The Four-Footed Enigma

Riley aka Stryker began to act rather strangely this last week. Initially, other than hiding under the blanket all day and only coming out to eat at night (temptations and nothing else) he wasn’t showing any signs of aggression. Because of his declining weight and his picky appetite, we did a full work up on him: blood-work,x-rays, checked for infectious diseases, UTI all we could humanely do to track it down. Nothing remarkable reared its ugly head and I figured he was just in deep grief and missing his life.

I started going in to sleep with him which was successful for a few days. The minute my head hit the pillow, he would jump on me and nudge me, head bumps, purrs, almost knock me off the bed for goodness sake.Then he would settle down and sleep. It was peace at last (or so I thought). I was wrong.

After about three days of this sleeping arrangement, he would jump on the bed- nuzzle me, want to be petted but then he would withdraw. No coaxing would bring him close which was confusing, so I drifted off to sleep.

Because of so many past surgeries, I sleep with a pillow at my side. It just made things easier for me. I am also a light sleeper as I get up several times a night to check on Mike (who has sleep apnea and only sometimes uses his machine). So, I heard the noise before I felt the attack. It was a full attack by a pissed off cat. It was after midnight and when I heard him take off,  he wasn’t growling- he was mewing, very softly- continuously and then he leaped right for my face. My instincts kicked in and I held up the pillow over my face which he latched on to and started rabbit kicking and now he was growling and tearing at the pillow with his teeth!

At this point, I was out of bed and had the light on. I had a blanket wrapped around me for protection- but right now- his foe seemed to be my pillow. He shredded that. I flew out of the room and sat in the living room trying to come to grips with what had just happened and why? Finally, I fell asleep in my chair with gentle Molly purring the way into sleeptime.

The next morning, I shared with Mike what happened and he said maybe something set him off- but what? No cat was in the room with him, I was sound asleep- no cat can even get to the door thanks to our screen doors we have up all over the house. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and figured it was just a bad night for him.

Well the next night, after I had again fallen asleep after the pet fest, Riley attacked again. The blanket saved me from most of the scratches. He was not biting but he was scratching the living daylights out of my arms

I called the vet the next morning and asked him to go over the results again to see if we missed anything. Nope, nothing, all it good, all is “normal.’ I told the vet what happened and he seemed to think that the cats caused Riley to react so aggressively. Again, no cat can get close to him. he does not like other cats which is probably why he had 9 bites on him when he was first rescued.

My vet said to find a special needs home for him, so I carefully worded an ad and put it up on the rescue sites. I got two calls from interested people, but when I shared about the attacks- they never called back to confirm the foster home. What a surprise.

I finally called my vet and asked him to please put this cat out of his misery. Long story short- he refused. he said because nothing healthwise is wrong with the cat- it was my obligation to find a home for him where the “people can just lock the cat away at night and let him out in the morning!” I was so stunned- was he serious? I might as well have adopted out a time bomb and told the people, by the way, the detonator may or may not go off! What if he escaped from the room when he was in night terrors? God forbid, my biggest fear was if he got out of our room at night and went for my cats or worse, for Mike- we would all be in a world of hurt.

I decided today, to call my old vet and ask him for help. I told him some of the story and just said that my vet wouldn’t put this cat down. My old vet told me to bring the cat in and we would talk. I told him what had happened once we were in the room and when I told him about the attacks (four total) and showed him my arms and that my vet wouldn’t let me take this cat out of his anguish, he was incredulous.

15 minutes later, Riley had reunited with his former owner and was out of pain. I also talked to my old vet and asked him if he would accept me as a client again. he said of course he would. He said he has the utmost respect for me and what I do for the stray and feral cats here and if he can help, he would be glad to. He is also the only vet who has ever been inside my enclosures and he was here for several hours observing me with some feral cats he had turned over to me. I left him only for one reason. When I had to sell my horses, it was to painful for me to see him even with just my cats because it made me remember all we went through with Racer and Trav over the 13 years they were here with us.He loved Racer as much as I did and because of the constant founder the three of us bonded.

