Adoption of cats with physical issues

Today I learned that another sweet cat that is not physically perfect was adopted from the Metrowest Humane Society cat shelter. I have had the pleasure of knowing 3 of them briefly during my visits to volunteer there. I help socialize some of the formerly feral cats and also offer them Reiki. There are 2 isolation rooms on the same floor, and cats that are on medications or need special watching or care are usually in them. I met Nilla and Lucky that way. Gus was on the 2nd floor with the adoptable cats in a double cage during his stay. All 3 of these cats were at the shelter for a short time, considering their issues. It is a tribute to the shelter and the care that they give their feline charges how quickly these 3 cats were adopted.


Nilla was hit by a car and left for dead in the road. She needed 2 surgeries and then physical therapy. One of her back legs doesn't bend as much as it would normally, so she hobbles around. But she is adorable, sweet and very friendly. I had the pleasure of giving her some Reiki each time I was there (after she no longer needed her physical therapy and it was OK that I go into her room). I know her new people will love having her in her life.

Lucky was a handsome orange tabby who was missing part of a back leg - from the knee down. He came to the shelter that way, and I'm not sure of his history or how he came to the shelter. He was a very friendly, sweet cat, also, and enjoyed attention and the Reiki I gave him before leaving for the day on my visits. I only got to see him two Wednesdays before he was adopted. I'm sure both he and his new people are very happy to be together.

Gus, the first of these three amazing cats that I met, had a problem with his eyes. It seemed as though it was painful for him to open them. I asked about him and was told he might need to have his eyes removed. I gave him Reiki and hoped for the best. The next week, he wasn't there, he was at the vet for an appointment. The next week, he had had eye surgery, I believe to fix a problem with his inner lids, and also to make his eye openings a little bigger so he could see better. He was on medication and I could see his stitches, but he looked good. I saw him the next week roaming free - while volunteers are there, they will let the adoptable cats that get along with others out of their cages while they are cleaned. He seemed well-adjusted and happy to be out and about. That was the last I saw of him, the next week he was gone, having been adopted over the weekend.

I feel so honored to be able to meet and get to know some of the cats at the shelter. On days when I'm not feeling so great, I push myself to go, as I know as soon as I go through the door of the third floor with my jar chicken baby food in hand, to where the 'forget-me-knots', as the former feral cats are called, are, I feel so much better, just to see some of them come up to me (even if for some of them, it's only because they know I have that jar in my hand). The area has such a wonderful energy to it. Cats are amazing adaptable creatures, and I am proud to say I am a cat person.

Who is the boxer?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I volunteer at a cat shelter, helping to socialize the cats that had been strays before coming to the shelter. I get assigned to 2 cats to work with for 3 months at a time.

There are a lot of black cats, black and white cats and several black and beige tabby cats. Some have collars on them to help tell them apart. There is a directory of a sorts, with pictures, names and sometimes a little more about each one. But there have been a couple of cats that I'm not sure which one they are. But I was fine with the two cats I was working with: Mooney, a pretty gray and white cat (the only one that's mostly gray) and Mohammed Ali, one of the tabbies. How some of these cats get their names (my current 2 cats are Phanty and Nyoka), I have no idea, but that is something for another day. Given how many cats have needed names, it's not surprising that some are out of the ordinary.

Mohammed Ali (Mo Ali for short) had been pointed out to me on my first night at the shelter for orientation. So when I was assigned to him a week or two later, I knew who he was. I did check his picture before looking for him on my first day there alone. I found him, and he was a bit shy, taking a little chicken baby food from my finger, but backing off when other cats, who also wanted some of the treat, came over. And he didn't want to be touched; he swatted me when I tried. I went over to him each week, usually after seeking out Mooney, trading baby food on the finger for cheek rubs with her. I also saw the other tabby cats often, and checked out the pictures, trying to figure out who was who. Some of those tabbies look very similar, you really have to check how much white, if any, is around their mouth, and how much brown is on their nose. Well, I figured out which ones were Sally, Liberty and Nyoka. At the end of each of my stays, I wrote my notes into the log book, and checked what the other volunteers had said about Mooney and Mohammed Ali.

Last week that round of socialization was over and I was assigned two different cats:  Phanty, a pretty buff-colored cat, and Nyoka, another one of the tabbies. Each week notes are emailed to the group on the cats' progress. In the notes that came out Saturday night, someone was a little confused on which cat was Nyoka. In the back and forth emails, I made a comment about Mohammed Ali's description being 'long and lean', and that those words didn't really fit him (since he's rather round).

Well, guess what? Mohammed Ali is very lean; in fact he's lost some weight recently and was brought to the vet the other day to be checked out to make sure he is OK.

Uh-oh

I had been socializing Robin, not Mohammed Ali! Well, at least Robin was in the socialization program, too, he was just getting a little extra attention, and poor Mohammed Ali was getting less than a cat with such a name deserved. I haven't been back to the shelter yet to look at the pictures again to see how I made the mistake, and to find this skinny tabby with the big name. And did I really give Nyoka baby food, or did I mix up another tabby? I will make sure I have the right cat this time.

Can you tell which is which in the pictures? Mohammed Ali is on the left and Robin is on the right.