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Caring for a Dying Stray Cat

Felis Leo

Felis Leo

Moral clarity is needed
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Joined
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Location
California
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Conservative
Hello everyone,

I just wanted your thoughts on this matter. We have a stray feral cat who has been coming to our backyard for years. We have named him Van Gogh on account of his missing an ear and his extreme skittishness. Our backyard appears to be as close to a home for him as anything, since we do not let our dog into the backyard (she really hates being left out there) and we leave food for Van Gogh and the other neighborhood cats.

Van Gogh has been a fixture of our daily lives for years, coming to our backyard every day to sun himself, eat food, and relax on the grass. We enjoy his presence from afar. He is, after all, a stray feral and does not trust humans and will hiss and run when we go to him. He will eat the food we leave him, and sleep in the kitty bed outside that we have made for him, but will not allow himself to pet or even approached. As I said, he will run and jump the backyard fence whenever we go to him.

Until recently, that is. We started noticing a few months ago that he had a weird growth on his back, a lump of some sort. At first my wife and I thought he may have been injured in a fight and had developed an abscess, or perhaps that it was scoliosis. But it just kept growing and growing over these past several months. Now it looks he is hiding a small football under his fur just below his shoulders. Not only is it unsightly, far worse, it has compressed his spine so he is no longer able to run or climb the fence. His back legs are largely useless. He still hobbles, and comes to eat the food and water we leave out for him, but it is clear his condition is getting worse. He will never be able to leave our backyard. He is dying.

I am torn on what to do. Van Gogh is clearly suffering, and if he were one of my house cats in the same shape, I would have taken the poor guy to the Vet be put down without hesitation. But he is terrified of humans, and while I would be able to easily catch him and constrain him to take him to the vet, he would find no comfort with us. I think he would simply be in a state of agonized terror for the duration of his containment, surrounded by creatures he fears and in an environment he does not comprehend until his final moments, as opposed to dying slowly and painfully in the comfort of our backyard which he has always considered his home.

I want to hear what you guys would do in a similar situation? Let cruel nature take its course but give him the space, food and water that he needs in a place where he feels safe until he can no longer sustain himself? Or should my wife and I intervene, putting him through momentary terror but letting the pain end?
 
Felis Leo said:
Hello everyone,

I just wanted your thoughts on this matter. We have a stray feral cat who has been coming to our backyard for years. We have named him Van Gogh on account of his missing an ear and his extreme skittishness. Our backyard appears to be as close to a home for him as anything, since we do not let our dog into the backyard (she really hates being left out there) and we leave food for Van Gogh and the other neighborhood cats.

Van Gogh has been a fixture of our daily lives for years, coming to our backyard every day to sun himself, eat food, and relax on the grass. We enjoy his presence from afar. He is, after all, a stray feral and does not trust humans and will hiss and run when we go to him. He will eat the food we leave him, and sleep in the kitty bed outside that we have made for him, but will not allow himself to pet or even approached. As I said, he will run and jump the backyard fence whenever we go to him.

Until recently, that is. We started noticing a few months ago that he had a weird growth on his back, a lump of some sort. At first my wife and I thought he may have been injured in a fight and had developed an abscess, or perhaps that it was scoliosis. But it just kept growing and growing over these past several months. Now it looks he is hiding a small football under his fur just below his shoulders. Not only is it unsightly, far worse, it has compressed his spine so he is no longer able to run or climb the fence. His back legs are largely useless. He still hobbles, and comes to eat the food and water we leave out for him, but it is clear his condition is getting worse. He will never be able to leave our backyard. He is dying.

I am torn on what to do. Van Gogh is clearly suffering, and if he were one of my house cats in the same shape, I would have taken the poor guy to the Vet be put down without hesitation. But he is terrified of humans, and while I would be able to easily catch him and constrain him to take him to the vet, he would find no comfort with us. I think he would simply be in a state of agonized terror for the duration of his containment, surrounded by creatures he fears and in an environment he does not comprehend until his final moments, as opposed to dying slowly and painfully in the comfort of our backyard which he has always considered his home.

I want to hear what you guys would do in a similar situation? Let cruel nature take its course but give him the space, food and water that he needs in a place where he feels safe until he can no longer sustain himself? Or should my wife and I intervene, putting him through momentary terror but letting the pain end?
Click to expand...

