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.

She nearly had me shedding tears in my tea, right enough.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated. We now have enough to pay a locum for a day and we are trying to get it organised for this Sunday.

Also I've had my first purr from Edgar:) It wasn't very long, or very committed, but it was definitely a purr.

Excellent news, glad we could help!

Good luck to the lad on Sunday - and any others who may benefit at the same time. Is he to relinquish his Pom Poms at the same time?

A purr is excellent even if it was a wee one.

He's only grubby. He'll posh up no end when he's clean and will have very striking face markings. You've got yourself a star there. Give him a hug for me and another bowl of food, purrs!

We didn't have anyone come out to homecheck us, they used Google earth to look at our house to see if it was what we said it was - rural, no main roads etc.

I'm so pleased he's going to get his teeth done soon, that's wonderful!

And a purr! Clearly he's settling in and appreciating his home comforts. Bet he purrs a lot more when he's not in any more pain.

Skype sounds good, but could also use Whatsapps free calls, Facetime, short videos, google earth like others have suggested. I know it often comes down to volunteer time/resources but modern technology might be able to help.

Also, can't you access the volunteers homecheckers network that so many dog rescues use?

Why would Celia Hammond want to extend their rehoming area when there are, presumably, local rescues with lots of cats needing homes? Surely its in everyone's interest to work together rather than competing? You can't adopt a cat from a picture on the internet after all, you need to meet them in the fur, which will be more convenient at a local shelter. Or maybe I'm missing something.

He's already looking cleaner (but then he doesn't seem to stop grooming) and I've had a proper purr:)

Thanks for that link Bagel. I was unaware of that and I will mention it.

Chemenger - generally speaking I/we agree with you. For your normal cats/kittens then it's probably better all round to go to your local rescue. After all there is no shortage of cats/kittens needing homes, nor a shortage of rescues.

Where we would like to consider homing further afield is for the particularly difficult to home cats that require a particular set up or, more difficult still, very 'rescue-minded' owners. (By that I mean people who are happy to take cats that need patience/help, even if they take for ever to become friendly or indeed never really do, or to take cats with on going health problems etc). The posher areas tend to have more rescue-minded people (I don't expect there have been any studies done on it, but it does seem to be a fact of life), and our catchment area is predominantly fairly deprived inner city, so for those sort of cats it certainly makes sense to expand our homing area.

That makes sense, where I live there isn't quite such an urban/rural/suburban divide. Maybe there are more hard-to-home cats in more urban areas as well as fewer people willing to take on the hard-to home.

Edgar is looking distinctly perkier, his face is so characterful. His eyes look lovely and clear now, just generally a happier cat.

Oh and yes Cozie - he will be losing his pom poms at the same time :)

He is gorgeous! And definitely looking cleaner, lovely you've had some proper purrs.

I think there's a touch of mischief in those eyes! Great to see.

TCN I don't think that's the only one, think there are several. I can ask people from (mainly) dog rescues if you want more info/links.

Seems crazy not to take advantage of existing networks if it can widen the area. Interesting what you say about harder to home/more affluent areas. Makes sense though as they probably have a bit more time/money to devote to stuff like that.

He looks so much better already x

He's got beautiful markings, once his white bits have turned properly white I think he'll be really striking. I think he's gorgeous but I kept returning to the picture of poor old Harrington on the CHAT website, he is lovely! (Unfortunately I'm nowhere near CHAT and my current cat has to be an "only", but I really hope Harrington finds someone to love him)

Chemenger. I adopted my girls from a picture shared on Facebook. When I arrived at the rescue they were both already in their baskets and I never got a proper look st them till I got home. I was a bit sad about that but it really felt like fate that they should be mine. And so it has proved.

timtam Harrington really got to me as well

I think adopting kittens without meeting them is less risky, has anyone ever met a kitten they didn't like? With older cats its a harder choice, and I say this having made a very poor choice last time and spending 10 years with a cat who did not seem to like us at all! I still want to take Harrington home, but I doubt he'd enjoy the six hours on the train that would involve.

He's got lovely markings, he looks so much happier

Poor little thing, he must have been on the streets since a kitten to have such a tiny/stunted body. A true little survivor.

He does look much perkier though.

I meant to ask, TCN. Has there been any interest in sad wee Caitlin?

Breaking news - Edgar has just had his dental. We persuaded (and of course paid) a vet and vet nurse to do overtime this evening so we could get it done. Thank you so much again to everyone who donated towards his treatment.

He has just eaten a large bowl of soft pate food and I'm sure he will be a much happier cat very soon.

Cozie - I don't really get involved in the homing side of things so I don't know about Caitlin, but I'm sure with that pathetic face she'll attract more than her fair share of attention.

Well that's good. Better that he doesn't have to put up with a sore mouth for any longer than necessary. (If human mouths are anything to go by, he must have been in much discomfort.)

Look forward to more pictures, TCN.

How is the recovery going this morning?