We rescued a homeless street cat 5 years ago.It was an emergency as he was living on a dangerous dual carriageway.
My previous cat had died 6 weeks previously, of kidney failure and I was still really upset about her.So because of this I don't think I was ready to have a new cat but like I say it was an emergency.
From the first day we had problems.He hid, was aggressive bit and scratched me, which affected any bonding we might have had.
Long story short, for 2 years we had nothing but problems with illness and aggression.This poor cat tested positive for Calici virus, was possibly part feral, had numerous painful tail abscesses and gingivitis.This turned to awful stomatitis, and resulted in him having all his teeth out.Didn't work so as a last resort our vet suggested Interferon treatment.It cost us £1.000 but we were responsible for him after such an awful start.Miraculousky it workedhis gums are now healthy and he regained his health.He's a big strong cat .We had him neutered and chipped and spent a small fortune.
I'm so sorry it's a long story.Fast forward 5 years, he's about 7 years old, and he constantly leaves home for days sometimes weeks.He's been gone 9 days now, but luckily is only about half a mile away and has been seen numerous times and reported on Facebook and Whatsapp groups. We constantly bring him home, he has 2 days eating and sleeping, then he's off again.
I feel so sad that he would rather live outside and scrounge food from strangers rather than be at home with us.
Have we done anything wrong.Did we make a mistake rescuing him and do we just give up and let him be? I should add that he's now wary of us and won't come near us now when we go to bring him home.Do i just give up .Thank you so much for reading this novel !