Antoinette

The cat appeared out of nowhere.

The construction worker was on his break when a black cat walked right up to him and sat down. He wondered how she got there because the site was in such a remote industrial area. There were no homes or apartment houses for miles.

The cat seemed very interested in his lunch so he shared it with her. He went back to work and by the end of his shift she was gone. The next day she appeared again. And every day thereafter. He started bringing her cans of cat food and a bowl for water.

All my buddies were sitting around eating lunch and she only came up to me. If my wife wasn’t allergic I would have taken her home.

The man was growing very fond of the cat and was concerned about her future. The project he was working on was ending soon, and he knew the cat would be coming around looking for him and he would be gone. He remembered the Society from years ago, when his parents brought the family dog to our clinic, and gave us a call. The man said he thought the cat was pregnant because her stomach was so big. We told him to bring the cat to us and he signed her over.

Antoinette, as he named her, was very sweet and trusting even during her physical exam. Our doctors found the usual things that we see in cats left outside: very thin, covered with fleas and ear mites. But her body looked unusual. Although she had already been spayed before she got to us, at 5 years old she was skinny with a distended belly. When X-rays and an abdominal ultrasound didn’t provide enough information, our surgeons did an exploratory surgery.

What they found was that her intestines had been through some sort of trauma, causing her belly to fill up with fluid and infection. The surgeon suspected that she might have been attacked by an animal or suffered a strong kick from a human.

With long-term supportive care, including IV fluids, pain medication and round-the-clock antibiotics, the wounds eventually resolved, the swelling went down and she fully recovered.

This innocent cat didn’t know how to “hunt” for food. She most likely got caught up with some feral cats that didn’t want to share their scraps. We know that Antoinette couldn’t have survived on the streets all her life. Since she was spayed, we assume that she was once owned by someone. And that someone put her outside, far away from the home she once knew.

Antoinette was so lucky to have found a kindhearted person that gave her some food and attention. And by bringing her to us, he truly saved her life.