My Support Forums - View Single Post - 50 Days-Missing Cat--I found him!

Simcha · Nov 22, 2008, 02:50 AM

Thanks everyone for your replies. I know we are all animal lovers here who would be devastated if we lost a pet. My story is less common, and we all know the longer they go missing the less likely we are to get them back---We put up cat traps, but they only caught racoons and one feral cat.

In my case, my cat hadn't wandered far, and had been spotted in the vicinity (we laced the area with multiple picture signs that offered a REWARD--very important to include a REWARD). I'm a university student and I live in a well populated area with lots of pedestrians, even in the cold winter. My guess is that he took up with feral cats in the area until it got too cold--he was in shock, which is why he didn't really recognize us for awhile. Our ferals are well fed, as we have lots of people around. We have well staffed veterinarian clinics and an excellent animal shelter.

We found him under a car at about 9pm--he was YOWLING, and when I came out with the cat carrier he came right to it--it was FREEZING outside. Thank G-d I was outside, as he wouldn't have survived the night. He was severely dehydrated, malnourished, hypothermic, filthy and with fleas (he was a purely INDOOR CAT), severe vertigo from unknown origin, and the most recent update tonight after visiting him at the animal Intensive Care Unit at our Animal Emergency Hospital--the best I've ever seen, FYI---is that he probably has a broken rib---they thought it was his spine, but it looks more like a broken rib---he wouldn't hold still so we're going to get better pictures tomorrow morning before the veterinarians do their morning rounds---a rib isn't a big thing, they just give pain medicine and make sure it doesn't puncture anything. We don't know what happened--his break-away collar was also missing. He lost 7 lbs, but has gained one pound in 3 days (yay). He looked much better today.

Thank G-d for veterinarians. I also can't underscore enough the importance of a 24 hour veterinarian clinic. Send your veterinarians a card for the holiday season.