HOULTON, Maine — As many of you know, The Ark is home to many feral cats. Caring for them can be difficult at times, especially when they are sick.
One such cat is a handsome black kitty named Luther. Luther is not much on accepting the human touch and trying to catch him can sometimes be a real challenge. A few weeks ago we noticed he was losing weight and one morning when I went in his room to clean I was able to pick him up. That was a red flag that something was really wrong. He didn’t fight me. He was so sick he was willing to let me do anything.
Luther is one of several feral cats in the care of the Ark Animal Sanctuary. (Courtesy of Lorraine Monfils)
Luther was rushed to the emergency vet where he was sedated and had a full panel of blood work and x-rays were done. It seems that Luther has a thyroid problem and the x-rays showed something in his bowels. It could be his bowel walls thickening or something worse.
The plan was to put him on thyroid meds and steroids to see if we could get him eating and feeling better. For the first week medicating him was not a problem. Once he was starting to feel better he started becoming more and more difficult to handle. It was definitely a battle of the wills. We have made progress! Luther is eating really well and looks much better. Luther goes back to the vet on July 31 for a re-check. We are in hopes that we are headed in the right direction
Many of you may say why try so hard for a feral cat? Well to us he is more than a feral cat. He is part of our family and we love him. Though he is not a cat we can handle, we will do whatever it takes to get him healthy again. We are hoping we are on the right path.
Thank you for your continued support and as always thank you for reading our column.
The Ark Animal Sanctuary is located on 101 Old Woodstock Road. To contact Lorraine Monfils call 532-7387 or check out their Facebook page.
