CAN ANYONE HELP ECCO BELOW?????
Sharon Duggan
-----Original Message-----
From: Nikki [mailto:mist...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 9:03 AM
To: mist...@yahoo.com
Subject: Ecco
Hello Angel Network
I will be the first to admit that I tend to curse the people who send me
emails of abandoned and abused animals looking for homes. I feel helpless
and frustrated because if it were up to me, I would take each and everyone
in.
I will also be the first to admit that I now have a better understanding of
what it is like to be the person who sends out that email because I am
finding myself, for the first time, to be one of those people.
Here is the story:
Friday I ran over to our local food haunt to pick up a newspaper they kept
aside for me (the editor of the Cape Times wrote an article which I was
interested in). I didn't take my cellphone or anything with me - it was
going to be a case of pick up the paper and run back to the office. It was
Friday afternoon and I still had work to complete before the weekend.
As I got close to the shop, which is located at the Victoria Junction
courtyard, I came across a ginger cat in a terrible, terrible condition. He
was just sitting there, tongue limply hanging out of his mouth, the tongue
was forked and the one tip was black, his eyes, nose and ears were crusted,
he was drooling and his breathing laboured and wheezy. I slowly approached
him - I didn't know whether he was feral or not. To by delightful surprise
he was not. He allowed me to stroke his head. This meant one thing - he
could be picked up and taken to the vet to get help. Problem was, I didn't
have my phone on me to call anyone to ask what I needed to do. I didn't want
to run back to the office and get back and he was gone. I had to act right
there. I ran in to the nearest shop asking for a cardboard box. It happened
to be a hairdresser. They didn't have any containers of any kind but a kind
gentleman, in the middle of a haircut, said I could put the cat in the
back of his bakkie while I go and call for help.
I picked the kitty up and put him in the back of the bakkie and ran back to
the office like a woman possessed. I called Beryl - she was the first person
I could think of who would tell me what to do. Beryl told me to take the cat
to a vet (fortunately the vet she named was my cat's vet so I knew him very,
very well).
I grabbed a fellow colleague and friend (also an animal freak) and all I
told her was "COME, I need your help NOW".
We tried to get the kitty out of the back of the bakkie and in to a box.
This is where the sports started. Kitty was okay with being picked up but
the moment we tried to put it in the box, he went banana crazy. He hissed
and spat and clawed and tried to bite. Time and time again he got away
because we had to let go. The more we tried, the less he trusted as as we
came closer, but eventually, after about a half an hour and lots of cursing
and sweating, we managed to get him in to a crudely made container (of a box
and a crate).
My colleague and I ran to my little Mr. Bean mini and off we zoomed to the
vet. When we got there, my colleague requested a tranquiliser (for herself)
from the vet! I could care less about the way I drove and weaved through
traffic - I had important cargo and my cargo needed urgent care.
The vet took one look at the cat and said "this is a very, very old cat". He
had no bottom teeth and his one top incisor was loose and the vet took it
out on the spot, without the cat even flinching! He also said the cat must
have suffered trauma before.
The vet said we had two options: either euthanasia, or treatment. But he
will only treat the cat if we can rehome it. Needless to say we chose the
latter option.
Saturday morning he called me and told me the cat, now named Ecco (by my
colleague) was doing very well - he was on antibiotics, and was responding
well. The tongue handing out of his mouth was most likely because he had no
bottom teeth, and the vet had to pull some other teeth as well. That means
old Ecco now only has 2 teeth left in his entire mouth. The vet also told me
that if we release him back in to his stray/street environment, Ecco will
NOT survive.
This is an old kitty. I am desperately trying to find a home for him so he
can live out his twilight years in love and peace. I would not suggest he
goes to a home with raucous children or dogs.
But we need to find a home for him and we need to find a home for him fast.
He can't stay at the vet indefinitely, and I don't want to keep him cooped
up in a small cage for days on end.
So please please please please - if you know of anyone who is willing to
take Ecco in and let him live out what little life he has in peace, let me
know immediately. Today is Monday and I would like to get him out of there
by latest Wednesday.
The alternative is too horrible to contemplate.
The bonus is - all veterinary bills are paid (he has been dewormed as well).
Please help me help Ecco.
Love and light,
Nikki
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