My cat is a rescue. I took him into my home before that he lived in a barn and belonged to no one. I had taken particular pity in him because he was the smallest cat, had a blind foggy eye, but was also the friendliest.
I knew how old he was, approximately 9 months. Technically he was almost an adult, but he had the stumpiest short legs. I knew I had to do something about this. I brought him to the veterinarian that I work for. He didn’t believe me when I said that he was 9 months old until he looked at his teeth to reveal a full set of permanent adult teeth.
He also had a juvenile cataract and anisocoria (when the pupils are of unequal size) in the same eye. The cataract could be a sign of a past rhinotracheitis infection. The anisocoria could mean nothing, or it could be a sign of another underlying condition.
The poor cat was also severely anemic, his mucous membranes were a pale white. He also had ear mites. The veterinarian was very blunt with me, and I could take it, I work in the field too. He told me that there is something seriously wrong with this cat. I, as a future veterinary technician, have a strong pull to take care of unfortunate cases such as this one. I wasn’t going to let this little cat go.
The plan: give a dewormer, get rid of the parasites, feed a good food, and give a lot of TLC. It was touch and go for a while. The little guy would eat his cat litter and throw up enormously. A sign of mineral deficiency. I changed the litter for a natural wood litter and that stopped. As he ate more and grew a little he regained his color.
This little cat would have had no chance as a stray barn cat. But because of some care, he became a great cat. Now he is fat and happy. I never gave up on him and because of his condition and his past he might not live as long as a normal cat but that doesn’t matter. I am happy to have just given him a better chance at life. He is one of the reasons I decided to become a veterinary technician.
Excellent choice you made. Have a young feral female domestic short-hair I adopted about 16 months ago and despite the fact that she has gotten an injection to remedy it, she has a red, patch on one side of her neck which has not healed. Just made another appointment with vet so that we can do whatever testing and treatment required to remedy this.