Orpington Cat Rescue

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Stories of some of the cats we have helped and homed Click here  to read more happy endings Paddy is probably the worst rescue case I have personally ever seen. His condition was absolutely appalling. Only around 18 months old he had endured a very sad start in life. Paddy had no fur what’s so ever underneath his body, legs and chest he was full of soars and swollen and looked like he had been dipped in boiling water or burnt by fire. There were balding patches on his sides; his claws were so over grown they curled into his pads causing infection. He was under weight only weighing 2.25kg the average cat weighs around double that. The most extraordinary part of his condition was his claw beds they were red roar, very swollen with no fur around them with a white and cream thick smelly discharge just like cottage cheese. With all of this poor Paddy could not stand up and was so weak. He also showed slight deformity with his back legs and hips. The Vet said she had never seen anything like this before. Straight away he was given pain relief and several other medications. He was blood tested which showed several deficiency in his immune and body system. After several days in the vets he came home with all his medication to be administered every day. But the hardest part was we had to clean his claw beds every day by squeezing the discharge out and washing them with an anti-bacterial shampoo for cats on each toe one by one leaving the potion on for 15 minutes and then dipping Paddy in a washing up bowl of clean water to rinse off the soap. As you can imagine cats hate water at the best of times. I would hold him and my husband would do the cleaning, he would try to nip our fingers and he cried with the pain this made us very upset the tears filling up in our eyes, and hope all this would be worth it and he would get better. As time went by and he was checked by the vet every week for a month the bathing was cut down to every other day for another month. Three months in total have now past and his soars and fur has all grown back every where all soft and tufty, his claw beds are not swollen soar and free from discharge and the claws are growing normally now. His weight is now 5kg he even has a podgy belly. Paddy will always be on steroids for the rest of his life. Even writing this article brings back the tears of what he has been through we love him very dearly. Paddy made a new friend whilst in foster care Teddy and 1 year old black male full of fun they sleep together clean each other and play how could I part them both nobody would want Paddy with all his problems so Paddy and Teddy are now full members of our household bringing our total to 7. I will never understand people and how many pets are neglected. How long had Paddy been a stray and why have his owners never reported missing. I have learnt not to be surprised anymore by the cruelty we see we are supposed to be a nation of animal lovers but there are only really a small minority that do care. I know we cannot help them all but I am glad that Paddy is one of the lucky ones to get the veterinary care he so desperately needed Peitra (Orpington Cat Rescue Fosterer)

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