# How to help feral w/eye injury (pics of injury)



## colin72

I need some guidance. There is a female feral cat in my neighborhood with an eye injury that I want to help. If I trap her and take her to the vet I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to pay for the help she needs. *There are pictures of her below and they are not easy to look at.*



I'll try to make a long story short. Some background...

She had a litter of 4 kittens 3 years ago in an old shed on my parents property. I trapped the kittens and brought them into my home.

All of the kittens had runny noses and needed repeated trips to the vet. One kitten had seizures that took nearly 9 months to get under control. I spayed and neutered the kittens and got them their shots, etc. I spent over $6,500 on vet bills and kept the kitten with seizures and another male. I found a home for the other two.

I trapped the mother and took her to the PAWS trap and release program to have her spayed, etc. At that time she had something wrong with her eye. It looked kind of pasted shut and you couldn't tell if the eye was infected or completely missing. I was told that the PAWS vet thought the eye was gone and really couldn't do anything (the eye injury was beyond the scope of the trap and release program).




The female still hangs around our neighborhood and has always seemed fine. I see her every day. However, she had been missing for the past 3 weeks and when I saw her today her eye looked much worse. 

Because she's grey and won't let me get too close I couldn't see her eye very well. I thought I'd take a picture to get a better view. I coaxed her into an old shed with food and got some pictures. I was shocked to see how much worse her eye is now. Something must have happened to her in the weeks she was away.


I looked at the Sticky thread: "Help with Veterinary Bills!" and followed the links but none of the organizations seem to fit this situation. I'm in South Central Pennsylvania (45 minutes south of Harrisburg).

In addition to the vet bills I explained above, another litter of 4 showed up exactly a year ago. Their mother was hit by a car in front of my house. After paying all of their vet bills and not being able to find them homes I ended up keeping them too. I really can't afford more vet bills at this point.


Anyone have any idea what I do for her? The pictures of her just kill me.


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## Greenport ferals

It looks terribly painful. She needs the eye amputated in order to live a pain-free life. 
The alternative is to have her put down. 
These are not easy decisions, especially since she looks relatively healthy otherwise.


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## catloverami

The eye needs to be removed as it looks infected and she needs antibiotics. What a shame! such a sweet kitty. Unfortunately these are some of the hazards that feral cats face. The eye could have got scratched badly in a fight and got infected.


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## RannsMama

Oh Gosh. We had this EXACT problem with a feral by my Mothers house. They said I could either pay for the surgery or leave him and they'd see what they could do...the outcome was not good, they put him down as they thought infection had spread back into his head and he was so wild he wouldn't be "adoptable" grrr. So if you are going to take him, do it asap and make sure that they aren't going to put an otherwise normally healthy cat to sleep. Good for you for wanting to help the poor guy though!


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## colin72

Just writing to say I've found an individual who has a cat sanctuary nearby who says they will help the cat.

I'm desperately trying to make arrangements and act quickly. I'm holding my breath that's it's all going to work out. I won't be able to relax until we make firm plans, the cat is actually at the vet, and I know it's getting help and going to be better.

I'll update again when I know more.



And sincerely, thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement. Over the last 3 years I've come in contact with this cat, her litter of four, and another litter of four whose mother was hit by a car. I didn't go looking for these cats; they found me and I could not turn my back on them. I started with 2 cats of my own and now have 8.

I've drained my bank account helping these cats, put my back against the wall financially, but I don't regret anything I've done. 

It means a lot to have somewhere to come where people understand the compassion I feel for these animals. Please don't forget the good you're doing by supporting others. It's meant a lot to me and I'll always be grateful. *Thank you.*


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## Mitts & Tess

This cat needs the eye removed and put into a sanctuary. the cost to remove an eye by a regular vet is about $850, where I live. I hope you can get her and help her. Otherwise she would be better off euthanized. Letting the infection spread is painful and a slow awful death.

Some vets have angel funds to help out on cost like this situation. Ask around. Its important to develope a relationship with vets to help you with the stray population.

Keep us updated! Best of luck


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## Mitts & Tess

Any updates?


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