​                                                      Glencadam Shetland Ponies - Alba

August 25th 2015

Looking after Glencadam House for our friends Don & Clova whom we rent our ponies field from.. At 8am on turning the ponies out, John (my husband) came rushing home to say a black cat was on the front porch and appeared to have a broken back. A quick car dash back to the main house within minutes as John came to collect me from our home - and no cat!

If it was indeed injured it couldn’t have gone far and would have made every attempt to take refuge from predators - mainly the buzzards and foxes. Opposite the front door there is laurel hedging (perfect for refuge and not too far away) I followed my gut instinct.

I crouched down and called out “Sooty”  as I suspected it may be one of the 2 feral cats that were resident within the Estate. Very low muffled meows was the response I got! I crawled under the hedging and had to be cruel to be kind, virtually dragging the cat gently as best I could as a clean retrieval was almost impossible with all the undergrowth.

No time was wasted and the black cat was placed in a cat carrier with a blanket and immediately rushed to our local Veterinary Practice for a diagnosis / prognosis detailed below.

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August 25th 2015
 Vet update, sooty is a male, NO MICROCHIP, sweet natured cat that allowed open wound cleansing - treated as feral to keep expenses down as best as possible ( thanks to the vets for doing this), wounds estimated to be a week old maybe a week and a half, paralysis to back legs was shock related. Cat has had a lion clip and both hips which are red raw seems to be the main infested area along with the back. De-briding carried out on 7-8cms wounds on hips, cat bathed and antibiotics given. Vet was to speak to a more senior member of staff regards worming and flea treatments which we have home with us. Open wounds to remain so any embedded maggots not reached / flushed out can resurface and we can go for another clean in 2 weeks time. Antibiotics given and anti inflammatories. Pusskins still purring away, eating and drinking and bright and alert and home  to stay with us in an indoor cage for 2 weeks then back to the vet for wound checks and possibly more flushing, bathing and de-briding. Much as it breaks my heart or will do Sooty will be up for a loving home if no owner comes forward. (Not that they will as hes feral) but we had to follow all routes via Cats Protection etc all the while, taking full responsibility for all vet fees incurred  (This was our request as he needed immediate treatment with or without an owner coming forward). Rehoming will be done by ourselves and wont be taken lightly as he deserves a forever home with love and stability and kept indoors until hes familiar at being a house cat. Hes 1 in a million and one I would keep myself if we hadn't a dog in the house. Thanks to Amy (vet) and staff at Robson Veterinary Hospital Laurencekirk for all they have done today, and to my lovely niece Gemma for the  cat bed, litter tray, feed bowls and supper for tonight XX The conclusion was, that given the exact marks on each hip, its POSSIBLE that Sooty fell victim to one of the larger buzzards and that the perfectly rounded holes were claw puncture wounds. Its also plausable that he put up a fight and was dropped on initial capture - escaping into undergrowth.

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August 25th 2015
WOW.....I'm overwhelmed at the Generosity of family and friends and the donations received today - you all know who you are...thanks ever so much. I am most humbled to see how folks can rally round to help in times of need, more so with a beautiful cat that is so trusting and loving and despite all it has gone through continues to be happy and purrs! we have Sooty home and he is to return to the vet again in 2 weeks time. Tomorrow I will be up very early for work,  as I didn't make it in tonight as literally just in the door. The next 2 weeks should see marked improvement but we may need another flushing and de-briding of wounds if there are still maggots to surface. Once all treatment is over I will do photocopy breakdown of the vets account so you can all see what has been done and where your money has gone. From the bottom of my heart and from Sooty THANK YOU to all who have donated so far. Love you guys XX

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August 27th 2015
A Positive day today. I was up at 4.30am and happy to say Sooty had defectaed and passed lots of urine - well done lad hence  todays vet appointment for bladder expressing has been cancelled. We can now apply the Broadline treatment and let him have a chill out day. Now to do some re-arranging and allow Sooty a bit more freedom to walk around but still with protection in place. Donation in the post from a friend in Herefordshire so this will be used for that extra special something - a nice blue collar for the lad before we get him vaccinated and micro-chipped when hes all better :-) vet appointments and medications are still ongoing, just todays appointment cancelled. Relieved in a way as hes been through so much and deserves a duvet day without being disturbed.

To date, and thanks to all your generous donations, Sootys funds totalled £300. £100 has paid off the first vet bill in full so a massive thank you. The remaining £200 will cover yesterdays bill and his follow up appointment / consultation / second bathing cleansing and his injections. Any change will go towards microchipping given neutering will not be required

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28 August 2015 
£320 to date has been paid for Sooty. Another donation yesterday through my home letterbox.

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30 August 2015 
A happy / grumpy puss tonight. NOT liking being confined :/ but I cant allow him to roam ouwith the bedroom for fear of Keeta getting him and his wounds are tightening with healing and hes still not able to walk freely although he is up on his legs he still wobbles from side to side. The joys

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31 August 2015 
Todays Kitty Goodies....1 scratching post, 1 Blue throw, 1 blue collar. Next on the list will be incontinence pads! Sooty has stopped usng the litter tray :/ will try a baby bath as he is so long in the body most of the trays we looked at were too small for him! Eye test and urine test on the cards for our next visit to the vets when we have his follow up appintment

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20 September 2015  
3rd vet bill for Sooty has now been paid in full. Many thanks folks.A week to go then he gets his "all clear" check up after having the scabs from wounds removed just over a week ago and his eye test confirming partially sighted due to degeneration of eye.

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SOOTY WILL BE STAYING WITH US - hes partially blind and cannot be released back into the wild as a feral cat. Our spare bedroom has been devised so that he has the run of the whole room, he has his scratching posts and litter trays in place, and although blind he knows where his feed/water bowls are, his bed, the spare bed! and can navigate his way around by smell etc. We are also fortunate that we have long windows so he will be aware of daylight despite being partially sighted and can sit on the low window sill and look out over the garden.

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