Charlie's Story

The next morning I learned that Charlie had been rescued.  I contacted the rescue and asked if I could adopt Charlie and take him to my vet to get him well. The rescue asked that I come meet him. 

I met him while sitting in a smelly, filthy lobby. I could only hold him briefly as there were some cats roaming around and since Charlie was not neutered, the rescue was worried that he may fight with the other cats. So, most of the time that I visited him, he was in a cat carrier with a rusted door. 

He kept reaching for my hands with his paws as if he was asking me to take him home. He purred and purred and was very talkative. He reminded me of an old man chatterbox so I named him Charlie. 

I begged her to let me take him home. I was advised that we could adopt him but only after his leg wound had healed and he had been neutered. 

So the rescue kept my Charlie cat for two weeks and we were finally able to take him home on the day he was fixed. 

My son and I went to the rescue facility and waited for the Humane Society to bring Charlie back from surgery. As soon as they arrived, the shelter operator threw Charlie in my carrier and handed it to me. 

I asked for post operative instructions. I just wanted to make sure that I knew what to look for after his surgery but she had nothing to give me. She advised that I keep him in a crate for three days and then let him out. 

I asked what pain meds he had been given. She gave me a name. I had no idea how much and she offered no additional pain medicine to give him for the next day.
I asked for his microchip information. I was then advised that they forgot to do that and she handed me a microchip and a syringe. 

I asked her if she could please advise as to the medication he had been given for his leg wound as it had not seemed to help. It looked the exact same as it did when he was surrendered to Animal Control. 

She could not remember at the time nor could she find his record shuffling through a mess of papers. So she promised to find his record and email me the next day. She also advised the record would contain the results of his aids and feline leukemia tests which it did not.

 
We took him home on a Monday night.  It would be an understatement to say that the rescue organization neglected and mistreated Charlie. When, we picked him up we were immediately disgusted by his smell. The poor fellow had feces matted all throughout his fur. His feet were stained green from urine. He was unbelievably thin and they had just neutered him. Needless to say, he seemed miserable.

Our new family member smelled horrific and sadly, we could not bathe him as he had just been fixed and could not have his wound wet. The poor guy seemed to be in pain. He would flinch when you would pet him anywhere other than his neck. His fur was so matted that I thought his fur was just pulling on his skin and that made him uncomfortable. Since, we did not know what he had been given for medication, we were unable to give him anything else. I just felt so sorry for him. 

  
On Wednesday, we took him to the vet. He was not feeling any better. I blamed his feeling ill on his leg wound. I also thought some pain was from being neutered and he would pep up in a day or so. They advised his demeanor was not from being neutered.

My amazing Veterinarian decided that as soon as possible (which was the following Monday) we would bathe him, shave the matts off of him, inspect his wound further, insert his microchip, test him for leukemia and aids and try to figure out why he did not feel well. 

We were hoping he would perk up in another day. I knew something was not right with Charlie but I was hopeful that he was just trying to recover from being neutered and he had this wound on his leg, he was in a new environment and maybe he didn't like our doggo. I thought of every possible reason. I was so hopeful.

On Monday I took Charlie to the vet and I was so excited. Charlie was going to come home feeling better. He would come home that evening smelling wonderful, with little white feet and I could pet him without him flinching.

  
However, my vet called me around lunch time and broke the news that ultimately started some serious heartbreak. Charlie was full of tumors. This is why he was flinching when we tried to pet him. She said they were pressing up against his spine.

She ran the leukemia test and it instantly showed a positive result. This wound on his leg was most likely a tumor which is why it was not healing and responding to medication. One medical examination would have revealed that this poor cat was very ill. 

He was most likely surrendered to Animal Control because the owner knew how sick the cat had become. Sadly, Charlie was a cat that never should have been available for adoption. He was just too ill. 

We had to put our poor sweet Charlie cat out of his misery and have him put to sleep. The only saving grace at this point was that we got him out of his horrific conditions and were able to show him some love and compassion prior to his passing. 

The loss of Charlie broke my heart, angered me and inspired me. Animals should not be treated as Charlie was nor should anyone else have an adoption experience like ours.

Sadly, my Charlie was one of millions of animals that go into shelters each year. Our mission is to make the adoption experience better for our animals and for their new families.

There is a better way to adopt a pet and that is our mission.