He also didn’t charge me an arm and a leg to put Riley to sleep- but because so much money has been invested in this renovation- which is still going strong- I was $46.00 short of covering the check. I am going to check my donation boxes tomorrow and do some juggling and praying to cover the cost. I didn’t want to put this lovely boy down- I cried all the way home- but I have also decided to go back to the vet who listens to me and respects what I do, even though he is 20 minutes farther from my home. I am still so angry that my regular vet told me when I asked him to put Riley down, that I needed to “be nice to him and not ask him to put down this cat,” Even though this cat after midnight was in pure aggressive agony. I will never forget as long as I live, those plaintive meows Riley was quietly pasting the room with. I could hear the meaning clearly- “help me, please help me.”

Riley- you were broke and I couldn’t fix you. I did try though and I did love you even though your nighttime terror scared the living daylights out of me. I am sorry so many failed you-

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5 thoughts on “The Four-Footed Enigma

  1. You did what needed to be done. Riley Stryker could have been taken by uncaring people and dumped in the woods. You gave him a chance and a painless and dignified end. There comes a point at which no more can be done, not by humans. Godspeed, Riley Stryker.

    A donation has just been sent.

  2. as anyone in rescue long enough knows, sometimes you can’t save them all. sometimes the kindest thing we can do is release them from being miserable. we are glad you have connected back with a vet you like and is willing to help

  3. Thank you SIr,

    It was an all-around sad day yesterday. I was presented at 10:00 p.m. with a three day old black kitten. Second litter for the mom, I found out. All four of her first litter had died. The tearful man who gave me this little one was determined it would not happen again.
    I did all I could but before midnight the angels came and claimed her. What was the strangest thing about her was I couldn’t get her tongue to come off the roof of her mouth. It was almost as if it was glued there- this is why she couldn’t nurse off mom. I had to take a moistened q-tip and put the tongue in the proper place before feeding.

    At least when she passed, she was in a warm place and she briefly knew someone was trying to help her. I called the gentleman this morning to let him know and he told me another kitten had also stopped nursing and died. I know it happens- it happens more than we could ever guess with stray cats, but this stray girl is now going to be an inside cat and she will get spayed as soon as the others are weaned (if they make it). Patrick said he would let me know the outcome of the litter.

    To his credit, he did not ask me to take anymore kittens or the whole family. I told him I would help him out all I could in other ways and left feeding syringes and colostrum pills with him. I clued him in on using clear Karo syrup to help bump off the weak kittens sugar daily and how sometimes warm coffee with sugar will help to jumpstart organs about to shut down.

    Mom is pure black as are all her babies. I will keep in contact with him and make sure mom gets spayed as soon as possible. As healthy as she looked to me last night- I suspect it is the tomcats fault these kittens don’t look quite as bright. Mom hissed at me at first but then allowed me to examine her nipples and belly. No signs of mastitis or other ugliness can be found and she is producing milk. She was only ignoring two kittens which are no longer with her and have now gone to a pain-free place.

  4. Do you think, since you have screened doors, that some other cats were coming to his door at night or passing by and upsetting him and he was redirecting on to you?

  5. I have no clue. But I saw a cat in torment that only appeared to show up in the wee hours of the morning. During the day, he would just lie under a blanket and not move at all. Not shift positions and only when I went into the room and pulled the covers back gently would he move. he would move away from me, diving for the darkest reaches of this quilt.

    Could I have put him on Prozac or valium – yes, but what kind of life would that be for him? My older vet agreed with me that something was neurologically wrong with this cat and the best thing to do was the hardest thing to do- put him to sleep without finding out answers. I have had cats on Prozac before and each time I use that drug- I see a cat turning from aggression to an almost comatose state except they drool continuously.

    I know we did the right thing for him. To ask a cat to live in this state of torment or to put him in a cage at night so he doesn’t hurt anyone is not a way for a cat to live. To keep him alive just to prove a point or to ask me to adopt him out to someone knowing the aggression he is capable of- I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

    My husband’s leg is like parchment paper. The leg bleeds when he takes a sit-down shower and turns the gentle attachment on his leg. My bathroom often resembles a crime scene after his shower. If this cat had turned this aggression on Mike, I just shudder to think of what might have happened.

    If at the end of my life, God tells me I did the wrong thing with this cat, I will have to answer to Him. What I did, I did out of love. Cats need to lead normal lives and his was far from normal. I could not step into his aggression like I can with so many others. He was beyond broke for any repair work to happen to let him lead a normal life, to let him be happy and not plagued by demons not of our making.

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