Trucker

[summer_jackel]

I've been looking for Trucker since April. I didn't have a whole lot of hope, and then she showed up.

Trucker is my mom's roughly 10-year-old Balinese, and oh man has this cat had a rough life. Over the last decade my mom has made a lot of money selling kittens, and as she's gotten crazier and her situation more precarious, her care of the cats deteriorated a lot. Trucker has probably had something like 13 litters, including Nocturne's. I've been itching to steal and spay her for years. Trucker was born when I was still spending a lot of time with my mom, so I really bonded to her. She's an amazingly sweet cat.

So in her most recent move, my mom had a couple weeks when she had nowhere to keep her cats but her friend's barn. This is where I'm boarding Bey and Equinox. They all stuck around but Trucker, who I never saw when I was feeding them. Mom never saw her again either, and while I hoped she'd found herself a home, I was afraid that the resident feral cats had driven her off.

When I got back from feeding ponies on Monday, Trucker was sitting next to my truck, looking forlorn and purring loudly. She's now locked in my bathroom. I spent about an hour cutting the mats out of her coat...pretty much all of her sides were solid mat...and pulling over a dozen foxtails that had made their way through the mats and were buried in her skin. I didn't get all choked up until she turned around and started grooming my wrist.

She's literally starving, but her runny nose is clearing after a day of antibiotics, which is good. She seems exhausted and unwell, but not fatally sick...let's hope she didn't get anything awful from the ferals. She's missing a few teeth and acts older than Magic (who is about 15), but her attitude is happy and unflappably calm. This is one made-of-leather survivor of a beat-up ol' cat, and whatever I end up doing with her, I'm finally in a position to give her decent care and &^^%$#!!!! spay her. I remain pissed about the whole situation, but that bit makes me happy.

Comments

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

Poor kitty. I hope you can find her a good home, if you decide not to keep her. She's gorgeous!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I need a fourth cat like I need a hole in the head, but chances are she can stay. She's not causing problems with the existing zoo, and I have the means to keep her. Plus, she feels like a member of my family. I'd hate to see her go now.

[camelai.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor kitty! I can tell she's got the potential to be a beautiful cat, too. Though she's had a tough life (to say the least!) she's lucky to be with as wonderful a pet owner as you, now. (And I think she knows it!)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

She really is a gorgeous cat, especially when she isn't sick, starving and missing half of her coat. Poor thing certainly seems grateful; she goes out of her way to purr whenever I go into the bathroom (where she's currently locked).

[dollbunny.livejournal.com]

Aww she's a pretty! Himalayan?

There's a cat up the street who seems to have a home. He's got a tag and is always in the same yard and seems fed regularly. But dammit, over the last year he's been developing mats and no one seems to be fixing it. He's so friendly and I can tell the mats are making him uncomfortable. I really want to trim them off of him.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

She really is a lovely cat, or at least will be when she's well. She's a Balinese. Normally, that's a medium-length coat and hardly needs more brushing than a shorthair, but it does need SOME brushing and doesn't take well to living in a field full of burrs and greaseweed.

Himalayans, which have a coat more like a Persian's, are another story entirely. They MUST be brushed out regularly, or that thick coat quickly develops some terrific and nasty mats. So many people get these cats and don't realize or do the work involved; when I was grooming, we got in lots that needed to be shaved down. Lots of them don't have the patience to be brushed like they need (again, usually the owner's fault, because you need to train them to accept it from kittenhood).

Since you bring it up, I was going to throw this into the post above, but didn't want to make it too long. But here are directions for safely dematting an animal:

If you ever get in a situation where you're trying to remove heavy mats near the skin of an animal, ideally you have narrow-bladed, sharp grooming or hair scissors, but any scissor will do. You insert the lower blade into the mat as close to the animal's skin as you can, with the dull part touching the skin and the sharp cutting edge facing away from the animal. You then make a vertical cut upward through the mat, repeating until you can gently pull the mat out in chunks using your hand or an undercoat rake. What you never want to do is cut horizontally between the mat and the skin, which is what people usually try (because it seems like common sense). The skin is so tight with the mat that this method usually results in the person accidentally cutting the skin open...these are unpleasant and telltale wounds.

[dustmeat.livejournal.com]

Dang!!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Trucker's chances were pretty thin. One more litter probably would have done for her. That kitty is one scrappy survivor; I'll do what I can to make her not have to work so hard for it.

[genmaicha.livejournal.com]

Aww... I'm glad she has you looking out for her now.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

The poor thing purrs when I look at her. I plan on doing my best to ensure that none of this crap happens to her again. It's a weight lifted that I didn't even completely notice, knowing where she is and that she's safe. I've been sweet on this cat her whole life.

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

*hugs* You are such a sweet heart. Yeah for the new kitty and yeah for getting her fixed!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And if any kitty needed fixing, it's this one. I'm going to have to wait until she actually has some flesh on her, though; I would be afraid of subjecting her to anesthesia in this condition, and a spay is harder on an older animal. Hopefully, she'll put on enough weight in a couple weeks.

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

*snuggles and kitties* I just love instant purr cats.

My Panda is like that. I sit down and if the laptop is not in place then Panda invade, takes up every inch he can get and the turns on the purr. And what a PURR!! :D

How is Trucker blending in to the rest of the house?

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

oooppss.. the above comment is supposed to be under earls_guys comment.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

heh, no worries, I figured as much. :) Trucker hasn't been introduced to anyone else yet; I am waiting until the vet has confirmed her to be free of FeLV, FIP and FIV before she gets anywhere near my other cats, and I'd like her to have a little more weight and health before she has to find her place amongst the resident felines. Still, I don't expect it to be an issue; Trucker is used to lots of other animals being around, and she's already lived with Magic (when my mom had both cats).

[earls-guys.livejournal.com]

Awwww. It's great that she's back. And autmatic purr kitty, too.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

She really is! I thought Magic was a source of constant purr, but Trucker can give her a run for her money.

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

So... not giving her back, then?

Don't tell anyone I said "good".

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

At this point, I don't have any intention of giving her back. I don't think mom will object, since she's not really in a great position to keep a cat, and I think she already has two. (One of which she is apparently breeding again. Sigh). If my mom ever does get into a stable home and insists on having her cat back and for some reason I cave, well, at least Trucker will be spayed.

Still, I already told mom that if I found Trucker, I would keep her, and she gladly agreed. I'm not telling her I have the cat until she's safely fixed, though. Better to be safe than have another argument with my mother.

[mooncatx.livejournal.com]

hugs the Jackel... um there IS a possibility that if she is unfixed and was loose in feral cat territory, that you may have some little bundle of joy in less than 60 days ish. When was the last time this kitty had a litter? At ten she may already safely and naturally be beyond bearing new litters due to age.

I haven't had a new kitten in years. Rapture and Riot have their own room (Riot would aggressively dom other cats if he were loose, and Rapture is there to keep him company)but no new babies as far as I know. Evil I think was my last from my breeding pair. Gogees Glittered
Riot of Basts was born in 1999, Rapture is a couple years younger, their last babies were all singlets, angel baby (sent to you love) stealth, and noel (nee the Evil) -- and Evil is at least... ummm born Christmas 2005... It almost a full four years since last bred baby!!! gee... no wonders I having the baby hungers... wants kitten or puppy BADLY... yeh, as bad as that... even contemplating a lil doggie.

mcx