sterling needs a home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sterling came to me in February. One frigid afternoon I received a call from Lisa, who had adopted a hard-to-place kitty five years earlier. I was so relieved she didn’t want to return my grumpy former foster cat, Tessa, I would have done anything for her. Lisa, it happened, had a kitten problem. On several occasions she had caught a glimpse of a “beautiful” silver “kitten” in her garage trying to escape the twenty-something degree nights. “He’s really young,” she assured me.

I’ve been at this a long time. Terms are relative. “Beautiful” means the cat doesn’t have too many patches of missing fur. “Young” kitties are any feline under 14 years old. “Sweet” implies you won’t need stitches after handling the cat. I dreaded to see Lisa’s version of pretty and young.

Just 15 minutes after I set my cat trap, Lisa called me. We caught a kitten. To my surprise, the silver-colored kitten really was around three months old. When I arrived Lisa already had already named him Sterling. So, Sterling he was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I got the terrified kitten home, Sterling presented me with a few surprises. First, beneath all that lush Maine Coon fur lurked a girl, not a boy. Fortunately, the name Miss Sterling easily suited her. The second surprise was more unsettling. Her front let leg had protruding tissue that resembled an engorged gray tick. What the heck?

In the morning we’d dash off to the vet, but first things first: a bowl of food and a soft bed. That night, for the first time (maybe ever) little Sterling slept in a warm room with a full tummy. Poor thing was scared spitless. She cringed whenever I walked in the bathroom to check on her. I didn’t know what she’d been through, but clearly people hadn’t been her friends.

The next morning I showed my vet, Cassie Epstein, the “tick”. That gray fleshy growth was the result of a bone infection. And even more disturbing: Sterling had enduring a self-healed compound fracture. Dr. Cassie sent us home with a gallon of antibiotics. We’d watch the leg. Any surgical treatment would have to wait until Sterling had conquered her infection.

It took months of twice daily doses of antibiotics to control the infection. Unfortunately the elbow and bones had healed in such a distorted configuration, our only option was to amputate. It’s been a week since Sterling’s surgery. Two days after waving goodbye to her leg, she’s doing almost everything she did before her date with the scalpel.

Now that she’s pain free and no longer must tolerate frequent pillings. It’s hard to build trust when the kitty knows your foster mom is going to poke something down your gullet. I hope she’ll soon look forward to human contact rather than dread it. She loves chin scratches, but every time I approach her I have to re-earn her trust, as if it was our first meeting.\r\n\r\nWhen I hold her, she places her head under my hand and gives me head bumps. She wants to be loved. I just need to court her. Sterling needs a quiet home with no little kids. She gets along great with the other cats and the dog, but would do fine without four-legged companionship. Let me know if you are interested in becoming Sterling’s forever home.

If you’re interested in giving Sterling a forever home, go to Animal Allies of Texas and fill out an adoption application.