Please, any advice is welcome

Animals
1
Happy New Year to everyone!!

We have a problem case here in our commune that I would like to explain and ask for your advice.

A middle aged french recently lost her husband and is now in a dire situation: less money and she cannot cope any longer in taking care of (i.e. feeding) her cats. Hold your breath, there are about 23 of them. Needless to say they are not chipped, not neutered, not vaccinated.The lady lives very isolated and does not have a car or a driver's licence. Social services are trying to relocate her to the nearest town.


I contacted the SPA Bergerac, no help as our commune is not conventioné to them; same story with the SPA in Périgueux, but....the last was so kind as to donate 50 kg of dry food. So now I go there (it is not far, only 3 km from my home) and I feed the cats every morning. The owner of the cats is willing to let anyone who wants adopt any cat and I am asking all my friends to ask their friends.... The lady is a bit simple minded and thinks that she can ''give'' her cats to the SPA when she leaves her current home. The cats live rough in the street, but are not wild.

I have contacted SOS Chats Libre, Fondation Bardot as well as Phoenix Asso, hoping that one of them is willing to provide financial aid to sterilise the females, but so far no result yet.

I have made and distributed a flyer appealing for anyone who is willing to adopt one.

The mairie is no help at all and I fear that if I can’t find a home for them, the maire will kill them (this is of course illegal, but he thinks this is the only solution.)


I do realize that you individually can’t take anyone of them, but I would appreciate any advice you can give me on whom to contact or where to put an ad in order to hopefully get a few of them adopted. All advice is welcome.

FYI I am Dutch and do not have a large Dutch network in the area to do a day of fund raising like you British have so much talent for. And even if the money was raised, the problem of feeding remains the same. I can't afford either to continue to feed 23 poor animals in addition to my 3 cats and one dog. For a few weeks this is no problem, but after that...


Thank you so much in advance for any advice.

Attached is a picture of the family


Gwendoline

2

Hallo Gwendoline,

Mijn Franse vriendin wil graag een donatie aan je overmaken voor het kattenvoer en andere kosten die jij hebt om dit allemaal in goede banen te leiden. Is er een mogelijkheid om dat te doen ? Laat me even iets weten via email graag (sunny.dunning@gmail.com). Heel veel succes en bon courage met zoveel hulpbehoevende viervoeters.

3

Totally with you Sally Moss.

4

This makes me feel that like I am back in the 80's, when people refused to shake hands, go to public toilets or sometimes sit next to someone with HIV. It is a well know fact that an FIV positive cat can live a long and happy life, sometimes dying of old age and never infecting other cats in the house. The greatest risk to cats is fighting and the most effective way to avoid this infection is by sterilisation. I can not believe that a beautiful, healthy and happy cat needed to be put to sleep after one FIV test. What you are saying is you condemn the cat to a solitary life with no company or outside space. It is ludicrous. With that sort of draconian thinking cats will not stand a hope in hell. I sincerely hope Gwendoline that you have a positive result with Phoenix, they are a lovely charity and just holler if you need anything. xxx

5

The FIV/FeLV tests may be an extra cost but they will save lives.

Here is the International Cat Care advice again

http://www.icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/feline-leukaemia-virus-felv

http://www.icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/feline-immunodeficiency-virus-fiv

ICC work with veterinary and welfare organisations all over the world, with a panel of feline veterinary medicine experts, with a feline expert behavior team and with a welfare advisory panel. Additionally, individuals with expertise and experience in all areas of veterinary and cat care contribute to the charity to make sure that the level of information we provide to all cat owners and carers is second to none, is accurate and up to date. ICC veterinary division – the International Society of Feline Medicine – works with the veterinary profession across the world to provide cutting edge information for the veterinary care of cats and is recognised and respected for the standards it aspires to.

ICC advice is followed by all of the UK top charities and by many other smaller responsible charities.

Attached here is also very useful information in the form of flow charts, from cats Protection. This succinctly advises on what do to after the test is positive.

Cats can live happy healthy lives if positive but must not be housed with other non positive cats nor can they have outside access, for fear of passing these deadly viruses on to otherwise healthy cats.

