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Poisoned Cat
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Poisoned cat - Photo: © exrorro
reproduced under creative commons
This picture breaks my heart. I weep inside for this cat. This is the
reality for so many stray and feral cats. There are many beautiful
pictures of beautiful cats on this website. These beautiful cats are at
the tip of the iceberg in respect of lifestyle. For the many millions
living in poorer countries life is short and brutal sometimes.
Stray and feral cats are naturally cautious with humans and often hard
to spot. They hide, they live their lives almost secretly, they die
alone unloved.
This site cannot just deal with the beautiful as it is not real. I am a
stickler for reality. Many people live their lives in an unreal world
of denial protected from reality by money. Without it life gets real.
The person who
took this photograph, which has an aesthetically
interesting quality as many sad and horrible scenes often can have,
says that he found this poor kitten in the garden of his hime and that
it seemed poisoned. He said that some minutes after he photographed the
poisoned
cat "it" died. She was a beautiful cat once.
My mother
had a Burmese cat that was poisoned. She loved her little Burmese. She
was a coseted cat unlike the cat in the picture. One day she came in
ill, lay down and died over a period of several hours. It hurt my
mother badly. Many years later she became quite anxious about her cats
and we decided on a cat pen and run to protect the cats from outside
dangers of many kinds. This has worked well for my mother (less
anxiety) and her cats (much safer) as she has enough room in her garden
to have quite a good sized enclosure. Living with cats you care for
deeply can make one quite anxious sometimes.
This is not a
substitute for calling a vet, but knowledge is useful if
used wisely. The book, "Veterinary Notes For Cat Owners" recommends the
following:
It may be suitable to make your cat vomit. This may not though always
be suitable if she has ingested a corrosive substance as it will cause
more damage if sicked up.
However, you may have to take emergency action to help a poisoned cat.
Although this will occur rarely it is worth knowing a bit about it.
If there are no signs of being hit or attacked (external injuries) and
there are signs of poisoning (lethargy, possible vomiting, foaming at
the mouth, something on the coat etc.) it may be possible to take early
steps to help. Clearly, it is important to know what the poison is.
There may be strong clues about the house or home as your cat may have
been poisoned by something in your own home.
What can you do as first aid to help and perhaps save the life of your
cat that you think has been poisoned?
Her coat may have a substance on it which she has licked off. This may
have poisoned her. The fur should be cleaned quickly using a good
washing up liquid. The mouth should be wiped. Wet cotton wool placed
between the jaws will dilute the poison that remains in the mouth.
If she has been poisoned it is more likely to be a solid eaten or a
liquid drunk rather than a gas inhaled. A poisoned cat should be kept
warm and quiet and it may be suitable to wrap her in a towel to prevent
self mutilation. Obviously get her to the vet asap.
If you think that making her sick can help (last resort measure) this
can be achieved by pulling the head back as far as possible, which
opens the mouth a bit and gently make her drink a strong salt solution.
From
Poisoned Cat to Cat Facts
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