[Steve_Gee]

An altercation in my yard 10 days ago saw my two moggies Tabbies tree an oriental cat which realy kicked up a storm, meowing loudly.

I shedded my two cats and attempted to coax the Siamese/Burmese cat down from the tree.
She did not run away but when I produced a bowl of food down she came and ate ravenously.
She allowed me to stroke her and I was able to pick her up along with the food bowl and put her in our shed for the night.
I left a kitty litter tray and food and water.
The next day she was waiting at the door and stepped back when I entered.
I produced some more dry food and was able to handle her without much complaint.

Details:
1 yo 18 mo Bold Blue Burmese, quite a small cat.
Yellow eyes, short fat face.
Foul breath.
Cyst or swelling around one mamry gland and painful to touch.
Very skittish and you have to talk and reassure her. maybe has been illtreated, or naturaly wary of me.


Nothing in local press or on local radio stations (Pets on patrol).

A few days together and allowed in the house away from my two curious Tabbies
I spent time talking to her all the time and allowing her to freely walk around.

She is very intelligent and checks everything out, my cats get hissed at when confronted through a glass door.

She paces around the house but as I talk to her I have put her at ease and eventually after a couple fo days got a lick and settled in my lap.
Although she did not use the kitty litter much in first day or so by end of the week lots of stools to clean out and colour changed from greenish to black and foul breath gone after feeding a bit of uncooked chicken neck.

Yesterday Saturday we went to the tag day held by Microchip Australia and the vet read off an old code 0006 some letters and 56.

00060EFC56
The vet says thats an old code and its not registered on the internet.

So no press no radio no house callers, we are at a loss so putting it up here in case someone knows the breeder.
We think the burmese breeder has left western districts.

Cat was let out and all she did was hang around meowing all day.
She went next door but returned later.
We think possibly some NZ shearers may have owned her but may have left her behind when they went home a few weeks ago.
As to why shearers would have a Burmese cat for a wool shed is beyond me.
She has no fleas is house trained and travels in the car well.

Local breeders do not want to look after her as the fact she has been in a fight with street cats/ferrals may have infected her with Aids or some such garbage.

She is settling well but I am worried with the idea we have someone's life long friend / expensive breed.
But no adverts looking for a lost cat.
No one knocking on our door.
Its a small town but he postie said never seen that one on my mail rounds.

I can't tell if she is spayed or not and there is no ear tattoo.
The online tag id webpages quite frankly are next to ueless and the vet was telling me its a mine field out there trying to locate a lost pet and if we give her to the shire whe will possibly be put down when they see the swollen cyst like bulge.
It could be why the owners threw her out.
How aweful the thought.

Any assistance please text or call 0410006899 thanks


Steve G

This post has been edited by Steve_Gee: 05 April 2009 - 12:05 PM

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[Heather Sharada]

Steve it is kind of you to try and find this little girl her owners. Just a little caution the risk of AIDs is a real one - it can be checked by blood test - it is transmitted by bites so don't let her get into a fight with your own cats until she has been checked.

I can only think of putting an advert in the paper or on shop windows in case she is local. Good luck in finding her owners.....she does sound like she needs vet care.

[burmeselover]

Hi Steve,
It is very kind that you are looking after this girl and trying to find her owner.
Are you considering adopting her if the owner cannot be found? If not, what do you intend to do with her? Did you know that there is a Burmese Rescue Group here in Melbourne?
Burmese Cat Rescue Service
Falconer Rd Park Orchards VIC 3114
ph: (03) 9876 1090

I adopted a stray Burmese girl who was brought into the vet clinic where I work. She was not desexed, had no ID and had a mild case of cat flu. I did everything I could to find her owners and when nobody came forward to claim her, I adopted her. It is reasonable to get her vet work done and adopt her out or keep her after at least 8 days of concerted effort to find the owner. Animal shelters are bound by law to give the owners 8 days to claim a stray here in Victoria and if nobody comes forwards, the animal can be rehomed or euthanased. At least in your care, she need not be euthanased.

