Gray Cat at My Door is Injured

Not sure why cats find their way to my house but they do.  Our home is at the bottom of steep hill and it backs up 29 acres of dense woods with creek in the valley.  There is nothing around except a dead end street where cats and dogs are usually abandoned.   It should not surprise me but it always does when an animal finds its way to my side door. 

Tonight a large mature cat shows up at my side door and knew to scratch at the screen. I opened the door expecting to find my own cat wanting to come inside but instead there is a large gray and white cat sitting in front of the door looking at me.

My first reaction to this cat is to think that it is lost. So I turn on the porch light and go out to see if there is a collar and hopefully an identification tag. No such luck, this big boy with the shiny coat is well fed and I suspect either abandoned or lost.

I went indoors  to get some food and a bowel of water and set the cat bowls off to the side and that is when I realized that this cat was injured. His left hind leg is hurt because he is limping.

I called out to my husband and he examines the cats paw  to see if something is embedded but he said that the paw bed looked fine and he suspected cat got hurt in a fall or a fight with another cat. But again no bite or puncture wounds were noticed.  Maybe cat tried to climb a tree to get away from danger and fell?    We do not know but we both agree that this kitty that is injured must spend the night in our heated garage. 

 At this point we have no idea if this is somebody’s cat from the joining neighborhood.  All we know is that the cat is hurt and it is best that he is not spending the night outdoors tonight when coyote are in the area.  So there is another kitty that has found us and is of need of help.  We will do our best to care for him and hopefully we can locate his owner.

If you do not have a identification tag for your cat then I recommend this one. You can personalize it with your contact information.  If gray cat had a tag he would be home with his people tonight, instead of in my garage.

Cute identification tags for cats | Personalizable Pet ID Tags 

God Guided Feral Cat to Shelter

When the sky turned dark and the air felt heavy we knew that this was a sign for a thunderstorm. Sure enough, the weather forecast called for high winds, hail and a warning of a possible tornado.  We hoped that the feral cat that escaped our shelter three days ago would come back and enter through the kitty door on our cat shelter.  My husband and I prayed that God would guide her to safety.

The rain came down hard, the wind so strong that mature oak trees swayed and hail was large.  My husband and I stayed at the back window even though we were told to seek shelter underground.   Then I saw the feral cat I call Lucy she was soaked to the bone but in spite of this horrific storm, she was able to go into our shed through the open cat door.


I believe this to be the grace of God that he has guided Lucy to safety once again. Lucy had escaped the shelter several days ago with a wound that was not healing, so I ran out to shut the cat door because we must take her back to the veterinarian for evaluation of her wound.

Photographs of the injured feral cat in our care.

My Veterinarian is aware that her wound is not healing and he advised me to bring her in for medical care. However when I tried to trap Lucy she ran away and I did not see her for several days.

The veterinarian did a culture on Lucy's kitten Natasha and found that the bacterial infection was not responding to the antibiotics was due to L-Form Bacteria. The kitten’s immune system cannot fight this bacteria and my veterinarian suspects that Lucy has the same condition and this is why she has not healed in three weeks.

My veterinarian prescribed the medication that is needed for Lucy to heal. Doxycycline an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, and liquid vitamins to help Lucy with the infection and to boost her immune system. 

I am to give her one dose per day mixed in her chicken and liver canned food. I should feed her the medicated food when she is very hungry that way she will eat it. Otherwise she may shy away from it. Lucy must take the medication for 14 days. I have this one chance at healing her. I feel God brought her to me and that he is watching over her, he wants her to live and to return to her colony.