Feral Pets

Most animals that are born outside have some resistance to cold weather.  In winter, they gain weight and their coats thicken up nicely.  However, as temperatures go below zero they have a hard time keeping up their energy levels.  They are also in danger of frostbite on exposed parts of the body such as paws and noses.

Around Istanbul at this time I see kind people trying to make their lives easier, shopkeepers sometimes provide cardboard box shelters for their favourite dogs and cats.  Our ‘puppy’ street dog who has featured in other posts, is now quite large but she never gains weight.  In spite of regular feeding and worming her ribs are visible and her coat is very short.  Before the snow that came last week, there was torrential icy rain.  The puppy looked miserable in the garden but I couldn’t bring her inside or even on to the terrace because she has learned to terrorise the cats from her mother.  Instead, I very hastily errected a primitive shelter using rubble and a vinyl table cloth.    The shelter kept her dry but as it was open in the front it didn’t keep her very warm and we awoke to snow the following morning.  I found her in the shelter, dry but shivering very violently.  She had no energy and did not rouse herself to greet my dog. 

Fearing the onset of hypothermia, I had to do something.  I warmed some old clothes on the radiator and put them in the shelter, wrapping her up in them.  NOTE, clothes are only useful if they are bone dry, otherwise they will draw heat from the body.  I then read on the internet that hot water bottles are useful.  I filled up some old mineral water bottles of various sizes with warm water.  The small ones she could snuggle up to and she used one as a pillow.  The large ones acted as heaters to raise the temperature inside the shelter.  Of course, they cooled quickly and needed regular topping up.  Happily a few hours later she was running around back to normal.  I repeated the hot water bottle treatment when she returned to the shelter.

Cats also feel the cold of course.  Mousy (see my post about otitis interna) is a strange nervy little cat who normally refuses to come in the house.  I put a little box on my bedroom windowsill which she took a liking to:

However, not long after this picture was taken, she decided she had really had enough of the outdoor life, so she mustered up the courage to come inside:

Needless to say, she doesn’t want to go back out now!

The cats on the seaside are not so lucky, but at least kind people come out in all weathers to feed them and leave fresh water.  As you can see, Honey tried to jump the queue:

Some cats wait more patiently:

Please feed any street animals in your vicinity and be alert to vulnerable ones (young or old animals, very short-coated ones) who may be in real danger.  Don’t forget the wildlife either.  I remember last year on a bleak and rainy day in the park, Honey and I visited some of our street dog friends.  One female short-haired dog was shivering miserably.  Her friend, a much larger neutered male was trying to shelter her with his body and licking her repeatedly to keep her warm.  If an animal who has nothing can be so caring, so can we.

It is a long time since I have blogged.  Part of the reason is being so busy caring for my invalid animals at the moment.  This story has been going on for nearly a month now and I wanted to wait and see how it turned out.  Fortunately, it looks like good news.

Marty my black and white kitten who has featured in previous posts was caught again by one of the street dogs in the garden.  I heard a terrible scream and then Marty appeared on the terrace with tufts of fur missing and his right front leg just hanging.  My vet x-rayed him and declared the knee so badly damaged, along with surrounding tendons and ligaments that he himself was unable to operate.  This delicate operation required the advanced skill of a professor.  We found one recommended on the internet that was not too far from home.  When he saw the x-ray he agreed it was tricky but not impossible.  I also had a very kind donation towards the operation so we decided to give Marty a chance and go ahead.

At that point he had very very little feeling in the paw and  I wondered if the nerve damage was irreparable.  He had the operation and came home the same evening.  For much of his recovery he just slept and rested.  At first if he tried to walk on the leg, the paw was buckled under but in a few days it righted itself.  At his first check-up it looked promising.

He also caught a mystery infection that caused fever and vomitting which required more visits to the vet.  Fortunately, the vet was able to arrest the vomiting and re-hydrate him with serum.  We petted him a lot and invested in top quality food.  I massaged the limp paw regularly and gently moved the joint.  Slowly the feeling came back to the paw and I was delighted to see him extend his claws for the first time.

