I received this request from Alex two days ago:
Hello Dr Chan,
A friend of mine recommended me to contact you for help with this issue. The cat in question is actually my neighbor's cat, when they moved in a couple years ago, the cat followed. She is orange, medium long haired and looked quite pretty with bushy tail back then. But now she looks worse than a stray cat, her tail is grey and looked like it had been ran over by cars several times or something. (just look, not sure if it really happened) She is super skinny, all bones, she look like she haven't been given a bath for a year, and she is suffering from mange, from what I can see.
My friend asked me to talk to my neighbor about it first, and I did. She still looks keen on 'keeping' the cat. From what I can tell she still thinks the cat is hers, but she also said she hasn't seen the cat for weeks, when me and her other neighbor see the cat outside their house nearly everyday, and just the evening before I actually took a picture of the cat outside their house, when they are at home. (I also fed the cat some fish my mom cooked later that evening, although by then my neighbor is not at home already) When I was feeding the cat, her other neighbor came out and mentioned that he saw someone splashed hot water at the cat the other day too. Mean people. :( Anyways, during my conversation with my neighbor, I also told her that the cat is sick and needed medical attention, I asked if they will bring the cat to a vet but they seemed to avoided that question.
Attached is a picture of the cat's ears which my friend tells me is mange, but I saw the cat this morning and it seemed to had gotten worse. I want to help this cat, but I just don't know how. The owner doesn't seem to or too busy to care. The cat technically has an owner but lives like a stray. So I would like some advice on what to do and how to help this cat. :(
Thank you,
Alex
So, I suggested that Alex asks her neighbour if he could adopt the cat. It doesn't hurt to ask if one does it politely. If Alex could somehow adopt the cat, we can help her in subsidising the treatment and whatever else needs to be done for the cat.
Long story cut short, Alex did ask, and apparently, the cat doesn't belong to the neighbour! They too were merely looking after the cat in whatever ways they can.
Lesson learnt - never assume things. Always ask to clarify.
So, Alex is now going to adopt this cat and she will be bringing the cat to our panel vet for a check-up soon.
We will subsidise the medical treatment required and we'll see how things go from there.
I hope everything turns out well.
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