Helping Outdoor Cats: George and Hades’ Stories

We’re all familiar with so-called “outdoor cats.” We may even see them somewhat regularly in our neighborhoods. A common perception is that most cats prefer to be outside because they have freedom to follow their instincts such as hunting and having expanded territory. While that may be true where food and fresh water are plentiful, this is rarely the case in urban environments. In reality, outdoor cats in cities face a wide variety of dangers, some of which may not be immediately apparent.

Firstly, adequate food and safe drinking water are never easy to find. Think of the puddles of water you’ve seen on city streets and ask yourself what person or animal would be willing to drink from it. Furthermore, in colder months or during inclement weather, cats have been known to crawl up inside the wheel wells of cars for shelter. When the driver does not notice this and hastily starts their car to drive away, the cat is at risk for life-threatening injury. Cats also face the prospect of injury and disease from the vermin they hunt, larger animals such as dogs and coyotes, and other cats. Without a responsible guardian to provide veterinary care, an injured cat is much less likely to survive for long. 

Even the cats who successfully avoid these dangers become at risk in other ways. Stray cats are rarely spayed/neutered and kitten season comes at least once a year. Litters of kittens continue to flood an already overwhelmed system of shelters and animal rescues which contributes to rising euthanasia rates and lower quality of life for every cat in the system. Plainly put, urban environments in the U.S. are almost never built to offer a healthy, happy existence to outdoor cats. For every single cat that thrives in these environments, there are countless sad stories of cats that die in terrible ways.

At Famous Fido we regularly provide interventions for cats found in these distressing situations. Take George’s case for example (the orange tabby). George was a friendly stray cat that was always hanging around the neighborhood. George may have been a lost indoor cat who ultimately chose the outdoors, but since he has not been microchipped it has been impossible to tell. One of the neighbors in the street where George would hang around would feed him in his backyard. George showed up one day looking worse for wear. He was lethargic, congested, and had a large abscess on his leg.

The neighbor who would feed George became very concerned for his welfare and brought him inside, but he could not afford his medical care. The neighbor reached out to us to see if we could help. It turned out to be just in time. George’s health was in critical condition and needed immediate care. Thankfully, we were able to help George get this life-saving care, but it did turn out from being outside, George was also FeLV positive, which made living with the other cat in the neighbor’s home challenging.

The man has been keeping the cats separate while George recovers, and hopefully we will be able to find him a forever home soon. He is safe though and is being spoiled with lots of loving attention so he can heal. If it were not for the compassion of this man and for the supporters of our Intervention Program, George likely would not have survived.

In some other cases, cats are not on the streets of their own volition but are victims of abuse and/or neglect. Hades is one of those cases (the black cat). He was found battered, bloody, bruised and with a leather belt strapped tight around his neck in some shrubs. His finder was walking home when she heard his whimper. She immediately freed Hades from the bushes and took the belt from his neck and saw how he was barely clinging on to life.

She wanted to save his life, but without funds readily available she was concerned how she could bring him to the vet for the emergency care that he needed. When we heard about Hades’ situation and how distressed his finder was on the phone, we knew it was serious and we had to help. Our Intervention Fund helped Hades get into an emergency vet that night and thankfully they were able to provide him with care to save his life. His medical bills came out to approximately $3,000.

This situation could have ended very differently if Hades were not able to get this help, but instead it resulted in a happily ever after as the person who found Hades decided to keep him. Hades now spends every day by his new mom’s side. He built a bond with his savior, who helped restore his trust in people after his very harsh start in life.

If you are inspired by these stories of averted tragedy you can help us continue to fight for these animals by donating here: www.famousfidorescue.org/donate