Goodbye Mr. Ginger Cat

Moar!

This is Mr. Ginger Cat. He was one of the strays that I have been feeding for over 2 months now. At the beginning he was such a scrawny thing, all legs and tail. His fur was sparse and his colour was pale. I brought him to the vet to be vaccinated, de-wormed and de-fleaed. Also to make sure he wasn't harbouring an illness or something. Well, the vet said he seemed fine other than a bit undernourished, so I would feed him and 2 other strays regularly in the evenings.

One wiry cat and one wiry brother (legs).

He's extremely affectionate. Here he was rubbing snot on my jeans.

Ginger Cat face-off with the Sick Cat. Here was another stray that was in worse shape than he is - he had a perpetual bleeding nose, possibly cancerous in origin. I have yet to be able to feed him or bring him to the vet as he makes himself extremely scarce.

Last Thursday I went down to feed the cats as usual. Later I will have to make a proper introduction for the motley bunch of strays that wander about my apratment. Anyways Ginger Cat is always first in line once he smells food or hears me calling, so I was a bit weirded out when only Tortie and Cute cat appeared. Well, it was heat season, so I thought Ginger had gone off exploring and didn't think too much of it. He had begun to show improvement in that his coat was growing back and his colour was much better. He has also bulked up a bit.

Well, 2 days passed and still no sign of the Ginger cat. We didn't see him until Saturday evening; me and my brother found him in a drain drinking. But when I offered him food he did not seem interested. Then he started coughing and retching. I couldn't help him as the vets were closed until Monday, and he still looked ok despite the dry heaves...

...but come Sunday morning he was dead. :( It must have been something internal, I have no clue. It was so sudden too, as he did not seem sick, but then cats have a way of hiding their discomfort that could be detrimental to getting them swift treament. I miss this guy :(. Every morning if he sees me before I go to work he'll come and get a pet or two. I miss his boisterous presence when I go down to feed him in the evenings. I was planning to get him fixed, then find a permanent home for him (since Tuffie is adamant that she is to be the only cat in our household). I wish I could have hugged and spoilt him more, but at least he is not suffering anymore.

R.I.P. Mr. Ginger Cat.