CFA Email: There are no words

Hello AllI just got home from Animal Control in Olympia where I was able to see 13 ofthe 22 persians rescued earlier this year in the Northwest. First of all,this city shelter is an example of what I wish all of the city shelterscould be. They are so lucky to have this state of the art facility. When Iwalked in, the place did not smell of litterboxes and dog poop, it was likewalking into an office. There were tons of people there looking to adoptpets and a wealth of volunteers and staff waiting on them, I was soimpressed. The main reason I had gone there was to meet one of the Persianswho was too feral to handle.

I first met the three ferals from the original22. Two had started to come around and the shelter staff was working onthem. Their eyes were bright and their hair was growing back in. Theirtummies were nice and round from being well fed, and their cages were clean.The feral girl I went to see, a tiny calico they called "Feralina", tried tocharge at me through the bars, she was petrified of humans, with no place tohide.

I next went to see the 10 persians who were up for adoption. They hadtheir own room and each had their own cage. They had special litter fortheir sore paws, soft beds to lie in, and fresh food and water. The sheltervolunteers work with these cats daily, helping their atrophied limbs learnto walk again. All had excellent medical care and were learning to lovebeing loved by humans. I think I spent most of the visit crying. Theyshowed me some of the case photos. Truly, there are no words to describethe conditions as shown up close in these photos. After seeing thesephotos, I no longer have an ounce of sympathy for the previous owner. Thepain and suffering these cats experienced is something I cannot imagine andsomething I hope never to see again in my life. In most of the photos, whatI saw was a yellow mound of fecal matter. I thought I was looking at a moundof hair that had been shaved off of a cat, until I saw one eye in the photoand realized, it was a cat. On this particular cat, the nails had grown tonearly an inch and a half, the toes had begun to slough off, the tail wasfull of infection, his testicles were swollen to three times their normalsize. Next to that photo was a professional photo taken of this black andwhite bicolor, in his competitive prime. Then another photo of the shadowof that cat as he is now. He will get a new home today, and the love he sorichly deserves.

I brought Feralina home with me. She definitely needs a new name. Sheappears to be about 10 months old, and scared to death. I put her in a largecat run with one of my sweet males as she was housed with a male before. Heis gentle and loving with me and with other cats. This is more room in therethan she's ever had in her life. And it is right next to a window, I doubtshe's ever seen what the outdoors looks like either, much less felt thewarmth of sunshine on her face. I'm hoping that she'll see how I interactwith my boy Grissom and she'll learn that people are OK. I think I'll starta blog for her, with photos of her progress. She may never "turn" as we hopeferals do, but it will be a long time before we give up on her. My fondestwish is to at least get her to a point where I can handle her enough to combher. She cannot go to a feral colony or be an untouchable indoor feral, asshe would have to be caught, put under, and shaved once a year - that is toomuch for a feral to handle.

The shelter was very appreciative of the support from CFA - they received agood chunk of funds to help pay the medical bills of these cats. To allthose who donated, THANK YOU.