Last week I was at my chiropractor and one of the workers asked if I could help a kitty she has been feeding behind the building. She knew that I volunteer for a local rescue/adoption group. The cat could not put any weight on one leg. I borrowed a trap and managed to get the girl kitty. It turned out that she was the most feral cat I've ever seen. She was throwing her body against the cage sides so I took her to the nearest vet. She got loose in the room, bit the vet, pooped everywhere, and tried to climb the walls. After she was finally caught and sedated they took x-rays which showed she had apparently been hit by a car. She had a dislocated right shoulder and fractured humerus. I took her home and worked several days with trying to gain her trust. We have had a lot of hissing and growling along with tiny improvements in her behavior. She is about 7-8 months old and has obviously never been touch by a human before.

Yesterday she went into our regular vet for surgery. They popped the shoulder back into place, reduced the fracture and added a pin, and put the arm in a sling. They also spayed her at the same time. She was given an antibiotic and a 3 day pain patch. They put an E-collar on her so she would not tamper with the sling and bandages. It seemed silly continuing to call her "the feral kitty" so we named her Iona.

After taking Iona home the E-collar lasted about 30 minutes. She chewed through the gauze holding it and slipped out. Iona has been eating well and feels much better today. I know because she is growling at me again. She has not attempted to tear the sling and bandages off. She gets around pretty well, probably because she was used to only walking on 3 legs before this. Iona has been sleeping a lot today. She goes back tot he vet Thursday for a wound check. If all goes well the pin will be removed in a several weeks and she will be able to walk normally again.

People have been so kind to us. A lot of people on Facebook and in my bunny email group Petbunny know that I am now retired from teaching and living on a small fixed income so several of them along with the animal group United Animal Nation have very generously donated a total of around $800 for Iona's care. Having to pay about $600 rather than $1400 really helps me out with this rescue.

Over the next several months Iona will stay in a room in our home so I can work with taming her. Eventually she will be tame enough that I can add her to the 9 others here. She will never be tame enough to be adoptable so we will have to keep Iona. Beneath that fearful attitude there is a sweet, opinionated cat lurking that I will be slowly revealing. Here is a photo of Iona right after surgery when she still had the collar on.

Hi, Ken --

I don't know if you remember me or not, but I was a regular on here about 5 years ago. A friend of mine lost her beloved dog last week and I'm going to recommend she visit the forums here, but before I recommend the site to her I wanted to stop in and see if things were still the same. I recognized your name and read your post about Iona. What a little cutie! I remember you as being very kind and it seems your kindness continues! How lucky for little Iona is to have wound up in your home! I hope her recovery and taming is speedy.

Kathleen

Oh yes, I do remember you well Kathleen! I hope you have been doing well there. Iona must be feeling better since she just hissed and growled at me as I was opening up her evening feeding and sliding the plate towards her. She then promptly devoured most of the can of food.

Ken,

Thank you so much for the work you do with these cats! Although I have had several cats in my lifetime (including one feral cat that would only come up to me) I don't consider myself to be a "cat person". I do regret, however, that cats are so neglected in our society, more so, it seems that any other "domestic" animal. And, yes, the quotation marks were deliberate, as I wonder sometimes if cats can truly be considered domestic! You can tell by looking into Iona's eyes that she is a tough little girl, and her fighting spirit will do well for her! Thanks again for taking in such a beautiful animal, and thanks for having her spayed. I try to get it through to others that spaying or neutering is necessary to help prevent "unwanted" pets. So many animal shelters are overwhelmed because people will not have this done!

I do not know what subject(s) you taught, but I do know that if you treated your students with the same depth of feeling that you have shown to your cats, then the teaching profession was truy blessed to have had you in the ranks!

Andy

P.S. I just visited Daddy Cat's page. What a loving tribute to him! The loud purr part fit right in with one cat my family had when I was a teen...a HUGE Siamese with an equally HUGE purr, named Kitty Poppa! Unfortunately, that is about as far as the similarity goes, as Kitty Poppa was totally averse to strangers!

Thanks for your kind remarks. I added an update on Iona and how she has been doing. Thanks Andy for visiting Daddy Cat's page. He was very special and I still miss him a lot. He had the sweetest spirit we ever saw.