Cats can live without one or indeed both eyes, (I have a cat with one eye and another 3-legged cat) but the worry here is why they have lost their eyes, which could be due to a virus which has attacked the cats with a suppressed immune system due to other more serious underlying viruses such as FeLV and FIV.

For example, Chats du Quercy rehomed a 2 year old cat that was tested negative for both FeLV and FIV, he was fully up to date with vaccinations (there is currently no vaccination against FIV). The new owners did not keep his vaccinations up to date. Within 3 months of his vaccination lapsing, the cat contracted FeLV and died, he had free access to the outside. The family are now worried for their remaining cat.

Whilst it is true we do not often see these viruses, any cat that has obviously been sick (such as a lack of an eye) has to be tested and no cat should be rehome BEFORE these tests are carried out. If you take on a cat without this knowledge, you place any existing cats at risk and if an only cat and free-roaming, any neighbouring cats will be placed at risk.

Identification (preferably by microchip as this is the only internationally recognised form) is obligatory in France with the onus on the person or organisation rehoming NOT on the new owner.

Vaccination is not obligatory but would be the most responsible action to take to protect the cat(s) from further future health issues.

6

Please do not worry about the cats with the eye problems. I discovered 16 cats in a property last Spring, one had no eyes, just empty sockets, (Winky) , another one only had one eye and an empty socket, and 2 had white films over their eyes (Poppy is one of them) the vets say this is down to a virus in-vitro either Chlamydia or Herpes Virus. I have Poppy here, I did get a second opinion and it was the same. Winky has a lovely life albeit she totally blind, and Poppy drives us mad as she see's shadows. It is not life limiting just an unfortunate act of nature. I managed to rehome them after having them all sterilised and the onus was on the new owners, if they wished, to chip, vaccinate and test for FIV. FIV is not a death sentence and even though I lost a precious Angora to FIV I have not tested my other cats. They are all healthy and the Vet advised against it until or unless they became sick.

7

Very impressed with Phoenix, as usual. I have my own stray cats problems and so far so good, but I may have to ask for help.

8

msb.beckham@gmail.com

Great news about Phoenix! We're having a Fb campagin now to cover the sterilisation of 11 cats in a city colony and even more in a neighboring village (I'm trapping in the city, so tend to ignore the rest of the world).

What a joy to hear about all these strong, smart compasionate people and terrific associations speaking up and doing the work. I really believe we can, in the long run, make a big difference.

Blessings to all,

Melissa

9

Thank you all so much for your help and moral support and a special thanks to Phoenix who has offered the financial means to neuter the entire family.

The cats are fine although a bit wet these days. Every day I have to stop the car further away as they all know my car (i.e. yeah food on wheels!!!) so they come running down the road when they hear the car engine. That means me joggling twice the distance with 4 bowls filled up with food in my arms and 23 hungry and very vocal cats at my feet. No easy walking, but they are so grateful!

Yesterday afternoon I had help from a friend and a lady from SOS CHats Libre to make a count of their gender : so far the score is 12 females and only 5 males. There is one beautiful blue male already castrated and the lady told me yesterday that a family member is going to adopt that one. So only 22 to go. They were not there all of them as I suspect once their belly is full some of them have a secret hiding place or they just roam the woods. What I find a bit worrying is that out of the lot, 4 have lost one eye, either the socket is empty (2) or the eye is completely white (2). As they are all related there may be a genetic eye problem here, but it could also be worse than that. I think it is wise as Lynn said to have the cats tested for feline viruses, but that is very costly. I will contact our vet tomorrow and ask if he can examine the four with eye problems first to start with. I will also contact 30M Amis tomorrow to see if they are willing to bear the costs for testing the animals and perhaps the costs for vaccination and chipping.

Answering some of the questions/remarks made in your comments;

I will have the lady sign a paper tomorrow that she officially denounces ownership of the cats.

The Maire is aware and informed on what is happening.

I am not on Facebook nor on Twitter Melissa, can you pls send me your email address so that I can send you the French flyer?

