While walking Harold, our English Lab one evening after a cold front had brought rain and wind, my wife noticed a small black cat in the middle of the street. It was dark already and, with a truck approaching, she stepped into the street to wave the vehicle around the little animal who, at this point, had not moved. She picked it up and took it to the curb. It was cold and wet, soaked to the bone. She saw a lady in an adjacent driveway and asked if it was her cat. She said no, that she had seen it in the driveway next door. She placed it in that driveway, up by the doors, to get it out of the weather.
At that point, she resumed her walk with Harold and returned home. She could not sleep that night and, on the way back from walking him the next day, she angled back down that street to see if the little cat was still there. It was, but was now on one driveway over from where she left him. He was still not moving that much so she scooped him up and brought him home.
Once home, our other cats came to investigate but he didn’t seem to notice. He couldn’t walk but rather crawled and when he did try to stand up, he would fall over on his side. It seemed he had a neurological issue but we weren’t sure, of course. We tried feeding him but he didn’t seem all that interested in wet food. My wife mixed some high-protein food with water and got a few cc’s into him with a syringe.
We took him to our veterinarian, SPAH, for an examination and guidance about the next step. We had already rescued a blond/ginger stray from the local park last year, only to find out that the initial test missed leukemia in his bone marrow. After his examination, our veterinarian, Dr. Brian E. Smith, told us that the little cat was, in fact, an adult, not 3-4 months old as previously thought. Additionally, it was determined that he had a brain lesion and that the best option at that point was euthanasia.
We sadly agreed. At least, for the last hour and a half of his life, he was warm, dry and loved. Heartbreaking.
Please spay and neuter your pets!
