27 August 2012

Who wants to pay for a roller-kitty's surgery?

| johnboy
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ed

It is well know that there’s a special place in hell for people who don’t like cats. (John Hargreaves’ fireworks banning cat being a strong contender for a special exemption)

So if you’re of a mind to help a little stray kitten found by the Canberra Roller Derby League there’s a crowdsourcing page running to cover surgery:

Ed is a domestic shorthair who began his life negelected and abandoned by is his wonton feral mother. Ed struggled to make it on his own, but a roller derby training venue is no place for a little kitty. With no one to turn to, Ed became a cattawalling banshee until he was discovered one night by skater Mutha Farquar,who coincidentially had become the foster mother to Camel-Ed’s older brother from a previous litter-some months earlier. It looked like Ed’s luck was finally changing.

But Mutha noticed that there was something different about Ed. Something not quite right. Ed didn’t have eyelids. The Vet diagnosed Ed with having Eyelid Atresia a condition caused during gestation that results in blindness if left uncorrected. This very necessary surgery costing $4000 is needed ASAP as it is now effecting Ed’s quality of life.

All money raised will be used for Ed’s surgery. Any addditional funds raised will be used to catch Ed’s mum and have her desexed and rehabilited from her life as a car park cat.

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If we spent $4000 on preventing feral cats, cats like this one wouldnt be a problem

Just out of curiosity, how do they correct the problem with surgery? I’ve never heard of the condition and I’m interested.

TheDancingDjinn3:02 pm 16 Sep 12

Affirmative Action Man said :

Its just sad to think that you could probably save the lives of 10 children in some god forsaken place for this amount.

Please link me to the thread and info you have, on where you have set up a place for me to donate to these poor 10 children. – Won’t someone think of the children!!!

What is sad is that you felt it pertinent to mention how someone should donate their own money, when you probably don’t allow people to tell you where to put your money.

P.S Great Job !!! hope the little guy goes well.

Affirmative Action Man said :

Its just sad to think that you could probably save the lives of 10 children in some god forsaken place for this amount.

So how much of your income have YOU donated to save the lives of said children?

Affirmative Action Man9:10 am 16 Sep 12

Its just sad to think that you could probably save the lives of 10 children in some god forsaken place for this amount.

Update: $4,000 goal reached today, and the kitten will have its eyelids operated on on Monday …

I pay tax, it’s my money, and if I want to donate some money to help this kitty AS WELL AS donating to the RSPCA, then what’s to complain about?

Canberra is a relatively wealthy city, calling for donations for Ed is unlikely to have any impact on other donations made or not made by canberrans. If 200 of us kick in 20 bucks, is that really going to impact what we donate elsewhere?

And saving Ed and his older sibling last year does not make mutha accountable for mumma cat. There is another thread about feral cats and organised interventions being almost impossible to organise.

We can’t save every animal, but those that we do save, are priceless.

LumpySpacePrincess4:23 pm 27 Aug 12

JessP said :

LumpySpacePrincess said :

JessP said :

Sad but……$4000 for a feral puss?

I love cats, but I would rather see $4000 go to help a lot of strays than just one.
Feel bad saying that …but sorry.

Have you done either? I mean are you fundraising for strays? Starting a fundraising campaign for one kitten doesn’t mean that money will now not be donated for strays. I don’t think it’s fair to be critical of someone trying to do some good for an innocent animal.

And I read this as Mutha Farquar is planning to keep Ed. you’d never release a cat back into the streets, healthy or otherwise as that’s going to add to the problem of feral cats.

Errr….yes I do donate to the RSPCA. Thanks for making assumptions.

I have also adopted a kitten borm to a feral Mum who looked not unlike this one. Discovered she had Feline HIV and after hundreds of dollars of vets fees found the only kind thing I could do was have her euthanaised. Broke my heart but sometimes its the kindest thing we can do.

Ok, my comment may have sounded harsh, that wasnt intended, apologies if you were offended. but I asked are you fundraising, not donating. There is a big difference.

My point was in response to the criticism of this idea. If someone is willing to make an effort to get the word out to raise funds for an operation on this cat that they can’t afford to pay for, then why not?

bd84 said :

What’s the cost of having it put down? Sounds like a better option than forking out $4k for every deformed stray cat you come across. I don’t suppose they have reported the strays to the rangers so they can do something about them, rather than having them continue to multiply and kill the wildlife?

There’s another thread about this topic, apparently no one will take responsibility of addressing with this problem.

shirty_bear said :

Of all the useful things that could be done with $4k+, I’m gobsmacked that someone would want to throw it at a malformed stray/feral cat. The Callam Offices feral cat bonanza (also on RA today) suggests stray cats didn’t become a semi-precious commodity overnight.

