Feral Squable. Hairy Comes Back.

The black long hair eartipped feral, whom Heartland asked I rescue when he came to them in a live trap, was not the cat lost nearby with same description. He has been up in Wilsonville for almost two weeks. The person who took him, then took him to be scanned a week ago. He was put under light anesthesia and it was determined he had no chip, as the other lost cat would have been microchipped.

The woman said she would relocate the cat to the farm to which she had taken other cats. But I couldn't get the story straight. First she said it was an old woman who fed cats table scraps in her garage.

I always want to know that the cat is going to be properly contained, if a feral, and fed after released. I could not get a straight answer on either of these two concerns. She said something about the old lady feeding them scraps then they eat rats.

The first story, about the old woman who fed the cats table scraps, changed, when she told me it was a man taking him, who would hold him in a shed or outbuilding somewhere. I could not figure out how the man related to the old woman and the garage or if the two were the same property. I don't know why she was dodging me but I was confused. Straight forward questions, these were, I thought.

Then finally she told me the man told her two or three of the five she'd taken him very recently had already been killed by coyotes. I thought, why would a person even bother relocating ferals to somewhere they'll be killed so quickly? That is not helping them.

From the start she'd said we'd take him out together, but she switched and said "no" I could not see the place. I told her I was coming to get him back. I don't trust her anymore. That's nuts anyhow, to relocate cats to where they survive only a few months.

I went and got him today and could hear him breathing when I got in the door. He is very ill.

I took him to the vet, asking about a long term antibiotic injection and the price to inject him. I was told it would be about $85 so I went for it. But they did not tell me they were going to charge me $62 just for light anesthesia. They should have. There was confusion, I think. I was asking the cost before hand, to decide for or against.

I also assumed since the other woman was not charged at all for same thing, that I wouldn't be. They did charge me. The cost for light anesthesia alone was over what the cost of spay for a pregnant cat. The actual bill was over $160. I was floored, shocked, hurt that I had not been told beforehand of the anesthesia cost. I felt tricked!

It made me cranky. I want to know a ballpark cost before I agree to something.

Then the assistant tells me he also got a free exam, so I asked for the results of that at least. I figured I could find out if he'd had a temp, if he any mouth or tongue sores, consistent with chlamydia, or bad teeth, approximate age, if he had earmites, and they could not produce any of that information. I don't think he got an exam and if he did, they had no information on it.

I got an antibiotic injection and absolutely no other useful information about this cat and the cost was over $160.

You live. You learn. I learned a great deal today.

I learned you make darn sure to know exactly what you're going to be charged beforehand, and what will be done, and preferably, in writing, so there in confusion on either side, in the end.

There is just nobody filling the need for the unwanted cats out there, nobody with the money to do it, that is. Just little people. The big shelter, they kill ferals or sick cats, and only end up with a fraction of the aftermath of overpopulation anyhow. The kill shelters kill a high percentage of those. It's a wasteful ineffective inefficient after the fact way to address feline overpopulation.

The no kill shelters stick their heads in the sand, and take care of a handful of cats, and use the "no kill" label to get public sympathy and more money that they don't use to throw at the root of the problem. They just fatten their salaries and bulid bigger shelters. It's all just pathetic.

I've said it a million times. Maybe someday someone with some power and some money and who has the ability to get the real story out there of whats' going on and what should go on, will read this though. I just keep hoping. In the meantime, I'll pick up cans to pay bills for cats I've never met before they end up in my hands in dire need of help. I'm going to help them, too, if there's any way I can do it and there should be a whole lot more people doing the same.