It's Official - The Casa has a bona fied Crazy Cat Lady

And Buddy makes thirteen. With 13, I have officially crossed the line into Crazy Cat Lady status, according to the IBKC's Laurie's reconning... assuming kittens count for the tally (somehow it doesn't feel like they should). And I couldn't say no.

My friend Rosalie is just the kindest lady you'd ever want to meet (I want to be Rosie when I grow up!). She called to say a stray had been hanging in her back yard for a while. Her neighbor had been trying, without success, to bring him in but both ladies had been feeding him. Rosie is highly allergic to cats but her hubby Jerry reported the boy welcomed petting and, sadly, that he was becoming increasingly beat up. So she called to ask if I could help.

Buddy taking his first look at his temporary digs - the back basement bathroom.

I made an appointment with Doc Andrew for Tuesday, fixed up the back basement to accommodate another charge, and arranged to drop off a carrier so Jerry could corral Buddy this weekend. As luck would have it, when I stopped by with the carrier, Buddy was napping under a rose bush. He came out, accepted pets and made no objection to being scruffed and put in the carrier. (We suspect he's finally at the point where he feels bad enough to accept handling, since her neighbor had little luck.) I could see he had a couple of open wounds so off the the emergency vet we went.

Oh boy. Not just a couple of wounds. Our not so young man is all torn up. By the time they got done shaving him to treat his wounds, he was half naked, poor guy! He has no obvious fleas, but has a monster ear mite infection. Buddy tested negative for FeLV but positive for FIV. That will probably impact his adoptability but you all remember how well Grey did here at the Casa, so I'm not too worried. I'm more concerned about the multitude of wounds and that, while he appears to be well fed and muscled (thanks to Rosie and her neighbor), he still tested as anemic. The ER vet sent off blood work and we'll see if it is a parasitic blood infection. Needless to say, our sweet guy will be in quarantine for quite a while.

I counted nine wounds on his body. His ears look like a pugilist's - thickened in some areas and they are leathery, without much fur. His tender little white nose is red with the seven scratches. It just hurts to look at him right now.

Rosalie and Jerry were right - Buddy was just such a good boy at the vet. They did have to lightly sedate him for the shaving - by then his patience had run thin after all the poking and prodding and blood drawing - but up until then he was as sweet as he could be. And, even though he was quite hesitant to leave the carrier when we returned home, he was very loving - wanting to be petted and purring up a storm. I wish I could sleep with him tonight, but I don't think I'd be much good to anyone tomorrow if I did. Maybe at 20 I could have slept on the bathroom floor, but that's not happenin' at 55 unless somebody is in really bad shape!

The next pics are not breakfast reading material so if you have a squeamish tummy, just stop reading here. We'll get more pics of our boy tomorrow and try to avoid the worst of the uglies. I'm leaving some scroll room for the tender hearted...

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There are so many sores on him I counted those grouped together, as though they happened at the same time, as one.

There are more wounds underneath on this side.

He seemed nervous about coming out into the main area of the back basement. For tonight I've closed the door to the bathroom so he'll know he is safe in the small room.

Here's hoping the big guy rests easy tonight.

So tomorrow we have big news from Mama Lucy (yeah, Judy, I just gave up on the Lucia and she's plain old Lucy now) and the babies. I'll leave you with a cheery pic of Miska and the feather thingy to remind you of the up side to fostering...