Meet Edgar

[thecatneuterer]

I just felt like sharing. Admittedly he's not the prettiest of cats.

I picked him up in the street just round the corner from me two days ago. He was unneutered, starving, filthy, flea-ridden and with a mouth full of broken and rotten teeth.

He hasn't stopped eating since I took him in, despite obviously being in pain from his mouth, and has already put on a lot of weight. He is even quite a bit cleaner, again despite the problem with his mouth.

The plan is to get him neutered and to have a dental as soon as possible. Then, as I expect no one will be falling over themselves to adopt him, he will end up joining my gang. What's one more after all?

(the dirty pink stain on the sheet in the first photo was as a result of me flea combing him with a damp comb. The water in the bowl turned a very dirty, dark red).

I imagine he became stray, as most unneutered males do, because he left home to chase a female and couldn't find his way home. That was obviously a long time ago though.

[timtam23]

I had another look at his pics and in fact he is going to be very attractive I think, his markings remind me of a panda!

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

He's already a handsome boy. He's delicious. He'll certainly break a lot of lady cats hearts.

[Lifeisshort123]

So glad you've taken him in. I hope he finds a new home and if not I hope you care for him!
TLC and some food should sort him out. Poor little cat, how old is he (if you have any idea?)

[Imissmy0ldusername]

Our rescue girl is a bit of a Benjamin Button - she's been looking younger & younger as the months go by. She'd been living in a field for goodness knows how long before the rescue place picked her up when she was on her last legs. That was 3 years ago. She's really filled out nicely, and her coat is lovely now. Her mind has gone, but we still see glimpses of her when she was in feisty food catcher mode.

I bet Edgar is going to scrub up lovely when he gets all the treatment he needs :)

[CousinCharlotte]

Bless him, I bet he'll scrub up nicely with some tlc from tcn

[Bumplovin]

He is so lucky to have found you, sounds like you are giving him all the love and attention he deserves

[chemenger]

Can you give him a hand with cleaning using those cat wipes you can get from Pets at Home? I've never used them but he does have a lot of work to do with a sore mouth. He has the sweetest face, if there was any justice in the world he would be snapped up the second he went up for adoption (I would have him in a minute, even in his present state, but I am in empty nest mode!). Or are you keeping him?

[TheGirlOnTheLanding]

Aw, Edgar is lovely, even under all the grot. He'll be so happy to get clean again once his mouth is better. Is he quite amenable to you handling him or has he learned to be scared of humans.

[CatAnnoyance]

Shamelessly marking my place on this thread as I am dying to see how he's looking in a couple of weeks.

Keep us posted OP! He's lovely

[CurrerBell]

Aw, Edgar is lovely - he'll be a handsome boy with a bit of TLC. I look forward to seeing how he gets on. Great name as well!

We got our older cat at around 12 months old - he had been a stray too, but it seemed like he'd had a home until quite recently... I think he must have wandered off as well. We have just got 11-week-old male kittens, and will be getting them neutered as soon as possible!

[Hoppinggreen]

How much would fixing his teeth cost?
If "someone" sent you a donation specifically for him would it speed things up?

[Celen]

I LOVE Hoppinggreen's suggestion

[Redken24]

id help donate x

[thecatneuterer]

Oh thank you for that suggestion Hoppinggreen. Well it would help us to get the locum vet in for the day/weekend. It's hard to say specifically how much each dental would cost us as we would hope to fit three or four in in one day at least. It wouldn't be worth getting in a locum to do just the one cat. But we won't leave him to suffer for weeks regardless. It will be done as soon as possible.

As to how old he is - I would say, based on the state of his molars, no younger than 8. Probably between 8 and 10. Stray and feral cats certainly have a shorter life expectancy than pet cats, as they don't get access to vets. But if they have a food supply there is no reason why they can't live a long time. A couple of months ago I was re-trapping some feral cats that live in a waste reprocessing plant. They were all between 16 and 20 years old and I was having to retrap them for dentals.

I could probably help to clean him up, but he seems to be doing a good job all by himself and with less stress. I spent a long time combing out a thick crust of flea dirt, which I think is what was making him so dirty, as it 'bleeds' dirty red when it gets wet, so the more he cleaned the dirtier he looked. Often cats with bad mouths dribble a sort of dirty saliva, which makes them dirtier, but he doesn't seem to have that.

As for finding him a home - well that would be the ideal, but I think it will be very difficult. We have a huge number of ex stray middle-aged males. Unless they are extremely affectionate they don't attract much attention when there are also so many younger and prettier cats and kittens to be had.

For example I brought in a beautiful stray tabby boy to our homing centre in February. He was huge, and very affectionate and just gorgeous, and yet he only managed to get a home a couple of weeks ago.

Edgar, while not unfriendly, isn't desperately affectionate either (in fact he only seems interested in food) so that won't do anything to help his cause when looking for a home. So basically I'm resigned to having him join my gang. I will reassess when he's feeling well though - his personality may well blossom.

[cozietoesie]

It may indeed if he has a mouth which isn't troubling him and a stomach which is full.

[Hoppinggreen]

Have PM'd you TCN

[GRW]

When I don't have any more cats I would like to go to a rescue centre and choose whichever cat that has been there the longest. Without young children at home I think I would be ideal for a more timid cat who needs a quiet home.

[thecatneuterer]

So thank you to all who have offered to donate. I have just spoken to Celia and she would be thrilled to use the money to pay for a locum vet/overtime for it to be done this weekend, along with 2 or 3 others on the same day.

You can donate here: cafdonate.cafonline.org/69#/DonationDetails

When you donate please also email our head office [email protected] to let them know that it is specifically for Edgar's dental as I don't think there is a message box on the donation page to make particular requests.

Thank you so much - from, me, CHAT and of course Edgar.

[Hoppinggreen]

Done!!
Good luck Edgar, and all the other cats being looked after by you lovely people xx

[chemenger]

Donated, and looked at all the cats looking for homes on the Celia Hammond webpages. Just as well I live too far away, so many irresistible little faces.

[thecatneuterer]

Thank you Chemenger. And talking of irresistible little faces, did you notice Caitlin? www.celiahammond.org/canning-town/index.php/animals-needing-homes/canning-town-london/8-animals-needing-homes/485-caitlin

Should the Daily Mail ever need a cat sad face she'd be ideal.

[cozietoesie]

Oh My. That one fair tugs at the heart strings.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

I've fallen in love with Patches, Reginald and Harrington. I'm so pleased to see Luke and Skywalker are ready for rehoming.

[MrsBertMacklin]

Marking place. I'm going to come back and read through properly at a time when PMT isn't making me cry at everything and anything, the photo of Caitlin has finished me off.

[CousinCharlotte]

Caitlin 😥