RCR Feral Team Goes Above and Beyond for Jessica!

Jessica en route the a vet clinic for treatment for her poor ears. 

Meet Jessica,  a long term resident cat at one of our community cat colonies.  Jessica is a beautiful white cat who is loved by many and has a loving cat family that adores her as well. 

RCR feral cat team members are on the job 365 days a years, and last spring they noticed that Jessica had a serious problem with ear mites, and that her ears were bloody and raw. 

Over the summer, they tried every trick in the book to trap her, including different types of traps, sardines, tuna, salmon, raw meat, cat nip, cooked steak and the no-fail Kentucky Fried Chicken bait - all with no luck.  The other day, one of of the team leads watched her to see her what shelter box she seemed to prefer with the onset of colder weather and in short order, Jessica was nabbed an on the way to the vet!

We knew her ears were in bad shape but she is a true feral cat and does not stay visible for long. All our volunteers  saw was just a flash of her running by. However, once Jessica was trapped, we all felt her pain.   Her ear was raw and she also had a big wound behind her ear. The fact that she didn't flail around or finger once captured  indicate that she was suffering and  knew that she was finally getting help.

Jessica  had to get stitches in the wound behind her ear, was treated with an antibiotic shot, had a drainage tube put in her ear and a cone on her head.  We will have to contain her until she can get the drainage tube cones out.  If her ear does not start to heal on it's own we will have to cut her left ear off.  She will also be having dental work done when she goes in to get her drainage tube out.

That's one of the challenges of caring for feral cats.  It's not easy to retrap them after they have already been caught to be sterilized. They know they don't want to be trapped again! Jessica's entire colony have all been trapped this summer and treated for ear mites, worms and some had dental work done.   If only they could understand that we are trying to help them! 

We caution you that the pictures are not pretty.  This cat has suffered a lot of pain but we hope she is feeling a bit of relief at long last, thanks to the RCR Feral Cat Team. 

-Alanna, Regina Cat Rescue