A Colony in Crisis!
Every story doesn’t end like a fairytale. Sometimes abandoned cats and kittens are in decent shape; after a bath and a bowl-full of food some cats are ready to go after they’ve received their vet appointments and are altered. In other cases, like Marmaduke, abandoned cats are cheated out of their happily-ever-after.
This is an email that was sent from Elizabeth MacDonald, Field Coordinator here at Abandoned Cat Rescue (ACR):
“This is Marmaduke. He comes from a colony we visited yesterday. This is a colony in crisis!!!! All the cats and kittens suffer from eye infections, respiratory infections and have severe parasites and fleas. They are mal nourished and suffer from exposure. We have brought in 7 kittens from this colony that are all in desperate need of medical attention, antibiotics and IV therapy. Marmaduke passed at 0400. He died in my bed beside me wrapped in a polar fleece blanket. I buried him in my front garden. We need to be strong and pull together as a group for all the Marmadukes out there. Elizabeth”
This email is sadly not the first that she has had to write to other members of ACR and it certainly won’t be the last. All the time, in just about every neighborhood, there are colonies similar to this one where abandoned, feral cats are fighting for their lives against lack of clean food, water, and shelter from the weather and predators.
On Friday, Kim and Elizabeth arrived to this scene:
In an effort to keep the owner of the property annonymous, we won't disclose the colony's location.
This is why ACR exist. To help cats in need and to help people in need. ACR currently has several cats and kittens under foster care and when responding to the call - at that time - there was no way that Marmaduke and siblings could come in. Originally, this call was going to be a consultation on potentially a trap-neuter-return program. Upon seeing the scene and the conditions of these cats and kittens, Elizabeth and Kim felt obligated to try to rescue them to the best of their abilities.
Eventually, Elizabeth took Marmaduke and sibling Marmalade and Kim took a sickily kitten named Angel. With the exception of Marmaduke, the other two have stabalized in condition and are slowly gaining weight.
None of this could have been possible without the financial support we receive from public donations and the tireless work of our volunteers. In order to continue to save kittens, please help support Abandoned Cat Rescue by adopting, donating, or spay/neutering your cat/kitten.
