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BRADLEY
Bradley arrived at Spring Farm CARES in the fall of
2004. He was caught in a humane trap by another animal
organization who was participating in our Feral cat
T/N/R program. He was supposed to be here only for
a few hours to be neutered and then to be returned to
the colony from where he was found. But Bradley
had other plans and had evidently entered the trap in
desperate need of help. For it appears that
Bradley had met up with another not so humane trap
before finding the humane trap that carried him to
safety. When the veterinarians at the spay/neuter
clinic went to get Bradley out, they noticed much to
everyone's horror that one of his back legs was nothing
but bare bone. He had already chewed all the flesh
off, most likely trying to free himself from a leg hold
trap. If he were to survive, what remained of the leg
would have to be amputated and soon. The
organization who had trapped him quickly called the
caretaker of the colony where he had been trapped.
The woman quickly verified that she had never seen a
black and white cat in her colony and he must have just
wandered in. She also could not afford a surgery
like that, and neither could the organization who
brought him. It was decided that Bradley would be
euthanized so that he no longer would have to suffer.
Aside from the incredible medical expense, the other
factor involved was Bradley himself. Being a
feral, or wild, cat post-op care would probably be
impossible. Euthanasia seemed to be the
only choice to relieve his pain and suffering. The
leg hold trap had taken its victim after all, the slow
and painful way.
It just didn't seem right, veterinarian and SFC Board member, Dr. Leigh Lain, as
well as our Feral cat TNR Veterinarian, Dr. Greg Jamrosz
conferred on any the options. Dawn was called
in to see what Bradley himself had to say about his life
and future.
Sitting in the humane trap, terrified, in pain, and so
uncertain of what would happen, he told Dawn that he'd
like to live. Dawn explained to him that his leg
would need to be amputated at the top and that he would
have to let people treat him afterward until he got
better. He asked if he could be released again
outside. None of us wanted to release a three-legged cat back out to the elements but if that was the
life he wanted to live, and some feral cats just cannot
tame down to live inside, then we would have to do it.
We had a deal. Spring Farm CARES agreed to pay the
medical expenses and to take care of his recovery.
The
surgery went fine and his recovery was proving to be
interesting. We placed him in a large dog crate so
that he had plenty of room but he would still hiss and
spit and lunge at our staff when they attempted to clean
him. Thank goodness he would eat his medication in
canned cat food, so we were able to give him his post-op
pain meds. We also knew that we had to do
something with him fairly quickly to get him out of the
crate so that he could start walking again and building
strength in his remaining hind leg. We have had
several experiences with cats losing a leg and knew that
they generally adapt fairly quickly but all the rest had
been friendly, docile cats.
Dawn also wanted to show Bradley what it could mean to
be a house cat and not have to fight the elements
outside again. She wanted to give him that
experience so that he could chose where he wanted to go.
No one was looking forward to releasing him back outside
and would do so only as a last resort, but we did have a
deal and had to keep our promise. After the course of
medication was complete, we knew it was time to let him
out of the crate. He was getting more and more
miserable locked in. Dawn had a hunch that he'd
fit in with a colony of cats that Dawn and Margot foster
in a room in the downstairs of their home. Some of
those cats are feral and she hoped that Bradley would
fit in. The carpeted floors would also make it
easier for him to maneuver. We moved him to his
new room and soon released him. As expected,
he found places to hide for the first couple of days but
would come out to get his canned cat food each evening.
He would approach us part way, hissing the whole while
and then would eat from the plate we offered him.
He
was walking well and definitely was fitting in with the
other 13 cats in the room. Then Bradley surprised
us all. It seems that during his first week in
that room, he too had been doing a lot of thinking about
his future. He was weighing the life he'd chosen.
One day, without any warning, he ran right up to Dawn
when she walked into the room and began rubbing up against
her leg, madly hissing the whole time. This mixed
signal was rather unnerving to Dawn but feeling somewhat
encouraged she gently held her hand out towards him and
he leaped in the air to butt his head into her hand and
then flopped down purring to have his belly rubbed.
Dawn, barely able to believe what she was seeing, sat
down on the floor and Bradley climbed into her lap and
continued rolling and purring. He had made his
decision. And he also picked his new home, for now
Bradley lives upstairs with Dawn and Margot and all
their animals, including 6 dogs who Bradley adores.
Our
guess is that at one time in his life, Bradley must have
been a house cat and for whatever reason he became
homeless and went wild, eventually meeting up with two
traps. One that almost killed him and then one
that took him to safety and a new life.
Bradley is very grateful to all the people who gave him
that chance for a new life. And it was a powerful
lesson for all of us that things aren't always what they
seem to be and it is so important to listen to the
animals and to get things from their point of view.
It is only because Bradley wanted to give it a go for
the amputation that we continued with any treatment.
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