Lil Red is one of our most recent cases. He is about 2 years old and we think he was living on the streets his entire life. I got a call late one night that a group of people who were feeding a colony of feral cats that re-discovered a cat who was in very bad condition. He was re-discovered because he was captured once before, about 3 months before I was asked to come and try to help him. I asked how bad his condition was and I was sent picture A. I couldn’t believe he was still alive. He looked like a walking zombie who was going to die at any moment. I didn’t have any second guesses, I immediately said yes and told them that I would be over the next day to attempt what countless others had tried to do for weeks - catch him.

I arrived in the neighborhood where he was spotted and after four hours of looking for him, I sat down on the pavement. I looked to the side of me, and sure enough, here sits Lil Red. He was in a very bad condition, and although I had seen the picture, nothing could’ve prepared me for what I experienced that night. As I look over to him, I start talking to him. I starting trying to rationalize with him, and explain that it was in his best interest to come with me. After sitting next to him for about 20 minutes, he simply got up, and walked directly over to where the trap was. Just like that, we had caught him. From that exact moment, I had a feeling that I would have a special bond with my Lil Red.

I took a look at his wound (picture B) and it didn’t look very good at all. He looked as if he had been badly burned. I brought him to a local animal hospital, and after surgery and some stitches, they told me he was too feral for them to administer any of his antibiotics. They sent poor Red home with me with on an antibiotic that needed to be injected into him. I surely thought if he was too feral for the veterinarians to handle, what could I possibly to do help him? I had to at least try. Nonetheless, I ended up giving him his injections and all seemed well for a while. He definitely had his ups and his downs over the last few months, his last down being just a few weeks ago. His eyelids were inverting, causing his eyelashes to constantly irritate and scratch at his eye. He had corrective surgery and also got a microchip. After the emotional roller coaster I got the pleasure to ride with him on, I couldn’t bear to see him live with anyone else. Needless to say, this rescue is permanently mine.