Not sure what's available in your area but we have a group of people around here who just care for feral cats. They mostly trap them, spay or neuter and release, but they also actively feed and care for some groups of them and recently intervened to get a group of cats humanely relocated when some old abandoned buildings they'd made a home were being torn down for development. I'd call them up and see if they can handle or for advice. You might check with the local Humane Society to see if such a group exists near you.
 
Felis Leo said:
Hello everyone,

I just wanted your thoughts on this matter. We have a stray feral cat who has been coming to our backyard for years. We have named him Van Gogh on account of his missing an ear and his extreme skittishness. Our backyard appears to be as close to a home for him as anything, since we do not let our dog into the backyard (she really hates being left out there) and we leave food for Van Gogh and the other neighborhood cats.

Van Gogh has been a fixture of our daily lives for years, coming to our backyard every day to sun himself, eat food, and relax on the grass. We enjoy his presence from afar. He is, after all, a stray feral and does not trust humans and will hiss and run when we go to him. He will eat the food we leave him, and sleep in the kitty bed outside that we have made for him, but will not allow himself to pet or even approached. As I said, he will run and jump the backyard fence whenever we go to him.

Until recently, that is. We started noticing a few months ago that he had a weird growth on his back, a lump of some sort. At first my wife and I thought he may have been injured in a fight and had developed an abscess, or perhaps that it was scoliosis. But it just kept growing and growing over these past several months. Now it looks he is hiding a small football under his fur just below his shoulders. Not only is it unsightly, far worse, it has compressed his spine so he is no longer able to run or climb the fence. His back legs are largely useless. He still hobbles, and comes to eat the food and water we leave out for him, but it is clear his condition is getting worse. He will never be able to leave our backyard. He is dying.

I am torn on what to do. Van Gogh is clearly suffering, and if he were one of my house cats in the same shape, I would have taken the poor guy to the Vet be put down without hesitation. But he is terrified of humans, and while I would be able to easily catch him and constrain him to take him to the vet, he would find no comfort with us. I think he would simply be in a state of agonized terror for the duration of his containment, surrounded by creatures he fears and in an environment he does not comprehend until his final moments, as opposed to dying slowly and painfully in the comfort of our backyard which he has always considered his home.

I want to hear what you guys would do in a similar situation? Let cruel nature take its course but give him the space, food and water that he needs in a place where he feels safe until he can no longer sustain himself? Or should my wife and I intervene, putting him through momentary terror but letting the pain end?
Click to expand...

This is a very hard one. We had to put our dog Bart down, a few years ago, and that was extremely hard to do. Though it had to be done, since he was completely shut down at that point. But Bart wasn't a feral cat, so this makes it a different situation entirely. Is there any way you could get someone to come out and put him down? I know that vets do that for people when they can, and animals can pass away in their backyards peacefully or whatnot.

I'm not sure, man. :( It sucks when animals we love are at their wits end. My Chihuahua bandit is very old, and he gives us scares more recently than not, and it always makes me worry. I hate having my pets die, and Bart' s death really tore me up.
 
We rescue a lot of cats, but never feral cats, nor will feed them as the number of feral cats can grow exponentially and rapidly, increasing the number who suffer such a life. Sounds cruel, but life is cruel to feral cats, which can be extremely destructive on the environment against birds and small mammals - and they are a non-native invasive species.
Candidly, the merciful thing to do would be to shoot it to end the suffering. Don't know if you could do that. To trap it and take it to a vet to be put down would just be to terrorize it first. Or you could let nature run it's course.
It would make no sense to spend a pile of money at a vet trying to save it. That same amount of money would do more by contributing it to a no-kill shelter and would save many more cats.
There is no good decision. Rather, just an ethical decision you have to make. Indecision is as much a decision as a pro-active decision.
 
You can get one of those cat traps and take him to the vet.
 
It sounds like a tumor to me. Take him to the vet and you will be told if he's suffering excessively. If he is and you don't check, you will have failed your duty.
 
Many vets would NOT be happy with bringing in a feral cat as it could be bringing in a variety of lethal diseases such as feline leukemia, which is always lethal and very easily transmitted to other cats.

There is no superior ethics paying someone else to put an animal down rather than doing it yourself.

The question is what would I do? I would feed it a last meal of the best food I could and then shoot it in the head with a .22. The end would be instant.

That is not easy to do, but it is to end it's suffer at the expense of a little suffering by you having done so. Of course, therefore the question isn't just what is best for the cat, but what is best for you too. Maybe that would haunt you too much. It would be much easier for someone who is a hunter.

