Picture of a grossly obese and grossly matted abandoned cat is shocking

NEWS AND COMMENT: The RSPCA have named her Big Bertha. She is a young two years old tabby cat. The past owner appears to have grossly overfed her and then abandoned her. She was dumped in Calthorpe Park, Birmingham, UK and weighed 11.8 kg in pounds (26 pounds). The average domestic cat might way around 8-10 pounds.

Picture of a grossly obese and grossly matted abandoned cat is shocking. Image: RSPCA.

The Birmingham Animal Center's supervisor, Emma Finnimore was shocked. She said that "This is the largest cat I have seen in my 22 years working for the RSPCA".

They found her in this bag:

The bag in which Bertha was found. Picture: RSPCA.

So, what did they do? The only thing they could do was to clip off all her matted fur and put her on a gradual weight, reduction diet. The clipped off fur weighed 0.3 of a kilogram incidentally. Dieting of this sort needs to be gradual to avoid fatty liver disease.

She was too large to go through a cat flap and the RSPCA had to adapt a cat run for her until she went to a foster home.

Foster carer Emma Cureton, said:

 "The weight has gradually come off and she's already lost an amazing 3.82kg - which is a third of her body weight. She's still got a little way to go but she'll get there and will soon be ready to find a new home. She was in such a sorry state when she arrived at the rescue centre with her matting pulling on her skin. We don't know how she got so large as she is only a young cat. We think maybe someone had been constantly feeding her as she was so large, she was left unable to groom herself."

Pretty well everybody knows that this kind of obesity is a major health problem leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, problems with the liver, skin and heat tolerance and damaging the joints.

Separately, the RSPCA said that there has been a 25% rise in the number of abandonment incidents. In 2021 there were 10,519 abandonments of pets while in the year up to October 2022 there has been 13,159.

The report does not say why, but I think I know and other reports have confirmed this namely that there were too many self-indulgent pet adoptions during Covid-19 in order to keep people company and to entertain them during those long lockdowns. 

Many of these adoptions have now gone wrong and the owners are either abandoning their cats and dogs or selling them on the Internet through social media.

Incidentally, there has been a worrying upward trend in harassment of farm animals by badly trained dogs in the countryside. This, too, has been put down to the same root cause namely adoptions by people who do not have sufficient knowledge about dog welfare and behaviour during the pandemic.

So, we are, in the UK, feeling the effects in a very major way, not only in respect of pet ownership but in many other areas of Covid-19 and its legacy.

Like cats? But don't want to be an owner? Cats Protection are looking for foster carers

Date: Feb 13th 2023: Cats Protection, a very large and high-profile cat rescue organisation in the UK, need more volunteers to foster their cats after an increased demand due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Cat fostering is very rewarding if you want to help in animal welfare and if you enjoy the company of cats but are not really in a position to 'own' a cat.

Certainly, if you been thinking about being a cat foster carer but are yet to take the plunge, this could be an ideal moment.

The Dorset Echo, a local newspaper, tells us that in Weymouth, UK, for example, there is an increased demand. The cost-of-living crisis as it is called is biting in the UK causing people to give up their domestic cats which is a very unhappy state of affairs.

On that topic by the way when a person adopts a cat it should be for the lifetime of their cat and they really should be in a position financially to be able to take setbacks to their finances in order to allow them to retain their cat under difficult circumstances. I know I am being idealistic but that is a fundamental philosophy I feel.

Also, in a cost-of-living crisis with high inflation and increased mortgage rates, a cat owner should cut back on expenses in all areas of their life before they give up their cat. Giving up their cat should not be the first thing they do. That sounds obvious but it might not be obvious to some people.

People won't give up their car which they might hardly use and which is expensive to run but they might give up their cat. That's the kind of discussion I would like to raise. It's about making the hard decisions but the right ones.

Cats Protection have a video about volunteering as a foster carer. The entire organisation is based upon foster caring by the way. It's highly successful.

How can I become a volunteer fosterer? You must be over 18 years of age and you must own your home or have permission from your landlord to keep a cat at the property. Foster cats require one room in the home which can be shut off from the rest of the home to keep the cats safe and settled. All the essential requirements of that foster cat are in that room.

You don't require essential skills or experience although of course a knowledge of cats would certainly help but if you don't have it Cats Protection staff are on hand to provide training and advice.

Also, as I understand it, Cats Protection provide all the equipment and costs of caring for their cats so this is volunteering to give up one's time to temporarily care for a vulnerable animal before they are rehomed.

If you are interested you can call them on (020) 7272 6048.

Rescued dog parents and nurtures rescued kittens and it's beautiful

This is a great picture taken, I believe, by Rachel a nurse at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home who also fosters rescued animals at the shelter. She volunteered to foster some very young kittens who had been cruelly abandoned by the roadside. It's a hard job looking after kittens at that age and parenting them. 

Bertie a rescued Lab retriever parenting rescued kittens abandoned at 2-weeks-of-age at the roadside. Photo: Rachel of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Bertie, her ex-Battersea rescued Labrador retriever stepped up to the plate and volunteered to help. He's done a great job and entertained Rachel at the same time. Rachel made the point that I want to make which is that it is wonderful to see a rescued dog looking after rescued kittens. 

