Look at that face! Hard to resist, isn’t it? That’s how we felt when we saw Max’s photo from Animal Control, so much so that we just had to rescue him. Max had been left at the pound by his family, with his toys. Why? We don’t know. He was devastated by being left there and, while sitting in his cage waiting for someone to choose him, he picked up an upper respiratory infection AND pneumonia! Being abandoned like that is very hard on animals who are used to the comforts of a home. Just like with humans, stress suppresses their immune system.
After rescuing him, we found out just how sick Max was. He spent almost a week hospitalized at our vet’s office and, even after he was “clinically” better, Max was so traumatized that he refused to eat, which is not uncommon for cats in Max’s situation. Before he could go to his foster home, Max had to have a feeding tube inserted in his neck so that he didn’t starve to death. During the next three months, in addition to supplying nutrition through his tube, we also had to take him for vet visits every two weeks to track his progress. Although he was slowly getting better, his tube was removed a few weeks ago as the skin around the insertion site had become infected. This guy just can’t catch a break!!
Once his tube was out, it was necessary to monitor his wound every week with a trip to the vet–and to visit his foster home once a day to give him some tummy medicine, hoping that would be the key to finally getting him to eat again. So far, it’s working and Max is eating and gaining weight. Our next step is to get him to eat without one of our volunteers having to give him medication every day! It’s been a long, hard road for Max but we’re headed in the right direction.