Hi, Thank you for caring so much. Anyway, we live in a pretty rural place for New York state. Long story short I have several cats and a Doberman. A few years ago we took in a stray who had begun to trust us. I took him to be neutered to keep him and vet discovered Cat HIV. We had to put him down immediately. I had to have all 6 other cats tested, thank God all negative. I will never forget Miso. It broke my heart but I stayed with him until the end. The vet explained that although he seemed ok, he was very contaigous and as the disease progresses, the animal suffers awful.
Please be careful dont blow the chance to catch Red and get him staightened out. Stray cats live a terrible life and do not live long. Domesitc animals need us. let us know what happens....
I finally took the little cat to the vet the other day. I didn’t even have to chase him down, because he’s become quite tame and friendly since I started feeding him. I was pleasantly surprised that the vet only charged me 75 bucks for all of the tests. Turns out that he wasn’t in as bad shape as I thought. Just mangy and malnourished, but no nasty feline diseases. She gave me some prescription cat salve instead of medicated shampoo, because bathing a feral cat would be traumatic for both of us. He don’t wanna get wet, and I don’t wanna get scratched up. Hopefully, this salve will heal his skin in a few weeks. Now I have two cats and a dog. Since he’s been malnourished all his life, he will never grow to be a full-sized cat.
I named him Renegade, because he is so unlike all the pampered street cats around here.
I bought a litter box and made a little bed for him on the back porch. And wouldn’t you know it? During the night he clawed a hole in the porch screen and went off catting around. Came back in the morning begging for chow. Another feline who refuses to be a house cat.