Online Selling… Daisy’s story

Although CAT77’s main raison d’être is the neutering and care of feral cats and rescue of tame/lost cats and kittens, in recent years we have had to diversify somewhat in keeping with changes in society. The deliberate breeding and inbreeding of domestic pets for profit and sale online being one of the new problems facing all rescuers. Daisy was one such example.

An elderly lady took her kitten to be spayed at our vet practice. Her granddaughter had purchased what was advertised as a ‘three-month-old kitten’ from a very well-known online selling site nine weeks previously as a surprise. The kitten, Daisy, was being advertised for rehoming, allegedly, because she “hated the dogs”. Daisy was heavily pregnant; gestation in cats is nine weeks and she was now approximately six weeks. The owner was shocked and declared that she just could not cope. Nor did she want to part with her precious cat, whom she had allowed outside “to play with the big ginger cat in the garden”. The practice called me asking if I could possibly help, knowing full well that I would not refuse. We duly drew up a contract, allowing us to rehome the kittens and return Daisy when she was spayed. All very straightforward - or so I thought.

Daisy finally nurses her kittens. She was too young to know how to at first.

Daisy’s problems very quickly became apparent. She had diarrhoea and screamed non-stop for food. Something was seriously wrong, but no tests or treatment was possible until the babies were born. Four beautiful ginger kittens arrived three weeks later. The kittens were six hours old when I had to start feeding the poor wee things, as it was very obvious that none of my many wiles were going to work in this case. I did eventually get them to suckle mum after two days.

Daisy was just too young to be a mum, but she did her best and I supplemented with bottle feeds in an effort to reduce the load on her now weakened body. We then had Daisy scanned and various tests done. She had clostridium (c-diff) and the damage done to her gut meant that she was not getting the goodness from her food. By now, despite my best efforts, the poor soul was skin and bone as her food just shot through her. All Daisy could think about was her need for more food. She chewed open everything in sight - boxes of disposable gloves, tissues, wipes even a packet of tablets - everything had to be moved and hidden away.

Daisy stayed with us for five months in all. It was a long, expensive journey involving special diet, antibiotics and steroids to get her back to full health. The four kittens went to fantastic homes as two pairs. One wee one, who sucked her mum’s pads, turned out to be “special” as she was much slower than the other three and not always sure about what was going on. She was homed with her gentle sister and her family love her all the more because of her mild “learning difficulties”.
Incidentally, Daisy loved our dog. The story was obviously a cover for the fact that the cat was ill and at least two to three months older than stated.

One of Daisy’s beautiful kittens, who flourished with our help.

These poor animals, sold on the various online sites, are seldom vaccinated or have ever seen a vet let alone been spayed. Some are bred mother with son, father with daughter etc, with all the resulting problems that such inbreeding causes. And all for sheer greed. It is all so wrong on so many levels. Daisy was one of the lucky ones.

Written by the late Joan Docherty, CAT77 East Kilbride