Thank you all again and I will keep you posted on further developments.

Gwendoline

10

Echo that!

11

Well done Phoenix Association. Let me know how I can help you. I think feeding and then neutering is the primary objective. Can worry about legalities afterwards. Well done Gwendoline for stepping in, the cats have been lucky you were there. And you are right Celia Ford, as long as the Association is involved the chipping is the last thing you should worry about, lets get these cats sorted.

12

If you do not have all the legalities in place then you place yourself and piotentially these cats in danger. Many vets are not used to dealing with stray/wild cat populations and as they do not take the responsibility it is easy to give advice.

13

Not according to my vets Lynn. It's preferable to help the cats first, then get them legal afterwards – their words. I had an abandoned cat tested for aids yesterday and she suprisingly wasn't chipped given that she's a Russian Blue, but the vet said that they'd help to rehome and as long as a charity was involved the chip could wait.

Mine doesn't have aids, and apparently not even fleas! So they can rehome her even 40 days or so pregnant as she's so gentle.

14

In the best interests of these cats and finding them the best possible homes, before any homes are found Jane, the written consent is needed from the owners and possibly the Mairie.

The cats will need to be tested for FIV/FeLV and NOT mixed with any other cats if positive nor allowed outside to spread these terrible viruses with other cats, microchipping is also a legal obligation.

15

Phoenix Association is helping Gwendoline now. We are paying to neuter all 23 cats and are all hands on deck brainstorming a solution for finding food in the short term, and launching a campaign for awareness, fostering and re-homing of these cats.

We and Gwendoline would still welcome any help - food donations, financial help, offers of foster and permanent homes.

Please contact Gewndoline, or Lynda from Phoenix on 05 53 81 30 44 lapuille@gmail.com

Thank you!

16

There are legal and moral obligations Gwendoline.

In France it is an obligation to have a cat microchipped BEFORE being rehomed, it will save its life in the future.

Secondly, you are doing exactly the right thing in trying to find a solution, but you should prioritise getting them sterilised, well fed cats will reproduce even more thus bringing even more unwanted kittens into the already overwhelmed situation in France.

Please get in touch with me at Chats du Quercy (www.chatsduquercy.com or 05 63 94 73 97) to discuss this further. The best contacts will be with 30 Millions d'amis, who act much quicker and more efficiently than other Fondations.

To rehome them potential adoptants will want to know that they are free from feline viruses (FIV/FeLV), sterilised and microchipped, and if possible vaccinated too.

23 cats at one time is not unknown but it is not a situation that has suddenly come about since the death of this lady's husband, what are her family doing? You should also inform the Marie of your actions, especially the contacts with the fondations Brigitte Bardot and 30 Millions d'amis, as this may avert any other potentially illegal actions on their part too.

Very best of luck and congratulations for your actions.

17

Gwendoline,

You are an example to your neighbors for honor and compassion. Is there any French person/friend who can write a concise text explaining the situation and asking for help (with contact information for you)? I'll put it on our local association's Fb page with this photo. Are you on Fb?

Let us know as updates happen.

Best to you,

Melissa

18

Oh Goodness Gwendoline, bless you for caring enough to try.

I have a similar problem here in the south, an abandoned Russian Blue who is being fed by our local firewood supplier. She's had one litter and is abut to produce her second (current kittens only 10 weeks old but already beyond socialising). I breed ragdoll cats once a year but have kept all the former breeders now neuters who don't get on all that well! I'm taking the Blue to the vet Friday to check if she has aids, if she's puced etc. Then we'll have to make the decision as to how to help this very friendly cat. I doubt my 6 will put up with it.

With regard to your problem, I'd understood that the Marie would provide 'papers' to take to your vet to enable them to neuter the cats for a significantly reduced price. Our local Angel is les Chats du Mercantour, I think (without checking) her name is Lesley, an American so English speaking – she will help you obtain the necessary, I'm sure. www.leschatsdumercantour.com/‎

At least on these pages you can post this; on AI you have to have a tag or tatoo number so no help at all! Sorry I can't help more, I wish you all the best.