I lurk here occasionally. Lucky is a 1 1/2 or 2 year old calico girl
with a very sad story. Cross your fingers.  Hopefully her luck is about
to change....

About a year ago some friends of mine moved into a duplex on a busy
street. There was this sweet little kitty about 6 or 8 months old
hanging around that the landlord (Ed, who lives in the back duplex) said
must have been abandoned because no one seemed to own her. The neighbors
called her Lucky because it was a miracle she hadn't been squashed on
the street.  We call her unlucky, because she's so unlucky to have the
living situation she has.

My friends wanted me to adopt her so I asked them to ask all the
neighbors to be sure she didn't belong to someone  (I had issues about
her being an outdoor cat in such a bad environment, but she didn't seem
terribly neglected then so I didn't want to take someones pet). The next
door neighbors, who I will now refer to as the Losers,  said "Oh she's
our cat". Fine, I don't agree with how they let their cat roam but it's
their cat. Lucky gets pregnant (surprise surprise), and to their credit
the losers take her in and get her spayed, which is about the only
positive thing I can say about the Loser family.

Flash forward to this weekend. Friday night, I get a call from the
friends, (they call me because they know I'm into cats): Lucky doesn't
looks so hot, she's really thin, she's got a wound on her leg. They talk
to the losers and get this, the Losers say "Oh she's not our cat, she's
a neighborhood cat". We're not paying for a vet, she's not ours.

Fine. At least we can get her out of there now. But a.sholes!!!!!! I'm
so mad they've negelected this poor girl, and kept me from finding her a
home a year ago.

Then no one can find Lucky on Saturday or Sunday, we're all fearing the
worst. Finally Sunday night she turns up, they call me,  and I get to
see her. She's awfully thin (Like 4 lbs tops, she's a little girl, but
she should be about 6 lbs) and she has an absess on her leg, but other
than being hugely negelected she's not on the verge of death. Ed agrees
to keep her in his bathroom overnight  (I have a resident cat, Spike,
who will freak if bring someome home- he's very needly and wants to be
the center of attention at all times and I don't have any good place to
quarantine her). She's eating well, so she can wait overnight to see the
vet.

So anyway Lucky has a vet appt today with my vet. Ed says she was fine
overnight.  She'll get immunized, get her abscess treated, get tested
for feline leukemia, if she's heathy enough she'll get a bath, flea
treatment etc. The works.

I know sometimes you guys have bad things to say about vets-but mine is
awesome. I doubt she'll charge me for her services and she'll discount
the meds etc.

So now for the point(s) of this message
(I had to vent-thanks for listening)

Hopefully she's leukemia negative-but it will be another miracle if she
is. Cross your fingers.  She's been lucky so far.

I'm not sure I can keep her even if she is leukemia negative, since
Spike will be so unhappy and he's a handful, only constant behavior
modification keeps him in line. So I may be looking for help finding her
a home. (San Diego Area)

Finally would you report the losers to the humane society animal abuse
hotline? She's out of the environment now so I'm not sure what good it
would do. I'm going to take pictures of her condition.

Arrrg. I'm turing into cat lady like all the rest of you ;)

Thanks. I'll keep you posted..

Sue