Stronger than he looks
Award for the ‘feeling sorry for myself’ intake photo of 2023 must have been Hercules, a stray who had been hanging around for about 6 weeks until someone caught him up for the RSPCA Inspector.
He had an emergency vet visit on arrival to ease his obvious pain (we can’t do any interventional vet work until they are signed over to our care but can give pain relief). His ears were obviously causing a great deal of distress – there were wounds all round where he had been scratching, and they were visibly inflamed and sore. We suspected ear mites and inflammation – he would be having very painful earaches.
We gently cleaned his ears and gave eardrops, and applied a general parasite treatment as we could see flea dirt (underneath the normal dirt!). We started some eyedrops for his third-eyelid coming across as well.
A scruffy cat doesn’t put us off though, and we made sure he got lots of attention and love as he settled in to the safety of cattery life.
As we thought, nobody came forward to claim him so he was signed over to our care after 7 days.
Two weeks later and his skin is healed, and ears are doing a bit better. He is getting quite affectionate with his carers, and gently dribbles when being brushed as he loves it - obviously enjoying being a pampered pet! He still gets a little startled at fast movements and loud noises, probably from having lived as a stray.
As he is FIV+, we found him an indoor-only home for him where he could get plenty of company and enrichment. It wasn’t long before we found the perfect home for him.
We get in touch with adopters 6 months after adoption for a check in, and the update was gorgeous: “Hercules is doing brilliantly. He’s such a funny cat with so many little quirks, and he’s so affectionate too. He’s always following me around the flat and he’s started to become a proper lap cat and pass out cold on me (he’s currently fast asleep in my lap).
He sleeps up next to my head in bed every night and purrs at me and washes me, and he likes to squeeze his way onto my lap when I’m working too, even if that means nearly knocking my laptop onto the floor. His ears are looking great too!
Our experience of adopting from you was brilliant - you were so helpful and communicative, and we left with everything we needed to integrate Herc into our home in the best way for him. We can’t thank you enough!”
