Behind the Scenes Series: Randall the cat

Our charity prides itself on keeping our supporters up to date with all the latest goings on at the branch. Whether it be via Facebook, Twitter or our website we like to keep you in the loop about the realities of the cases we deal with on a daily basis. At any one time we can have roughly 70 animals in our care (and for a charity with no animal centre that's quite a lot of furry ones!). 

Many of our animals come to us with short term injuries/conditions that heal quickly, some just need routine care (neutering, fleaing, worming, microchipping etc) and therefore we can get them ready and up for adoption as soon as possible. 

Sadly, in the last few months we've been experiencing a large amount of animals that need long term rehabilitation and care before they can be put up for adoption. This may be due to illness, injury or behavioural issues.

Therefore, we've decided to start a series of blog posts called 'Behind the Scenes' so that our supporters can read about the animals that you may not hear about via our normal social media channels (we mainly promote animals ready for adoption here). These are the animals that need long term rehabilitation by our staff and wonderful volunteers.

This week we have the story of Randall......

 

Randall when he first came into our care - 8th April 2015

Randall is a very special lad who has been in our care since 8^th April 2015 due to an on-going struggle to cure a very persistent eye ulcer. Sadly we believe he caused the ulcer himself by scratching his eyes after an allergic reaction to something in the home…exactly what he’s allergic to is our next battle!

Randall came into our care due to his owner having her benefits reduced; she could no longer afford to feed him so he was collected along with two other cats. He spent a month in our cattery and he was the perfect guest, always eager for fusses, confident and friendly, and apart from a week with a snotty nose from a mild case of cat flu that was doing the rounds he was a happy and healthy boy.

The problems started when Randall was adopted in May. After just a week in the home he started constantly itching his eyes causing his face to go bald. Soon after his new owners took him to the vets who found an ulcer on his right eye, believing this to be the cause of his itching he was given antibiotic cream and a cone to wear but sadly it didn’t help. As Randall continued to get worse (and the other cat in the home hadn’t taken to him) so it was decided he’d come back into our care where we could try and find out what was causing the problem.

Randall after this eye operation

Since then Randall has been in two different foster homes and has won over everyone who cares for him; he is such a cheeky character it’s impossible not to love him. He has to have his cone on 24/7 in order to stop him scratching but thankfully he has become quite accustomed to it. He has, however, worked out how to scratch himself using the corners of furniture so we have to keep a close eye on him! After seven vet trips, eight weeks of two different eye creams twice a day and an operation to debride the edges of the ulcer, it is finally almost gone and we are ready to start the next stage of his treatment, which is likely to be a course of steroids to help settle the skin irritation. This next stage could be a lengthy process but hopefully will make him more comfortable in the long run and eventually be able to place him back up for adoption.

Randall's eye starting to finally heal - 26th July

Most recent picture of Randall, minus cone!

Throughout all of this Randall has been amazing, even now he will still come to you when called for his eye drops even though he hates it, he doesn’t hold grudges! There is no doubt that Randall will make the best companion ever once he is ready for adoption but with his vet bills currently just passing the £500 mark everyone has their fingers crossed that we are now on the road to recovery! 

Helping animals like Randall is expensive and as a charity we rely entirely on public donations to continue our work.

There are many ways you can help our animals!

1. Make a donation or set up a regular Direct Debit - any amount would make a huge difference to our animals lives.You can TEXT MCRS01 £1/2/3/4/5 or £10 to 70070

2. Fundraise for us! We always have an event or two planned... For example, in September we have an abseil down the Trafford Centre and in October our 'Big Walkies' sponsored dog walk. Why not get involved and raise money for our animals at the same time?!

3. Donate your unwanted clothing, jewellery or bric to our charity shops! Our charity shops are located in Chorlton, Didsbury and the Northern Quarter, city centre and help to fund our work. We can turn your donations into funds to care for our animals. We are also always on the look out for volunteers to help in our shops so if you are interested just get in touch!

4.  Adopt one of our amazing animals! We always have many cats, rabbits and guinea pigs for adoption. If you are looking for a new best friend look no further!

5. Foster a feline! At the moment we are in need of more foster carers for cats, kittens and nursing queens. If you live in the South Manchester or Salford area and think you could help please contact us on 0161 882 0680 option 4.