I know such answer and action would upset a lot of people and you probably would be best not to tell others as they wouldn't understand.
 
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Felis Leo said:
Hello everyone,

I just wanted your thoughts on this matter. We have a stray feral cat who has been coming to our backyard for years. We have named him Van Gogh on account of his missing an ear and his extreme skittishness. Our backyard appears to be as close to a home for him as anything, since we do not let our dog into the backyard (she really hates being left out there) and we leave food for Van Gogh and the other neighborhood cats.

Van Gogh has been a fixture of our daily lives for years, coming to our backyard every day to sun himself, eat food, and relax on the grass. We enjoy his presence from afar. He is, after all, a stray feral and does not trust humans and will hiss and run when we go to him. He will eat the food we leave him, and sleep in the kitty bed outside that we have made for him, but will not allow himself to pet or even approached. As I said, he will run and jump the backyard fence whenever we go to him.

Until recently, that is. We started noticing a few months ago that he had a weird growth on his back, a lump of some sort. At first my wife and I thought he may have been injured in a fight and had developed an abscess, or perhaps that it was scoliosis. But it just kept growing and growing over these past several months. Now it looks he is hiding a small football under his fur just below his shoulders. Not only is it unsightly, far worse, it has compressed his spine so he is no longer able to run or climb the fence. His back legs are largely useless. He still hobbles, and comes to eat the food and water we leave out for him, but it is clear his condition is getting worse. He will never be able to leave our backyard. He is dying.

I am torn on what to do. Van Gogh is clearly suffering, and if he were one of my house cats in the same shape, I would have taken the poor guy to the Vet be put down without hesitation. But he is terrified of humans, and while I would be able to easily catch him and constrain him to take him to the vet, he would find no comfort with us. I think he would simply be in a state of agonized terror for the duration of his containment, surrounded by creatures he fears and in an environment he does not comprehend until his final moments, as opposed to dying slowly and painfully in the comfort of our backyard which he has always considered his home.

I want to hear what you guys would do in a similar situation? Let cruel nature take its course but give him the space, food and water that he needs in a place where he feels safe until he can no longer sustain himself? Or should my wife and I intervene, putting him through momentary terror but letting the pain end?
Click to expand...

If I were in this situation, I'd be inclined to trap the cat, take him to a vet, if any treatment can save the cat's life...I'd pay for it and have it done. After he recovers, I'd release him and hope our relationship improves. If there is no treatment, I'd pay to have him put down.

But that's just me. I fully understand that not everyone would/could spend that kind of money on a feral cat. I would have a hard time being able to watch an animal that's been a part of my life suffer and die without trying to help.

@joko104 - I tend to agree with you about putting the animal down myself. I could do it. If I were to come across a cat that got hit by a car on a country road and was obviously dying, I would put it out of it's suffering. But in this case, I'd have the Vet do it.
 
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JasperL said:
Not sure what's available in your area but we have a group of people around here who just care for feral cats. They mostly trap them, spay or neuter and release, but they also actively feed and care for some groups of them and recently intervened to get a group of cats humanely relocated when some old abandoned buildings they'd made a home were being torn down for development. I'd call them up and see if they can handle or for advice. You might check with the local Humane Society to see if such a group exists near you.
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In my opinion, it would be best to contact the animal control in your city, let them take him away and euthanize him. We also had a feral cat, a big male that lived in the woods. He had a severe limp, broken leg. He couldn't really forage for the food he needed anymore since his broken leg or hip prevented that, he started to become emaciated. My neighbor called animal control and they took him to be euthanized. There's only one thing worse than not being able to help an injured animal and that's to do nothing to put an end to their suffering.
 
Cats do not die peaceful deaths from tumors. They suffer agonizing pain for as long as weeks.
 
Thanks for your input everybody. I really appreciate it. I think I will call the Humane Society and see what the best route forward would be.
 
It is harsh and cruel sounding, but nature takes its course. All life is suffering, hopefully with a few moments of small pleasures.

Empathy and compassion for animals, domestic and feral, are reasonable and desirable sentiments. For this particular cat, for whatever reason or reasons, human contact is a terror. I say let him be, it will be over soon enough. You have done your best by him. There is no pleasure to be found watching any suffering, but it is what it is.
 
OldFatGuy said:
It is harsh and cruel sounding, but nature takes its course. All life is suffering, hopefully with a few moments of small pleasures.

