SALEM

Rescued in March 2015, aged 1. Tested FeLV/FIV NEGATIVE**

Abandoned. Found injured on the streets, in the middle of the night.

RESCUE STORY

Salem was cruelly deceived by his ‘family’ and abandoned once he was not a fun kitten anymore. Paul witnessed the moment his ‘mom‘ just left him outside for the first time; he must have been around 6 months old.

Paul approached this woman to ask why she’d let the cat out on the streets and offered to take him to a safe place instead, to what she replied: “No, he is my cat, but he is very hyperactive and stressed, not happy being an indoor cat so I let him roam during the day and make him come home at night.”

Paul tried to explain to her that there were a lot of risks for an indoor cat out on the streets such as traffic, cat fights, deadly diseases but it was quite clear that she was not interested in what Paul was telling her and that she’d do with ‘her cat’ whatever she wanted to do, so at this point there wasn’t much more we could do.

To make matters even worse, Salem was not fixed nor microchipped.

For months, Salem was seen napping at the front steps of a local school near his ‘home’ and he kept coming to one of Paul’s feral cat colonies’ feeding station to get his meals every day and so Paul always kept an eye on him, but he did love to roam so from time to time he’d go missing for a few days.

At this point, Salem was mainly living on the streets all day and getting his meals at Paul’s feral cat feeding station, then late at night he’d ‘go back home’, someone would open the door and let him in, until one night nobody did.

For a few nights, he was seen crying outside his family’s house, staring at the front door; soon enough we realized they were gone for good. Paul tried to put him into a carrier, but he ran off and went missing.

A few days later, late at night, Paul was refilling a feral cat feeding station when he saw Salem limping and howling in the middle of the street; he was injured and this time he was willing to accept Paul’s help.

We have a full house, and we were certainly not planning on rescuing more cats, but he was hurt, cold, hungry and out there on his own, we just couldn’t leave him there! Who could?

Salem is now safe in our laundry room. Watch raw video footage. Unedited and a bit dark but worth watching!

UPDATE March 18th, 2015

VET CHECKUP. Salem was diagnosed with a metatarsal fracture on his left-hind-paw. The vet said it looks like he was intentionally stepped on by a human. Thankfully, there’s no open wound but the abnormal movement of the paw and swelling cause him a lot of pain.

He was given an anti-inflammatory shot and a painkiller and 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

GETTING FIXED. Good news and bad news 🙁 Good news first: Salem was neutered yesterday and everything went well. He was back on his paws 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 and cries all day long so full of anxiety.

Since he was an unaltered male, we placed him in a starter room (our laundry room) where he has everything he needs, we give him plenty of attention and playtime, but he never relaxes. We’ve tried some natural calming med and placed a Feliway diffuser in his room to reduce stress and anxiety but so far nothing seems to work. At night, he walks around his room howling and trying to get out.

This whole situation is very complicated and hard on us too. All new rescues need some time to adapt before they can be gradually introduced to the rest, however, Salem is another story, and we do not know what to do to make it easier for him right now.

UPDATE March 27th, 2015

VET ADVICE. This morning, we asked our vet for advice regarding Salem’s condition and how to make it easier for him so he can finally start enjoying the benefits of a safe life indoors.

She explained that Salem is a very hyperactive cat, full of anxiety most probably caused by abandonment, so he needs long-term treatment. On top of that, she said, his testosterone hormones are still raging high and will lower in no less than a month.

UPDATE April 6th, 2015

UPS & DOWNS. 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 howling 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 in the terrace for a while under supervision but after a few minutes he tries to run away.

UPDATE May 2015

INTRODUCTION. After eight weeks in the starter room, we thought meeting his new roommates would help so Salem was introduced to Gigi and Angel in Cat Room 2, it went well, and now he seems to be settling in.

Salem still has lots of behavioral issues, but he is slowly learning to enjoy life within a safe environment, and we are taking one day at a time. He is a very happy young kitty who loves to play all day long. He’s also a little eating machine 🙂

(** FALSE NEGATIVE. Seven years later, in 2022, due to suspicious symptoms, Salem was FeLV/FIV tested again, and results came back POSITIVE for Leukemia which sadly means all his roommates have been exposed to the deadly virus too.)

FINAL UPDATE

Salem lost his battle with lung cancer on June 11th, 2022; he was 9.