Hitting a cat/I stole it

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issiandarchie+68
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Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by issiandarchie+68 »

Here's a non urgent question but something I have thought about a lot over time. About 35yrs ago, a neighbour had a lovely little black and white cat, sweetest nature, no trouble BUT cruel neighbour constantly hit her, really hard strikes, on the side of her body while holding her by the scruff, when she returned home from work. I was a young Mum, enduring illness and the trauma of losing parents and didn't know what to do, also had cats and young toddlers to take care of. (That's just to explain my dilemma). However, after witnessing this woman's cruelty one dark night, I couldn't bear it any longer so I crept into her garden, she rarely let the cat in, put her in a carrier and my husband drove her to the Vet. We trusted him, the Practice to this day still never puts a healthy animal down. Vet examined, kept the wee cat over night and, after feeding and painkillers, the next day, took her to a local small, independent Cat Charity. My question is this, I didn't feel any broken bones and she didn't seem to be in great pain, although extremely subdued, so traumatised I believe she was in a daze, so do you think no lasting damage was done and would she have trusted her new owner, forgotten her sadly painful life to that date and lived a happy life? I know it sounds odd, but I think of that little animal often, feel pangs of guilt for not acting sooner and in my old age, wonder did the wee pet find happiness?

Issi
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bobbys girl
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by bobbys girl »

Bless your heart, at least you did something.

My OH watches a lot of vids. via Facebook. It always amazes us when they tell the story of an animal that has been badly treated and then finds a loving forever home. The reaction of these animals is astounding, they just need someone to love them and they bloom.
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Oddcat
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by Oddcat »

I agree ... animals are amazing at just living in the moment, and bouncing back from traumas.

I'm as certain as I can be that the little girl found happiness. And had you to thank for it. Bless you for saving her, it was a brave and kind thing to do.
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Ruth B
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by Ruth B »

Congratulations on not just standing back and hoping someone else will deal with it.

I have two experiances I can offer. One of the youngsters I adopted last year was terrified of people when I got her. Freyja had been found at about 10-12 weeks old, inside a taped up cardboard box with barely enough room to move. It was first thought that there was something badly wrong with her as she just didn't move, but it was just fear. The shelter took her in, and 3-4 months later she was just about coming out for food. They didn't think anyone would take her as you really couldn't see her properly when you when to view the potential cats and kittens, they had become resigned to her being a permanent resident.

Her tale caught my heart and we agreed to take her and her friend (I was looking for two young cats). We couldn't even take her home that day, she was too scared by the attention and had found a tight hiding space, although we did leave with the other one (home check had already been passed). 18 months on and she is still nervous of strangers and doesn't like being restrained (getting her to the vets for boosters was a nightmare), but with us she is a really friendly, fussy girl, and getting more so week by week. She is however one of the few cats that doesn't like boxes.

The other example is from my childhood. I used to go riding regularly and had one of the stable's horses on loan. As normal in these places there was a number of barn cats. One of them had been run over a few days earlier. The stables owner had got him some painkillers from the vets and left it at that.

My mother was helping me drop off a bag of feed and saw this poor cat, there were no obvious injury, but you could still see the tyre marks on his side. She decided she couldn't leave him and 'he got in the car while we were unloading and we didn't notice'. Because he obviously wasn't well we took him to our vets (we already had 2 cats then). The vet did not think he would live. He had an horrendous cough, which turned out to be a good thing, it meant that the abdominal organs kept getting pushed out of the chest, back through the ruptured diaphram. My mother fought for that little cat, we told the stable owner what had happened and that he was being treated at our cost and could we keep him if he recovered. No problem, but she didn't think he would take to being a house cat. How wrong someone could be.

He recovered but always had problems afterwards, the two most noticible were that he couldn't purr, something had obviously been damaged and never healed. He also had a problem with his eyes, the pupils were always dilated. The vet mentioned a condition that caused it and normally cats with it did not survive, it might have been that or it might have been linked to the accident. What we did notice, enough to joke about it, he was a ground level cat. He would just about jump on a bed or sofa and that was it. There was a tree in the garden which had a fork at about 18" up, that was the extent of his tree climbing. He also loved to sit out in the sun which having had my pupils dilated with drops seem a bit odd, sunlight hurts. We never thought too much about it at the time but looking back I do wonder if he was partially or all blind. He had his problems but he knew he was in a far better place and was happy to be there.

I am sure that little one you rescued was the same. Thankful to finally end up in a loving home, and to realise that not all humans are evil.

Sorry it turned into a wall of text.
Grace56
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by Grace56 »

Bless you for caring and doing something about that poor little one's suffering.

I'm sure she will have found a kind and caring home afterwards.

