March 17th 2015 – Salem was rescued just a couple of hours ago. Abandoned, he’s very hyperactive and likes to roam quite a lot but he comes to a feral colony feeding station to get his meals everyday. He has been living in the streets for a few months now. Paul regularly feeds him along with the rest of the ferals and keeps him monitored. Tonight he was found hawling in the middle of the street. He has an injured hind leg that forces him to limp. Despite our rough situation we just couldn’t leave him there! who could? He was hurt, hungry, cold and out there on his own. He’s now resting in our ER (our laundry room!) until we can get him to the vet tomorrow and figure out the rest. He’s got all he needs for tonight. Food , water, litterbox and a warm blanket to sleep on, You’re safe & in good hands now Salem. (Scroll down for video)
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VIDEO
*** Note: video quality is not the best, it was made late at night so it’s a bit dark and it has no audio but it captures the moment Salem was brought in and finally safe again! ***
UPDATE March 18th, 2015
Salem’s vet checkup UPDATE – Salem’s got a metatarsal fracture on his left hind paw. He could have been stepped by a human or his paw might have been caught in something like a chain-linked fence, There’s no open wound but pain, abnormal movement of the paw and swelling. He was given an anti-inflammatory shot & painkiller. He’s now on a 7-day course of antibiotics . Depending on how well he responds to treatment surgery might not be needed. Fingers crossed!
UPDATE March 24th, 2015
Good news and bad news 🙁 Good news first: Salem was neutered yesterday and everything went well. He was back on his feet again in no time. He’s eating well and his paw is fully healed. Although he’s a little thin, he’s rather healthy for the most part. Bad news is: his behavior. Salem is always stressed and doesn’t like being kept indoors. He’s a young male quite dominant and territorial, he urinates all over the place, crawls up the walls and shades and cries all day long so full of anxiety. Since he was an unaltered male we placed him in a separate room on his own (our laundry room) and although it is rather spacious he still seems to need more “freedom”. He never relaxes. We’ve tried some natural & herbal calming tablets and Feliway to reduce stress and anxiety but so far nothing seems to work. This whole situation is very complicated and hard on all of us. All new rescues need some time to adapt before they could possibly interact with the rest. Up until now, all our rescues have adapted so well and were gradually integrated. However, Salem is a rather particularly hard case that most probably need some time to fully adjust and sadly our hands are tied! We do not have neither the time nor the right facilities to make it any easier for him right now.
UPDATE March 27th, 2015
This morning, we asked our vet for advice regarding Salem’s complicated condition and how to make it easier for him so he can finally start enjoying the benefits of a safe life indoors. She suggested the use of Feliway diffuser to help gradually lower his level of stress. Although we’d been using Feliway spray for a few days already, it’s not enough. Salem is very hyperactive and full of anxiety so he needs a long-term treatment. On top of that, his testosterone hormones are still raging high which is not helping much at all! He was neutered only a few days ago and testosterone hormones level will lower in no less than a month. At night, he walks around his room howling and trying to get out. This behaviour is not only affecting the fostering process but also our daily lives for neighbours could eventually complain because of his recurrent howling. We needed to find a suitable solution immediately. Despite the fact that we are losing our place and that our deadline is getting closer, giving up on Salem was not an option. Over the last few days so many kind people have been moved to donate and help us raise enough funds for our new cat shelter and that is giving us hope and strength to carry on … so we bought Salem his Feliway diffuser and we’re now keeping our fingers crossed!! Thanks everyone for your wonderful support. We’ll keep you posted on his progress. Wish us luck!
UPDATE April 6th, 2015
Although it seemed like things were going well, Salem is bouncing back to the start again. Some days are better than others but mainly he keeps hawling all the time and whenever we open his room window he jumps and crawls upon the protection net screen, We have tried letting him out for a while under supervision but after a few minutes he tries to runaway. We’re a bit desperate so we are taking him for a vet checkup tomorrow, hopefully he could be prescribed something to help reduce his anxiety. Fingers crossed!
LATEST UPDATE
Salem joined Gigi & Angel in Cat Room 2 and he’s finally settling in. He’s slowly getting over his behavioural issues and learning to enjoy life within the safe environment of our cat shelter. He is a very happy young kitty who loves to play all day long. He’s also a little eating machine 🙂