Empathy and compassion for animals, domestic and feral, are reasonable and desirable sentiments. For this particular cat, for whatever reason or reasons, human contact is a terror. I say let him be, it will be over soon enough. You have done your best by him. There is no pleasure to be found watching any suffering, but it is what it is.
Click to expand...

That's monstrous. We're talking unbearable suffering for days or weeks. And they don't make noise about it.
 
Felis Leo said:
Hello everyone,

I just wanted your thoughts on this matter. We have a stray feral cat who has been coming to our backyard for years. We have named him Van Gogh on account of his missing an ear and his extreme skittishness. Our backyard appears to be as close to a home for him as anything, since we do not let our dog into the backyard (she really hates being left out there) and we leave food for Van Gogh and the other neighborhood cats.

Van Gogh has been a fixture of our daily lives for years, coming to our backyard every day to sun himself, eat food, and relax on the grass. We enjoy his presence from afar. He is, after all, a stray feral and does not trust humans and will hiss and run when we go to him. He will eat the food we leave him, and sleep in the kitty bed outside that we have made for him, but will not allow himself to pet or even approached. As I said, he will run and jump the backyard fence whenever we go to him.

Until recently, that is. We started noticing a few months ago that he had a weird growth on his back, a lump of some sort. At first my wife and I thought he may have been injured in a fight and had developed an abscess, or perhaps that it was scoliosis. But it just kept growing and growing over these past several months. Now it looks he is hiding a small football under his fur just below his shoulders. Not only is it unsightly, far worse, it has compressed his spine so he is no longer able to run or climb the fence. His back legs are largely useless. He still hobbles, and comes to eat the food and water we leave out for him, but it is clear his condition is getting worse. He will never be able to leave our backyard. He is dying.

I am torn on what to do. Van Gogh is clearly suffering, and if he were one of my house cats in the same shape, I would have taken the poor guy to the Vet be put down without hesitation. But he is terrified of humans, and while I would be able to easily catch him and constrain him to take him to the vet, he would find no comfort with us. I think he would simply be in a state of agonized terror for the duration of his containment, surrounded by creatures he fears and in an environment he does not comprehend until his final moments, as opposed to dying slowly and painfully in the comfort of our backyard which he has always considered his home.

I want to hear what you guys would do in a similar situation? Let cruel nature take its course but give him the space, food and water that he needs in a place where he feels safe until he can no longer sustain himself? Or should my wife and I intervene, putting him through momentary terror but letting the pain end?
Click to expand...

It's sad to see animals suffering. I live in a rural area of Texas where nature helps solve the problem. In short: coyotes.
 
TheGoverness said:
This is a very hard one. We had to put our dog Bart down, a few years ago, and that was extremely hard to do. Though it had to be done, since he was completely shut down at that point. But Bart wasn't a feral cat, so this makes it a different situation entirely. Is there any way you could get someone to come out and put him down? I know that vets do that for people when they can, and animals can pass away in their backyards peacefully or whatnot.

I'm not sure, man. :( It sucks when animals we love are at their wits end. My Chihuahua bandit is very old, and he gives us scares more recently than not, and it always makes me worry. I hate having my pets die, and Bart' s death really tore me up.
Click to expand...

I had to put down (vet) 2 cats in a one year period. One was an old female stray that we took in and kept for years. The other was a beautiful, huge and powerful - but very gentle - Maine coon cat that we had rescued from the shelter, then found what we thought a good home for it. A year later the shelter called with the cat back (it was chipped). Someone has broken the cat's back and it could not used it's back legs nor control it's bowel or bladder. We spent $1600 trying to save him, but he was just suffering.

Both were hard to put down. I was the only human the old gray cat trusted. We kept her alive as long as we could until it clear the cat was suffering too much. The Maine coon cat was also very hard because he was such a fighter for life - dragging himself around by his front legs always trying to find a place to crawl into and hide. But he could not be consoled and the vet told us he was in terrible pain (back pain can be blindingly painful).

It wasn't easily to do, but felt better after doing so as it was the right thing to do. The hardest to lose to old age was a 14 year old mini pom I had since she was a puppy - a show dog with an even better cute, sweet personality. She died quietly and peacefully in my arms one night. We knew it was coming. She didn't suffer, her body just shut down across a day. Still, it was hard. I still sometimes expect her to be waiting for me at the door at the end of the work day.
 
Felis Leo said:
Thanks for your input everybody. I really appreciate it. I think I will call the Humane Society and see what the best route forward would be.
Click to expand...

