We are going to call her Andie and she is gorgeous, semi-feral and scared out of her wits. She has to be the largest kitty I have seen in a good while and if I had to guess, I would say she has Persian and Maine Coon in her. She has been here less than 24 hours and right now, she is on our bed growling at us.

I got the call yesterday from an elderly gentleman who was hiking one of the many trails out at McDowell Creek Park. This park is a beautiful, remote area full of waterfalls, trees, tourists and locals but not much else. Located high in the mountains, there are no homes nearby where this cat could have wandered out to investigate her world.

She is an older cat, when she was yowling at me, I did manage to take a good look at those teeth of hers. They show heavy tarter build-up and her one canine is broken. She is 24 pounds of fur and fury at the moment. She has so many parasites that she had eggs caked from her rump down to her back legs!  Her rapid breathing could just mean she is terrified about being indoors, or it could mean heart damage. If someone owned her- they didn’t care a whit about her- she was matted completely. It took me three hours of TLC and a heavy duty seam ripper to get her mats out and then she had a bath and I kept all my fingers during that ordeal. But she needed one badly. She had three rinses before the water ran clear.

We need to get her to the vet. I am looking for that special good Samaritan who can help us cover the cost of that visit. I know they will test her ($45.00) then there is the general exam ($30.00) and whatever else she needs- one which is Profender for her load of parasites. We are not asking for anyone to cover what is already owed to this vet, we just don’t want the bill going over $1,000.00 which if I take her in today as I have determined we must- the bill will be higher. We have been making small payments to get it paid down- but donations are slow coming into the various boxes around town.

Since it is Saturday, I will need to take her into my vet’s clinic. Although her rapid breathing alarms me and makes me think that she might have lung or heart issues that would allow someone to take her to this remote setting and let her go – until Dr. Steve actually examines her- it’s anyone guess what is going on with her. I know she is crawling with parasites and fleas but I just flea-treated everyone last week and don’t even have Advantage here to put on her.

She is a beautiful girl and I wish you could actually see her.The photos are so dark. I don’t want to turn on the overhead lights and get her anymore upset. We get so many in here who are rail skinny and starving. She is the opposite end of the spectrum. I will post photos when she calms down a bit. It makes me angry that someone would just dump her up there. There is no campground at this park- it is just a place to go and enjoy the three waterfalls. The man found her hiding in the bushes. He heard her crying and stopped to call me. Turns out he knew about us from before because his daughter adopted a cat from us recently! I am glad he found her, that she stayed put until I got there and God Bless cell phones-

When I was gently trying to get her mats out of her, she peed and pooped all over the bed. Her stool is crawling with parasites. 🙁 She has been neglected for quite awhile.

Please help us help Andie –