Nothing Purr-sonal...

My 18:00 appointment today was for a cat "with a wound in his hind leg"...and at around that time, black SUV pulls in the parking and someone brought in the animal in a cat box.
First observation: Cat box was very dirty and stinky. Huh...not really tallying with a sleek SUV!!
Second observation:It contained a totally bewildered cat, ears flat on its head, pupils dilated and soaked with its own urine...
I cautiously locked the door of the examination room and asked the owner a few preliminary questions:
Nature of the problem?-"Ummm...I think its in the hind leg..."
When did that happen? - "We noticed him, not quite himself and reluctant to move yesterday"
What's his name?How old? Sex? - "Dunno"
Ok..at this point of time, this was getting awkward and I had to ask if it was his cat.Turns out that he is "only the driver" and that owner is a big boss at one of the Ministries. Husband is a very busy person and wife travels often and tonight they were having the Minister himself coming in for dinner.
Am sure you can imagine how fun it was getting that cat out of the box for anaesthesia. Driver knew nothing about the cat and kept telling me how he was bitten...by a dog in his childhood but I "insisted" and he helped.
Inspection of the cat under anaeasthesia revealed an ugly infected wound on the inner side of the right hind leg. This wound dates back to 4 - 5 days, as evidenced by the pus and tissue necrosis going on in there.One of the tendons was totally "liquefied" and will sure leave the animal with some permanent locomotory deficit.
Cleaning-Disinfection-Debriding and cat gets a "wet-to-dry" bandage on...I made it a point to clean the cat and its catbox myself...that was the least I could do for that poor soul and sent him home with antibiotics and pain killers. On the way out I asked if someone could phone me later tonight to give me a feedback on how the kitty recovered.I understood that the cat was going to be left in the garage tonight and that there would be nobody looking after him. After I made him understand that it was important for me as a vet to know about how my patients are after aneasthesia..he promised he would go check on him and phone me.
Its nearly 22:00 now...nobody called me yet!
We often talk or hear about the mistreatment of dogs...How about cats? Are they subject to cruelty too? The above case proves that yes!I do not know why this family has cats but they are for sure not important in their daily lives. Cats, just like dogs, need and crave for attention and interaction with their owners and this kitty has very little interaction with people...otherwise that nasty wound wound have been detected on the day it happened!
Caring is not limited to feeding and providing shelter. What's the use of eating posh cat food and sleep on expensive sofas if you do not feel any attention/interaction with your owner.
I guess that cat had a place before in this family but with the change in time tables he got forgotten and now he is just a "decoration" in that household. At least he got brought to a vet though...but in a critical state.
Cats are no "lesser" creatures than dogs...Yes,they are more independent but that doesn't mean you can just have them around and not interact with them. If you have an animal at home,and you do not have time to look after it or provide companionship, you seriously have to re-think the whole picture. Maybe even consider giving the animal to another family.
On the other hand, got a phone call during the day from a lady lecturer at the University of Mauritius; she was asking for help in catching 2 kittens from some wasteland next to her house.During the conversation she explained to me that she has rescued like 20 stray cats and wants to help these two too...
Same World,Same Animals, Same People...Different Values! I will try my best to go help that lady tomorrow afternoon and I am going to see "Mr Busy's" cat on saturday...I hope he comes personally because I have a few things to make him understand.
Nothing "Purr-sonal" but I have to remind him about his responsibilities.