As sweet and demure as Coswell looks, you would never guess in 2002 he was a “dumpster kitty” at our local mall. The shopping center management live-trapped and removed him as part of a larger group of feral cats that had colonized around their dumpsters. Lost or abandoned companion cats often join feral cat colonies to survive -- and, if left in these colonies -- will often revert to feral behaviors themselves. Later in life -- if they again receive human contact -- they can revert back to being socialized cats -- no longer needing the cloak of feral behaviors to survive.
The mall colony was taken to our animal control shelter where the feral cats were immediately killed. Coswell was exempted because he was front-declawed and obviously sweet– and despite his years (estimated at 8) – they thought someone might still adopt him. This was late December when kitten season takes a breath and is the only time of year that older cats are likely to get a chance for a new home.
The staff's hope of placing Coswell dashed after he had been there for over a month. (Older cats do adopt out -- but their timetable is much longer than that of younger cats or kittens -- and often exceeds the time given them by shelters to get placed.) Coswell was scheduled for euthanasia the day I went to pick up Onyx.
The staff petitioned me to consider Coswell too and took me in the shelter to see him. He was sleeping in the back of his floor-level cage and if I hadn’t stooped down, I wouldn’t have seen him. When they opened the door, Coswell ran forward for petting. No convincing was needed to get me to take him too – it was love at first sight. They loaned me a cat carrier and off I went with two cats instead of one.
Medical issues prevented us from fostering Coswell through our Older Cat Program. His intake exam identified a heart murmur that was later confirmed by an ultrasound to be hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The cardiologist’s diagnosis was “guarded" and he was prescribed twice-daily heart medicine. In spite of this, Coswell was adopted outright briefly but then returned because the cat already in the home did not accept him.
HCM is usually a progressive, lifelong condition but, in Coswell’s case it was not. Each follow-up ultrasound resulted in the lowering of his medication until a few years ago when he was pronounced cured. Possibly the initial readings were high because of the stress of being lost or abandoned. We just don’t know. Whatever it was, we’re glad he’s got a good heart as we’d hate to lose him prematurely. At fifteen, he’s in the early stages of kidney disease but overall in great shape. Oh -- and Onyx – the cat who saved his life – is now his best friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment