Thomas is Ready for Adoption! Clean bill of health!
Warning some graphic photos toward the end of the photo gallery of his injuries but lots of great ones about his improvement.
Thomas really is one in a million – even my dad loves him, and we would tell you he doesn’t like cats. He keeps saying I should keep him… but when our rescue is very busy, which it is right now (I have five cats/kittens in a two bedroom apartment including Thomas and by the end of next week it might be as many as 11 because we are trying to trap a litter of kittens right now day and night).
Thomas coyote wound was treated with a lot of stitches and a drain for 14 days. Pet Hospital of North Park was shocked by how polite he was for all of it – even the stitches and drain removal he didn’t require sedation. He let me inject a syringe of iodine solution into his face behind the drain twice a day without ever being rude or upset about it. He is just odd about how wise he is. You can still barely see the stitches line under the fur. The scar from the drain site has grown in but you can still feel it under his cheek. He has little battle scars on both ears from his years on the streets.
The neighborhood in Golden Hill that he was rescued from periodically calls us about cats and kittens – we just got on their radar because we are such a small rescue. All the neighbors knew Thomas, but until he really needed help and was days away from dying because of the infection in the wound he wouldn’t let anyone pick him up. He would go into people’s houses and sit on their couch and watch TV with their cats if they left the door open – but he wasn’t willing to give up his free-ranging Tom cat ways.
He was neutered when the wound was stitched. He was also PCR tested for FIV and FeLV and was negative for both. His bloodwork was good and he was given his booster for FVRCP, checked for ear mites and worms, and he has had Cheristin for fleas.
He has been with me since April 16 – during this time he has never had a litter box accident (in fact he taught a little five week old kitten how to use the litter box two days ago, it was a hilarious, although he gets a little confused when she tries to nurse when he lays down). Because he has been a Tom for 8+ years according to neighborhood lore, I was concerned he might spray things, but he has never even considered it.
He seems to have zero interest in getting out the door unlike some outdoor cats that move indoor. If I open the slider to the balcony or the front door he usually goes into my bedroom. He doesn’t seem to want out at all.
He loves to play with toys – but mostly he just wants to hug you, or my daughter, or my parents or whoever is visiting.
He gets along with my furrever cat, a previous rescue of ours, FurrLecia just fine. One sleeps on one side of me and the other on the opposite side. And he steers clear of my ex-husband’s Maine Coon who is staying with me to lose 14 lbs because he let her get morbidly obese. So he most likely would be fine with your kitty if she is ok with an interloper.
He was not a huge fan of my parents’ yappy little schnauzer who stayed with us for two weeks. I kept them in separate rooms. I’m not sure that Thomas would have been an issue, but the dog is extremely afraid of cats and the Maine Coon is a bully and kept trying to attack him when we went for walks. So I’m not sure how Thomas would do with dogs. The neighbors in Golden Hill said he was friends with a Rottweiler – but I don’t have a great dog to test the situation with anymore (my cat testing lab mix passed away).
That said, I know it is quite a drive for you – but you are welcome to come meet him here (I’m in Carmel Valley) or I would be happy to bring him out to you on a trial. If you guys don’t work out, then I’m happy to come get him. We recommend the following steps if you would like to have him come visit on a trial basis:
http://joannesfurryfriends.com/2020/11/taking-your-new-kitten-or-cat-home-joannes-furry-friends-advice/ – when we first introduced him to FurrLecia and the Maine Coon, I kept him in my bedroom so he would get used to me (it went much, much easier than I expected so the timeline accelerated) and just let him play footsie under the door with FurrLecia. Usually I would expect this phase to last a week or two with most cats… but I think it went for about 48 hours and then he had free range of the apartment with both of the other two cats. He is highly food motivated from his years on the streets so I advise only feeding when you are there to sit with him and make sure he knows where the food comes from, but he is just so atypical for a cat. He is just oddly calm, collected, loyal, brave – he really does seem like a man in a furry suit. I’m not one that believes in astrology or reincarnation or anything like that, yet with him you just feel like he is really thinking things through. My daughter’s birthday was a few weeks ago and we had about six people/kids over – when it was time to sing happy birthday and blow out the candles he came and sat in her lap.
Thomas’s drain was removed on Wednesday – which was a huge relief because I hated shooting a syringe full of iodine solution into his poor little face twice a day (pictures in the comments). He always allowed me to do it without fighting back. He allowed the vet tech to remove the drain without sedation. Stitches out next Friday. But most importantly he has moved from the outdoor dog kennel into my bedroom and he’s living his best life!
He is so thankful to be saved I almost couldn’t sleep last night because he had to sleep on top of me and purr the whole time! He is just a wonderful boy – hard to be believe he was an angry tomcat two weeks ago on deaths door.
We are looking for an indoor-only adopter for him immediately.
All fees waived to a good home – willing to fly him anywhere in the US!!
Contact us at
http://JoannesFurryFriends.com if you can open your home to Thomas – he needs someone, he has so much love to give!! Or you can text me directly at 858-883-4222.
**Thank You Very Much For Everybody Who Helped Donate! I have a list of email addresses and will be sending out thank you’s this weekend – you all have no idea how much it has helped!
Let me introduce Thomas … he is sweet; ok, well, define sweet… he’s at least 8 years old and has been a feral neighborhood Tomcat (we neutered him during his surgery as well) for at least 8+ years. The neighbors love him. His kitty girlfriends love him at least for MEOW… At Joanne’s Furry Friends, we’ve rescued and rehomed multiple of his female friends and their offspring and they have been wonderful kitties in their new homes.
Let’s face it, an 8+ year old Tom in a busy, car-dog-tough neighborhood is a bad ass. Oddly he not only protects himself, he is also head of the Neighborhood Kitty Watch. Word on the street is that he has protects at least the four other “old-timer ferals” in the four-block radius as well as those that come and go (which let’s face it, on that sort of street, sadly they come and then they go forever way too often).
He and Sampson the Rottweiler take turns making sure the mailman knows his place. Rumor says that he often lets himself into one homeowner’s house to find “Ike” his best buddy. They hang out and watch TV together – but because he was not neutered he had things to take care of outside. Lots of the neighborhood ‘Hoomans’ leave food out for the other abandoned, unloved, and forgotten feral cats in the neighborhood, Thomas takes it upon himself to scare the greedy dogs away from the food meant for the neighborhood kitties and watch over the kitties as they eat their fill.
Thomas has evaded capture and neutering for years but he picked a fight with the wrong coyote last week. Without intervention he would have certainly died. Being so weak means we were able to catch him and neutering him was a huge side benefit.
Everyone at Pet Hospital of North Park answered our emergency plea for help and did so in the sweetest most amazing way. He spent two nights in the hospital and will spend the next five days hopefully allowing me to flush the drain in his wounds and then have his stitches removed in 14 days. All of the vet techs came out to tell me he was a very sweet gentle boy – and hopefully that will continue to be the case when the drugs wear off as well.
But for now even a one dollar donation will help defray the cost of his emergency care.
Thomas needs help – so we need help! We don’t usually solicit donations (we are NOT a 501c3, so they sadly are not a write off), but Thomas’s vet bills are going to be over $1000 when it’s all said and done.