Their answers have to be guarded so consider their limitations on what they may say.
 
joko104 said:
I had to put down (vet) 2 cats in a one year period. One was an old female stray that we took in and kept for years. The other was a beautiful, huge and powerful - but very gentle - Maine coon cat that we had rescued from the shelter, then found what we thought a good home for it. A year later the shelter called with the cat back (it was chipped). Someone has broken the cat's back and it could not used it legs nor control it's bowel or bladder.

Both were hard to put down. I was the only human the old gray cat trusted. We kept her alive as long as we could until it clear the cat was suffering too much. The Maine coon cat was also very hard because he was such a fighter for life - dragging himself around by his front legs always trying to find a place to crawl into and hide. But he could not be consoled and the vet told us he was in terrible pain (back pain can be blindingly painful).

It wasn't easily to do, but felt better after doing so as it was the right thing to do. The hardest to lose to old age was a 14 year old mini pom I had since she was a puppy - a show dog with an even better cute, sweet personality. She died quietly and peacefully in my arms one night. We knew it was coming. She didn't suffer, her body just shut down across a day. Still, it was hard. I still sometimes expect her to be waiting for me at the door at the end of the work day.
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I hope she will be waiting for you at the other end of the Rainbow Bridge.

It's never easy. I've had two cats survive to age 19. My beloved gata is now 16 (her name is Tuxedo, but I speak to her only in Spanish, and she is mi gata, mi bebita )and becoming frail, so frail.

Sigh, you just patiently clean up after them...and you will know when it's time and will do the right thing out of love and gratitude.
 
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ecofarm said:
That's monstrous. We're talking unbearable suffering for days or weeks. And they don't make noise about it.
Click to expand...

Life is monstrous. Life is suffering.
 
Mycroft said:
If I were in this situation, I'd be inclined to trap the cat, take him to a vet, if any treatment can save the cat's life...I'd pay for it and have it done. After he recovers, I'd release him and hope our relationship improves. If there is no treatment, I'd pay to have him put down.

But that's just me. I fully understand that not everyone would/could spend that kind of money on a feral cat. I would have a hard time being able to watch an animal that's been a part of my life suffer and die without trying to help.

@joko104 - I tend to agree with you about putting the animal down myself. I could do it. If I were to come across a cat that got hit by a car on a country road and was obviously dying, I would put it out of it's suffering. But in this case, I'd have the Vet do it.
Click to expand...

I took the last 2 cats to a vet to be put down. I don't think it is more merciful, but the Mrs. had a problem with my doing it myself - and it can be VERY difficult pulling that trigger.
 
joko104 said:
Many vets would NOT be happy with bringing in a feral cat as it could be bringing in a variety of lethal diseases such as feline leukemia, which is always lethal and very easily transmitted to other cats.

There is no superior ethics paying someone else to put an animal down rather than doing it yourself.

The question is what would I do? I would feed it a last meal of the best food I could and then shoot it in the head with a .22. The end would be instant.

That is not easy to do, but it is to end it's suffer at the expense of a little suffering by you having done so. Of course, therefore the question isn't just what is best for the cat, but what is best for you too. Maybe that would haunt you too much. It would be much easier for someone who is a hunter.

I know such answer and action would upset a lot of people and you probably would be best not to tell others as they wouldn't understand.
Click to expand...

I understand and will testify that a .22 between the eyes is a merciful death. Sometimes this is the only way, and I will also testify to the horror of alternative methods when you don't have a gun and you also have no time or no access to a vet. Blessedly, we have found a vet who makes house calls and will come at any hour to do what must be done.
 
ecofarm said:
Not if I can help.
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Are you one of the people who voted for the extinction of the human race by an asteroid rather than seeing another term for President Trump - the suffering being just too great? :lol:

There's a lot of old people particularly for which it is very painful to walk or who otherwise have to deal with pain every day. That isn't justification to put then down. Putting a pet down is the last resort, not the first. Young people often say they would rather die that suffer old age ailments. I have no doubt that is not their opinion when they become old.

I have put down probably a dozen pets and a couple animals who were severe road hits. For pets, it is the last resort when there is no quality of life left and the end is certain. I look at this with a simple question: "if it were me, what would I want?" There is a point I would want my life to end. But I've experienced a great deal of physical pain my life history and never did I see death as a solution. Your pet's fate is in your hands. Ending it's life is never it's choice. So if in doubt, don't. But if ethics requires it - or if that is the true act of love, do it.
 
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