There are stray/homeless people out there, but this is where you want to direct your money and effort?

No, gobsmacked isn’t a strong enough word. This idea is brainless and offensive.
(yeah, I know … just like me :-\

If you start fundraising for homeless people I’ll donate to that. Are you?

I mean, it’s one thing to say where money might be better spent, but to criticise someone for caring about something enough to take action is pretty misguided, don’t you think? This isn’t a debate about where government funding is being directed (and let’s please not start on that). It’s about a cause that someone thinks is worth putting some effort in to. If everyone were to take action like this, even though this is only one kitten (aside from the other strays she has taken in), imagine the changes that could be made?

She’s doing something, that’s got to be a good thing, right?

Of all the useful things that could be done with $4k+, I’m gobsmacked that someone would want to throw it at a malformed stray/feral cat. The Callam Offices feral cat bonanza (also on RA today) suggests stray cats didn’t become a semi-precious commodity overnight.

There are stray/homeless people out there, but this is where you want to direct your money and effort?

No, gobsmacked isn’t a strong enough word. This idea is brainless and offensive.
(yeah, I know … just like me :-\

I find this a tough one to get my head round. I foster kittens and there is no lack of supply. They still often need vet care, but usually it is for easy stuff like cat flu and ringworm. I’m not sure if it is the best use of resources to fund such an expensive surgery on a young feral kitten either when dozens of healthy ones are put down in pounds in rural areas not that far from Canberra every week. Then again… who are we to play god and decide which ones are worth saving and which not. I suppose…

I do also want to know what they are doing about the feral mother cat. They obviously thought it was ok to let her continue breeding after they rescued the kitten of one of her previous litters. I am not one of the “cats in cages” only nazis, but undesexed cats, especially feral ones, are a total no-no.

And lastly, have they even appealed to vets around Canberra and the region to perform the surgery for less? Like the cost of the drugs and medical supplies. Have they contacted rescue organisations for advice on this? Have they liaised with the RSPCA on both the surgery and how to ensure the mother doesn’t keep pumping out special needs or indeed any sort of kittens at all?

Perhaps some of this info is on the website, but it won’t open for me…

LumpySpacePrincess said :

JessP said :

Sad but……$4000 for a feral puss?

I love cats, but I would rather see $4000 go to help a lot of strays than just one.
Feel bad saying that …but sorry.

Have you done either? I mean are you fundraising for strays? Starting a fundraising campaign for one kitten doesn’t mean that money will now not be donated for strays. I don’t think it’s fair to be critical of someone trying to do some good for an innocent animal.

And I read this as Mutha Farquar is planning to keep Ed. you’d never release a cat back into the streets, healthy or otherwise as that’s going to add to the problem of feral cats.

Errr….yes I do donate to the RSPCA. Thanks for making assumptions.

I have also adopted a kitten borm to a feral Mum who looked not unlike this one. Discovered she had Feline HIV and after hundreds of dollars of vets fees found the only kind thing I could do was have her euthanaised. Broke my heart but sometimes its the kindest thing we can do.

This condition is hereditary so you need to catch mum and get her neutered or she’ll keep having kittens without eyelids. All the best to Mutha and little Ed.

What’s the cost of having it put down? Sounds like a better option than forking out $4k for every deformed stray cat you come across. I don’t suppose they have reported the strays to the rangers so they can do something about them, rather than having them continue to multiply and kill the wildlife?

LumpySpacePrincess11:01 am 27 Aug 12

JessP said :

Sad but……$4000 for a feral puss?

I love cats, but I would rather see $4000 go to help a lot of strays than just one.
Feel bad saying that …but sorry.

Have you done either? I mean are you fundraising for strays? Starting a fundraising campaign for one kitten doesn’t mean that money will now not be donated for strays. I don’t think it’s fair to be critical of someone trying to do some good for an innocent animal.

And I read this as Mutha Farquar is planning to keep Ed. you’d never release a cat back into the streets, healthy or otherwise as that’s going to add to the problem of feral cats.

i love cats. But i’m also opposed to animal-welfare when it’s clear that the primary motivation for it is “Awww, but it’s sooooo cuuuuuute!”. It’s nature. I mean, if skater-boi wants a new kitty and will take him in after the surgery then by all means, but I don’t think it’s ethical to pay for the cat’s surgery if he’ll be going right back on the street.

Sad but……$4000 for a feral puss?

I love cats, but I would rather see $4000 go to help a lot of strays than just one.
Feel bad saying that …but sorry.

wonton cat? tasty, my favourite!

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