would be right there.

I got to the home and he had her in a carrier. Guess what- no Siamese here- just a sweet mack tabby yowling at me. LOL I took her immediately to the vet and now she is prowling our home with the other kitties head-bumping us at every opportunity.

On the second call, the elderly woman was hysterical. She lived in the hunting grounds and sadly, the person is still hunting and hurting severely the cats getting more grotesque with his art at each victim. 🙁 She was sobbing about a cat that had shown off with half his face ripped off and his sides were gone? I calmed her down, asked her for her address- she lives a block away from where all the hurt is going on. I told her I would be right there and rushed out the door.

I get there and see a cat carrier on the porch. The woman had been standing at the side of the road waving wildly to all the cars who passed her. As I turned into the driveway, I was thinking that this is going to be bad and before even taking the cat to the vet, I would go to the police station and demand they find out who did this!

So, I go up on the porch and the woman is in the corner wringing just crying. Gently, I turned the carrier around and take a deep breath and look inside. I see this grumpy old tomcat glaring at me. His face wasn’t hanging off him- he looked like a scruffy tom. I saw a wound on his neck and when I asked the woman what she was talking about? She approached and pointed to him and said look by his ears! I did, I saw raw skin- not skinned skin- I saw a mountain of fleas on him but not much else. Thanking God that it wasn’t another victim. I took Hamilton to the vet.

Hamilton has been at the vet since we rescued him. he had old wounds all over his body- he has a severe flea allergy that morphed into a staph infection. They sedated him, clipped him, bathed him, re-flea treated him, neutered him. He was given a covinia shot, depo shot, cortisone shot and a pain shot. I didn’t take a picture of him but for those of you who have followed this blog for years- his condition under all that fur reminded me of Shell. Thankfully, other than being severely anemic and not quite looking like a cat yet- he doesn’t have her issues. He will be beautiful when he gets a few doses of our TLC and some groceries and the staph infection goes away.

Here is Hamilton. Mike said we should call him Hambone because he is so skinny. I don’t like naming cats after food- sits wrong with me.

I think Sweet Home is a little bit in hysteria about the hunter and it is making the case that cats should not be labeled by the law as pests or vermin. Which simply means in our town a chicken has more rights than a cat does. People are talking about it, some are scared, some are angry and it is all over social media here. The local news station interviewed one of the owner’s who lost her kitty to this madness. But thankfully, Hamilton was only a victim of a horde of hungry fleas and neglect.