The following is Sue’s account of one such cat treated at a monthly spay/neuter clinic who required extended care. When he came though our clinic, it was discovered that he had several problems that would endanger him if we put him back at his colony right away. One of his eyes was quite irritated. It appeared that his eyelid was inverted, causing the eyelashes to rub against his eye. Additionally, he had swollen paw-pads due to a herpes viral infection. The caretaker had noticed that he walked carefully, as if his feet hurt.

"The yellow cat from Sunday has turned out to be a friendly stray so he is still in my care. We will relocate him eventually. (Thank goodness for space to do recovery!) He allows me to put ointment in his eye and he is going to see an eye veterinarian in Reidsville next week to see if he needs surgery to correct his eyelid. (Thank goodness for the special fund!) He is on L-lysine for the herpes problem in his feet. They are healing."

Since Sue’s report, this cat, now called Banner or BB, had the eyelid surgery and his eyes have healed well. His feet have also healed and we will continue to treat him with L-lysine to prevent recurrence. He is a shy, but friendly, kitty so he now mingles with other cats at Sue’s. We have identified a potential home for him. Banner is a lucky kitty.

One new volunteer commented that prior to assisting at our clinics she thought the male cats had the easiest time. Sue responded, "Some of the sickest cats that come through are the boys. They get so many wounds from fighting. All that fighting goes away once they are fixed. There are also those that are FIV positive. This immune-deficiency illness is transmitted by deep-bite wounds, which can occur during mating or fighting. FIV positive cats are more prone to infections, etc. Fortunately we can help most of these beat-up boy street fighters when they come through the clinic".  FFF will not release a sick or injured cat back to its colony. We do all that we can to identify and treat those who can be helped by an extended stay at Sue’s.

Sue continues, "Some of our clinics can be very bitter sweet. Sometimes very hard decisions are made at these clinics, but our vets are the best and they all know how much we value each cat that comes through. You can't imagine some of the miracle cures we have had over the years on some of the kitties that would have had terrible lives if it were not for our clinics."