This is how I almost lost my rescue cat: important information for all owners

I was waiting unsuspectingly for the result of the X-ray, which almost made me say goodbye to our beloved kitten. I had no idea what a past our William had.

I have told you several times the story of Will: he appeared in our yard one summer afternoon, amidst bitter meowing. Since then he has been a beloved companion, a faithful bed warmer and an enthusiastic colleague in the home office. But for a long time we had no idea about our rescue tomcat’s adventurous past; and what almost made us flee the vet’s office. What follows is an instructive recollection in many ways.

Strange symptoms

It happened that while he was still an outdoor cat – he has since moved in for a good reason, He was waiting for us to come home with an unusual languor, his mouth open, his eyes filled with despair. I knew immediately that something was wrong, I just couldn’t figure out what.

Then the cat started to drool. Not worryingly, but it did drip out of the corner of his mouth. A strange phenomenon. I checked to see if there was anything in his mouth, but I didn’t see anything. We suspected it was a frog or a snail (the saliva of both can cause drooling, among other things.)

It was reassuring that he was eating and drinking. But the next day, when he refused food and his saliva was running in a frothy stream, the problem was clear. Peeking into his mouth again, I could already see something stuck to the roof of his mouth. I still suspected a snail, but I had already bought the carrier: whatever the problem, we need a doctor!

The doctor was mortified

My weak and sickly smelling cat and I were soon in the queue. After a quick routine check (it turned out that Will already had a fever), the very kind vet took out the tweezers to get rid of whatever it was.

With one decisive move, she managed to remove it – and then the doctor, shocked, asked a rhetorical question “Ew, what have you eaten?”. The answer was clear:

a decomposing mouse head dangled from the end of the metal clip.

Smelling terribly. (I had already assessed how far the toilet is in case I had to run.)

The tell-tale X-ray

Just to be on the safe side an X-ray was also scheduled by the doctor to make sure there isn’t another little rodent lurking somewhere in our lovely kitty. But what would turn up, none of us had guessed.

Fortunately, there was no disturbance in the recording, but a tiny microchip was visible in Will’s neck. A guardian of our rescued orphaned kitten’s secret past.

Should we run?

My initial surprise was quickly replaced by panic as I found out that after the chip was read, I had to contact the registered owner. Years together, but he officially owns the kitten. (This is where I started to consider how to escape. Then I did a quick head count, limiting myself to more realistic arguments, how much money Will has cost so far, trusting that it would be much more than anyone was willing to pay for a cat they’d never searched for. But how can I deny: I was shivering waiting for his fate.)

I later learned that during this time, several staff members of the practice had gathered, and then, as an ear witness to the speaker phone call, confirmed that Will had been surrendered.

We are told that our pet was previously a cat of a deceased mum or aunt. How he got into our yard is not clear; we have a theory, of course…

The semi-luxury cat

For data protection reasons, I could not receive any information about William’s previous living conditions. But we have gained a lot of important information!

It turns out that Will’s’ original name was Miucó. (Since then we have added this as his first name: he now exists as Vilmos Miucó Szénási.) In terms of breed he is half-persian, and in addition to the microchip he has a passport. What a luxury! He was a very important pet to someone, that’s for sure. Its owner is probably deceased, because anyone who loves an animal enough to care for it wouldn’t put it on the street.

What the case warns us about is that as with dogs, all cats found should be checked if they are chipped. Especially if it is a well-groomed, chubby animal. Maybe they are looking forward to coming home somewhere.