It is a beautiful interspecies relationship which is in stark contrast to the relationship between the former owner of the abandoned kittens. It must have been incredibly poor for a person to throw away kittens on the roadside like that. 

It always bemuses me how people can do this. They must have abnormal brain function. A part of their brain is obviously missing because nobody can do something as cruel as that without something fundamental lacking in their mentality. Often it is down to poor education due to poor parenting but I don't know the background to the abandonment. What is clear though is that no one should ever throw away kittens at the roadside or in woods. There are rescue centers for these unwanted animals. Have the courage and decency to use them, please.

We see quite a lot of pictures of dogs parenting cats and kittens and vice versa. But rarely do we see a photograph this good in terms of its composition and the expressions on the faces of the animals. The lighting is pretty good too despite being artificial. I have to commend Rachel for the photograph if indeed she did take it. I expect she did because she was fostering the kittens and I believe still is.

Picture of scraggy calico kitten with long pink human nails

I find the human nails ghastly. God, I hate women's nails that are as long as this especially when they are varnished in bright pink and pointed - sharpened up, looking like cat claws. The nails belong to a young woman who is a cat foster carer living in Florida, USA. She does great work and takes some nice photos as you can see on this page.  But please cut your nails and stop varnishing them just for me!

Picture of scraggy calico kitten with long pink human nails. Picture: Instagram.

The picture is good for me because it shows how vulnerable these little newborn kittens are. And look at those nails! Yes, I am on about nails again. I like the nails of cats but not long human nails. Cats are born with decent nails (claws to you and me) but no teeth (rarely they might have some). 

To think that some cat owners ask a veterinarian to remove the claws of their kitten. At such a tender age to put them through 10 brutal amputations. The trauma. The pain. It is quite disgusting to think about it. These people should be ashamed of themselves. 

Because I am on the subject of nails I'll add some more info. You know that cats are digitigrades don't you? They walk on their toes. That part of the anatomy that looks like it is part of the leg leading to their feet (the bit below the hock) is actually their feet. They have very long feet. It helps give them lots of leverage to jump so effectively.

They are built for hunting and speed. There are five phalanges on each forepaw. Four are fully functional and one is vestigial (no longer particularly useful). Each phalange has three parts (bones) called phalanxes. The claw is attached to the distal (farthest) phalanx. They are protractile. So when the vet removes the nail they are actually removing the distal phalanx to which the nail is connected. Yes, it is an amputation, not the removal of only the claw.

You can see the calico pattern on the head. Calico is tortoiseshell-and-white. This kitten has just been fed some milk replacement formula by the look of it as it is still on his face.  Full belly. Happy bunny. Leave his bloody claws alone please. I hope that the foster carer or the cat rescue organisation for which she works have a clause in their contract making it mandatory that there is no declawing. Never declaw please. It is totally immoral.

Criminal Wants Someone to Look after His Cats When He's in Prison

I had just read a comment on another page on this website from an anonymous person who says that he looks after 3 cats.  He says he is about to go to prison.  It also says that he lives alone, has no family and nobody he believes who can look after his cats when he is in prison.

I say 'he' but the person maybe 'she'. It doesn't matter. The problem is who does she contact to look after her cats when she is in prison.  It is the first time I have been asked that question and the answer may be difficult to find.

Normally, a prisoner who is about to embark on a short sentence will ask a friend or family to look after their cats until they are released.  If, notwithstanding that the prisoner has family to help, she is to embark on a road long prison sentence than it would seem necessary to re-home the cats.  This is regrettable but it seems to me a natural consequence of the crime that the person has committed. It is simply an additional loss or punishment.

A short sentence is a different kettle of fish.  In the UK there are individual cat fosters who work for large organisations like Cats Protection and The Cinnamon Trust.  I read that The Cinnamon Trust foster cats if, for example, the owner has to go into hospital or residential care.  In other words, The Cinnamon Trust appear to have a system whereby they will look after someone's cat for a long period time.  I would certainly contact them if I was about to start a prison sentence and had a cat or cats provided the sentence was not too long.  Cats Protection is a large national organisation in England with many volunteers who work from home and look after rescue cats pending re-homing.  I would have thought that they would be able to help and are certainly worth contacting.

The person may also talk to their veterinarian may have some contacts.

What about the USA?  In the USA there are also very many individual people who foster cats. These people are extremely knowledgeable about caring for cats.  The question is where are they and what might they charge for the service?

Once again I would probably start with my veterinarian as a first contact because they will no doubt be in the loop in respect of cat rescues in the area and cat rescue organisations have contact with cat fosterers.

The Humane Society of the United States might be able to help (contact).

One thing a person could do is to search for animal and cat rescue organisations who require volunteers to help them.  If an organisation is searching for volunteers then of course they have volunteers and the volunteers will very often be people involved in fostering cats. Accordingly, a Google search for “cat rescue organizations need volunteers" may bear fruit but some work will be required to drill down to find a suitable organisation.

If anybody other than better idea than please leave a comment.  My searches on Google have not produced a definitive answer.  I was looking for a list of organisations who used volunteers to foster cats but was unable to find one without spending more time searching.