My niece adopted a lovely little male cat who, when he first came to her was very timid and scared and hated his head being touched.
With lots of love and patience, Louie is now a grown up, affectionate and very playful cat.

They can overcome trauma with time, and like Louie with the help of a loving family.
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Lilith
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by Lilith »

Good on you! What owner in their right mind would do that to a cat? She sounds like a sadist. Perhaps couldn't be bothered to provide a tray and was punishing the poor cat for going elsewhere in house and garden.

It can be hard to know what to do in these situations - I agree with the quiet removal of the cat and amnesia afterwards...

I've never looked after a badly traumatised/cruelly treated cat but I've known cat rescue people who have had some shocking cases (won't go into detail) and I agree with everyone else - it's amazing, and touching, how these cats recover their confidence and give their trust. I do hope that little lass found a happy home after your intervention. :)
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claire_lee
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by claire_lee »

We sort of stole Wolfie...his first owners moved and left him behind.
Probably the 'right' thing to do in some eyes would have been to find out where they moved to and bring him over.
However anyone who is comfortable leaving a cat outside with no way of getting back in on fireworks night and then move without them, obviously doesn't care enough - so we didn't. We gave him a home, had him neutered (another thing they hadn't bothered with ) and he is still with us now :)
As others have said at least you did something and didn't turn your back like so many do
Phantom T Cat
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by Phantom T Cat »

Yes you totally did the right thing.

I often wonder if anyone misses Mr Puds, or if he visits those people, but then I catch myself on and remember his untreated ear mites, his flea infestation and finally his limp. I took him to the vet (at this stage I thought I was dealing with a female) and came home with a newly neutered tom who needed some tlc .From then on he lived in our house and he was chipped and vaccinated etc, but I'm convinced he was local, and had taken a shine to me . If anyone did try to claim him (6 years later) I would treat them to a boot up the ****, and 6 years of vet bills. Mr Puds' new mum would probably do alot worse!
issiandarchie+68
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by issiandarchie+68 »

A thousand thanks for all your uplifting responses, which I have read and re-read many times. I sometimes think the world was created by the devil and good people fight to overcome evil but for every nasty person, and I've met quite a few in my life, I have had the good fortune to encounter so very many good, ordinary people, doing their best to live a decent life. I hesitated about posting 'my' story but I'm glad I did, I have had a 'quiet moment' but feel a weight has lifted from my shoulders. This sad tale isn't really about me, but at the time, we had recently lost both mine and my husband's mother, his father was seriously ill and sadly, suffered the heart-breaking demise of a much loved child. Even so, I have felt guilt and sadness for not taking that wee cat to a safe place sooner. Silly aren't we? We beat ourselves up for so many things outwith our control. My scientist hubby often says ' you are not God, you don't get to decide or control events''. Incidentally, I recently looked for help on this forum about my overwhelming grief and guilt at the sudden deaths of beloved Armand and Cody. In moments of despair, have often re-read all the supportive posts. Well, unbelievably, I have moved forward, enjoying the love of my remaining cat, Gandhi, getting on with my life. New management at the local Cat Protection shop wouldn't take me back, but I now work hard 3 afternoons a week 'below stairs' in a lovely big, modern, well run Cancer Research shop 3 doors down from them, a Godsend. The staff of all ages are lovely, we listen and sing along to all sorts of uplifting music, yesterday LeeAnn Rimes, they make me laugh and so busy, I somehow forget to be sad. Yes, I still get sharp reminders, shed a tear but I owe the people on this forum such a lot, no exaggeration to say you saved me. :)
LittlePenBigHeart
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Re: Hitting a cat/I stole it

Post by LittlePenBigHeart »

Oh bless your heart!

Honestly, I think you did the right thing in rescuing the cat. Anyone who is willing to treat an innocent animal so cruelly doesn't deserve to keep it. Cats feel pain and neglect and how anyone could hit a cat like that is completely beyond me.

It's hard to speculate what might have happened to the cat once it was re-homed, beyond the certainty that it must have had a better life after that. I know that my late Mr Bubbles had been mistreated as a kitten before we adopted him from the Cats Protection League, and he had behavioural problems for the rest of his life, nearly. He was 'temperamental' to say the least (none of our friends would stroke him because he had a tendency to turn around and clobber people with no warning). But it very much depends on the cat. I think if it suffers as a kitten, it's more likely to suffer long-term behavioural problems because it's still learning about the world. If it happens when the cat is older, I think they tend to forget more easily, so the chances are the kitty probably went on to live a happy life, forgetting about its earlier troubles.

Either way, I'd like to think I'd have done the same thing in your shoes. It's unlikely there were any serious injuries if the vet gave the all-clear, so you may well have saved its life. Go you!
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