11/05/2026
We have unfortunately had a few stray cats brought in to the practice by concerned members of the public over the last few weeks so we thought we would share the story of one.
A phonecall at night, the way a lot of stories in veterinary practice begin, from a lady who had found a black cat behind her shed. It looked young she said, probably female and not one she had seen around before. She kindly brought it in to her house to protect it from the cold, and offered it some food and a blanket. However, she could tell something wasn’t quite right and it seemed sore around it’s back end. Wrapped up in the blanket the cat arrived at the practice.
In cases like this it can be more difficult to treat, we have no owner to tell us when any possible injury might have happened, or whether the animal has any underlying conditions that may complicate treatment or diagnosis. However, the first thing for this little cat was to give some pain relief, to alleviate any suffering and make it as comfortable as we could. Next we check for any immediately life threatening injuries, this may involve a scan, x-ray or providing oxygen and fluids.
Once we knew this little cat was stable, we checked for a microchip- unfortunately nothing this time. This is something we always advise owners of outdoor cats (or indoor ones with the potential to escape!) to do- it only costs £15, which is a small price to pay for the peace of mind you have knowing we can contact you immediately if your cat is found.
At this point we looked for secondary injuries, ones that are not immediately life threatening but need to be fixed. In our little friend’s case this unfortunately showed a fracture of the pelvis, and explained the pain she was feeling. Knowing this allowed us to continue providing pain relief and keeping her restricted to allow the bones to heal.
Now we take some pictures and put them on social media- she is a lovely cat, and we hope that someone recognizes her so we can reunite her with an owner. We also contact the wonderful ladies at Johnstone Cat Protection who do the same to spread the word while we keep the cat comfortable. Without an owner, we can now work with Johnstone Cat Protection to continue to provide care for the cat, make decisions on what treatment is appropriate, with the eventual hope the bones will heal and she can be rehomed. We provide this care at what it costs us to provide it, charging only medication, consumables and basic costs for tests. However, even still with continued hospitalization these costs can rise. The inevitable response from the volunteers is- “do whatever you need to do”. A cat with no owner but certainly not without anyone who cares for it.
This little black cat is now at home fostered with one of our vets, who will continue to provide pain relief and keep her restricted to allow her to heal. This can take up to 8 weeks. She might need surgery but we won’t know till then and we’ll cross that bridge when it comes. However, when we do I’m sure, the response that will come will be “do whatever you need to do”.
If you want to support or find out more about the work that they do over at JCP- you can find their page here - Johnstone Cat Rescue
And to support them and all the cats in their care, you can donate here -
https://gofund.me/29c300e5b