I would take the Feline AIDS risk seriously as Heather says. Feline AIDS is not curable and is transmitted via bite wounds from infected cats. Any cat that has been living on the streets/stray is at risk of having been infected. I worry about this girl particularly as you mention a painful "cyst" on her belly. This could be an abscess (amongst other things) which is an infection usually caused by a cat bite wound. Please keep this girl separate from your own cats for the time being. She could also be carrying cat flu, ringworm (fungal infection), intestinal worms, fleas etc. which can all be transmitted to your own cats (and to yourself in the case of ringworm) if this poor girl is affected.

I had my stray Burmese tested for Feline AIDS before allowing her contact with my other cat and repeated the test 2 months later to take into account the long incubation period that this disease can have following exposure. Thankfully she was negative on both occasions and my cats are indoor cats so they cannot be infected by stray cats.

[Analog6]

WE adopted a small female cat off the street just before Xmas last year (her story is on here - Tinkerbelle) who proved to test positive for FIV (feline AIDS). After advice on here and research on the web we very slowly introduced her to out others over about 4-6 weeks and they are now all living happily together. There has only been one case of blood drawn and that was when she scratched Raymond ont he nose after he jumped on her in search of a wrestle! (I think she was justified, he is twice her size.

I did think of vaccinating the other 4, but it is expensive and I don't like bombarding their systems with chemicals. That part is a personal choice.

As burmeselover says, it needs a deep bite wound to spread. In the 10 years we have had the current 'crop' of cats (the oldest is going on 11) we have never had a bite, so I think unless you have a cat that will bite, a careful intro to the resident cats can be successful, even if the cat proved to be FIV positive. But every cat owner needs to make up their own mind in such a question re keeping an FIV+ cat and vaccinating others.

[Steve_Gee]

Thanks everyone.
We have isolated the stray we call her ET (Elecronic tag) for short for now.
My daughter took her to her place and the 24 hours has seen her settle in really well.
She is going to the vet tomorrow and I will pay.
We are considering adopting if that is legal to do so.

She hisses at the dog that is at my daughters residence but apart from that has settled in as my pictures will show.
Over easter we will lodge the cat with a friend who is a vet for tests.

She did not come in contact with my two tabbies but I think was bitten on the stomache as you suggest by a street moggie that hung around here.
The people next door who are shearers came back today and my last hope that it was one of theirs was dashed.

I cant help feeling that this cat is so at home with people it is hard to imagine the family not missing their loss and doing something like going to the paper and radio station.

But we have to move on , is not fair to the carers to become too attached to such a beautiful cat.
Justuploaded a snap shot above.

cheers

This post has been edited by Steve_Gee: 05 April 2009 - 12:08 PM

[Steve_Gee]

Finally found the owner, a person who worked away and left food for the cat, but the cat door jammed and she was locked out, so the $500 Burmese cat went without for at least 2 weeks.
Until she came over to our house looking for a feed.
The chip was useless as the ex Kilmore breeder had not registered it and the owner had not registered it.
The Shire ranger told the guy on the Tuesday they had not seen the cat at the pound, even though I went to the chip registration day two days earlier.
The guy came home the, cat heard him and went over the fence and all is well in the world.
The cat was desexed but ad no tatoo in its ear.
No one knew the cat lived around here.
No one cares not even the Shire.
The owner does not care to leave a cat like this unattended for two weeks.
Thew breeder does not do Burmese anymore and had no records or details.
I did my best.
Cat is now home for want of a better word.
No doubt when it gets hungry it wil come over to visit.
It seems content apart from climbing the screen door and meaowing all night that we could hear.
I got my vet friend to check it out pro bono and the cyst turned out to be a scare tissue from surgery.
The cat needs dental work really soon.
The owner cares less.

cheers..

This post has been edited by Steve_Gee: 15 April 2009 - 12:49 PM

[burmeselover]

What a sad story for this poor cat! While the "owner" was found eventually, it's really sad that the owner left her unattended for 2 weeks and that he doesn't care about her health.
If nothing else, you can look out for her well-being if she seems to be abandoned again.
Do you know if the microchip has finally been registered?

Good on you for caring for her and going to such lengths to find her owner.