Tomorrow he has to go back to the vets to see if they can remove the pins that are holding the knee in place.  He is now running, jumping and playing in the house.  He is terrified of going in the garden and seeing the dog again.  After spending so much time in the house, and being so dependent, he is much closer to us than he was.  He is a lovely, brave, intelligent little cat.  I hope he can lead a normal life.

Marty soon after his operation

Bobby is a soft pillow

As  ‘mother’ to my stray cats, I really try to be impartial.  I like to enjoy all my cats for their individual personalities and I try to give each of them some quality time just for them.  I love Topsy and her intelligence, her possessiveness,  her strong personality.  I love Betty for the way she manages the garden, the way she seems to understand whatever is said to her.  I love Kerry for his kind-heartedness, his demanding miaow, the way he soldiers on with a lame leg.  I love all of them but once in a while, a truly exceptional animal shows up.

One day in the summer of 2008 an upstairs neighbour leaned over her balcony and told me she could often hear a kitten crying in the hedge down the garden.  Sure enough when I listened out, I could hear it too.  I took some food down and in the depth of the hedge I saw a flash of black fur.  When I checked later, the food had gone.  Three or four more days, I continued to leave food and the kitten showed himself.  Within the week he had joined the other cats on the terrace and everybody seemed to like him.

I am always interested in the paternity of my cats and I noticed that Tabby Tom who hated little Kerry at first site, was happy to rub noses with Bobby.  I rather hoped that he had sired him.  Bobby was soon firm friends with Kerry and the other young cats that had appeared in 2008.

Here he is with Kerry:

Last winter he started to spend more time indoors.  He was always a very clean young cat and charmed everyone with his charming and civilised behaviour.  If he was hungry he would simply gently place his paws round my ankles and give a quiet mew.  His behaviour in all departments was simply beyond reproach.

Here he is indoors last winter:

Now Bobby is over a year old and is larger than all the other male cats.  From being a dapper little cat, who was to be honest a bit of a beta male in the group, he has suddenly become the one who puts the others in their place.  His head is simply huge now and the configuration of his features is very much like Tabby Tom.  I am  pretty certain he is his son, as Tabby Tom and his offspring are the only cats in our area to have ear tufts and Bobby has them.  He also has the same voice and many of the same behaviours.  They also still tolerate each other.

I have been wanting to share this lovely cat with my readers for some time.  My problem has been that he is very camera shy and being jet black it is really difficult to convey his true beauty in a digital image.  I am plagued by photo problems as the lighting in my home is terrible and my camera doesn’t cope with it that well.

Anyway here is Bobby with Marty the kitten:

The lovely thing about Bobby is that as he has grown up, his behaviour towards us has not changed.  He still likes to sleep on our bed and give me little licks on the ear.  It is so satisfying to see how a little lost kitten has grown into a strong and confident cat.

 This lovely little kitten, Holly has featured in a couple of recent posts.  She was rescued by my husband as a tiny kitten and had grown up strong and confident.  She was very affectionate and intelligent and we had grown fond of her.  Unfortunately, she had also become adventurous and was starting to take excursions round the garden on her own, away from Kerry’s watchful eye.

On Friday morning at 7.00 am I found her killed and disembowled by our problem street dog.  Such a shame her life was cut so short.  Our garden is filling up with dead cats, most of them killed by dogs and this dog in particular.

We have tried removing the dog, calling the local council and now we would like to have her put to sleep.  She has also injured a pet beagle on our street and chases anything smaller than herself.  It is only a matter of time before she harms a child.  Our problem is finding a vet in Turkey who is prepared to do this.  Of course, nobody wants to kill a healthy animal but when it is destroying everything in its path it seems to me the logical solution.  They suggest I remove her to distant ground.  She has already come home over motorways and other hazards from a distance of several kilometres.  If we leave her in a forest, there is no guarantee she will find food.  The other  suggestion is we put her in a council shelter.  Firstly, the council have already refused to assist.  Secondly, the shelters are very poor in terms of the facilities they offer.  I couldn’t bear to think of her year in year out, sitting in her own filth in a small enclosure.  It amazes me that plenty of Turks, my vet included think this is a better option for her.

I am still scratching my head about this one.