A Lucky Black Cat on Crete

Dear friends,

Another lucky boy who is going to be like new soon, all neutered, healthy and happy!
Thank you Linda on Crete for monitoring, caring for him and giving him a good life.

At last in Greece our lock-down is lifted and we do not have to send SMS messages any more to go out, but we still are not allowed to travel out of our boundary areas, and if caught we are fined 150 euros, plus of course, we must still observe social distancing.

Even though the vet that Maureen and I use is open, it does not have the full facilities like x-ray machine etc which is located in their surgery in a town about 40 mins drive away, and out of our boundary area, so we must ask our vets nicely if they could take animals there for check ups if xrays are needed and if detailed surgery is required.

At a feeding station recently, a tired looking black male cat arrived. At first he was just hungry and I feed the colony first and then he could eat. Then one morning I noticed he was limping and his back left leg has been scalped of hair and had a nasty open wound. Not sure if the leg was broken, and of course with the movement restriction in place, I decided to monitor him for a few days and give on the spot medication for the injury. Not knowing his temperament, I fed him separately from the other cats, and gave the medication in his food so I knew he had taken it, rather than orally as I did not want to end up with an infected cat bite.

Every day he sits in the same spot waiting for me to arrive. I am sure he has mouth problems as his eating is difficult but I am pleased to say that the wound has healed up and he walking OK on it. Next step is to get his mouth looked at and to get him neutered. Then if he wants, he can go into retirement with the colony of cats where he is.

Like many volunteers, I always have an emergency kit in the car to cover injuries as sometimes it is difficult to catch the animal, the stress it causes and of course, where to keep the animal for treatment.