Raggedy Daddy is the feral father of our cat colony.
It took me two and a half years to trap Raggedy Daddy. When I took him to get fixed for a TNR, his skin was so infected with mites that they couldn't give him the procedure. I kept him in a large double-crate in the garage for over three months, monitoring him, feeding him and giving him medicine, and after four trips to the vet, he was healthy enough to be neutered. After some blood work I also learned he is FIV positive, sadly.
Being around me for so long has mellowed him a little bit, and now he lives openly on our back deck. We converted our dog house into a little condo for him, and hooked up a webcam to see how he's doing without going outside.
|
|
|
He now trusts us to a certain extent. We can't handle him or be casually affectionate, but he will allow us to approach within a foot to maneuver or give him food. Although he'll let Stacy pet him more easily than me, he is still very sensitive and anxious. Recently he's been coming into the house for feeding, and we sometimes discover him napping on the couch.
Raggedy has a constant eye infection.
For as long as we've known him, Raggedy's left eye has always been infected. There's usually some yellow/green mucus, with some accompanying liquid. Sometimes the infection seems to spread to his right eye, but it generally is a little healthier.
Sometimes, there's so much discharge, his eye becomes sealed shut some days.
During the treatment for his skin infection, he got a Convenia injection which seemed to help his eye quite a lot.
We very much want to treat his eye, but he can't be handled for wiping or drops. Stacy wants to sedate him to allow us to clean his eye, but the problem would just return because he is permanently immunocompromised.
I've been adding a lysine supplement to his food, hoping it would help, but it's hard to tell. We're very keen to find out if anyone knows how to treat an eye problem in ferals like this. If you have any suggestions, please let us know! We'd be very grateful, and so will this little fellow.
I've been adding a lysine supplement to his food, hoping it would help, but it's hard to tell. We're very keen to find out if anyone knows how to treat an eye problem in ferals like this. If you have any suggestions, please let us know! We'd be very grateful, and so will this little fellow.
