Friday 2 July 2010
Prince is not well and his condition is something I've never encountered. His head is tilted to the left and he has absolutely no balance. But he is hungry. I fill my 10 feeding bowls. Prince manages to get onto the landing and tries to eat. But he keeps falling over. I sit down behind him and I hold him upright. He is so hungry he allows me to hold him. (In the 3 years that I've been feeding my DustbinCats, I've never touched Prince, let alone hold him...)
After 40 minutes and heart palpitating, I phone my life-saver vet, Adri. She explains that it could be an ear infection or something brain related and I should bring him in asap. But I don't have a carrier, trap, towel or anything! So I go home but I don't sleep.
Saturday 3 July 2010
I spend the entire day between my office park where Prince feeds from time to time, and my feeding station at Lifestyle Nurseries. I come home after dark. No sight of Prince, no sleep. Again.
Sunday 4 July 2010
I pop through to my feeding station in the morning and find Prince sleeping in an unreachable place. I throw little stones close to him but he doesn't wake, so I leave, do shopping and bump into my friend Denise whilst unloading my car and make arrangements to go back to see if we can trap my boy.
Denise and I leave my house at 4:00pm. We get to my feeding station and as we arrive, Stephen and September (his birthday is 10 May :) rush to tell me that they have my sick cat trapped under a dumpster. I go to the one end of the dumpster and Denise to the other. We swop sides numerous times. After crawling in *stinky dustbin juices* and using every long stick utensil in sight, Prince comes stumbling out from his hiding spot. I shout at Denise to come to my end while I jump to get a towel and the carrier. Denise grabs Prince, he bites her - twice, but we manage to get him into the carrier.
I phone vet no. 1 - sorry, we can't help. Denise and I go to vet no. 2 but one of the staff members tells me that there are no vets on the premises. Vet no. 3 assures me that there is no hope of either recovery or survival and she euthanises my beautiful Prince.
Denise was hurt during the trapping but has received medical attention and I wish her a speedy recovery. :)
To my beautiful boy, Prince, we've come a long way :) Some years ago, you were so wild and so shy. But you decided to trust me - and maybe even like me a little? I'm going to miss your beautiful green eyes and I'm going to struggle finding another Alpha male to fill your very large paws. May you rest in peace xxx
