Rocky, our Poster Boy
Rocky is our poster boy for his transformation from the time he arrived in July 2019 to today in 2020. I first saw Rocky through the patio door as he walked, hunch-backed and slightly crouched, across the patio to find a bite of food. My immediate impression was that he looked like the cat version of a mange-afflicted coyote. (Yes, I’ve seen coyotes infested with mange; it’s not pretty.) When I went out to feed the cats, he disappeared beneath the bushes. I wasn’t certain if he had always been feral, or if he had been badly mistreated by humans. He was extremely wary, and I wasn’t able to get close to him.
When he arrived, Rocky’s posture appeared hunched, both when sitting and when walking. Skin near his ears looked almost bubbly red. Hair was missing in a streak from his forehead to the top of his head. The tips of both ears were missing, but not straight across as though they had been cropped; rather, bumpy and uneven as though they had been either frozen or torn off. My guess was that they might have been frostbitten. His ears were missing some fur and looked lumpy in spots. The fur on the main part of his body looked dry, unkempt, and more brown than gray. Something about his mouth didn’t look right, but it was several weeks, even months, before I was able to get a close enough look to see what it was.
I put medication to treat mange and internal parasites in some canned food for him. When trying to treat one cat, the hardest part often is keeping the other cats from eating the medicated food before the patient eats it. It’s especially tricky when the patient is fearful of humans and tries to avoid them.
His condition was the inspiration for his name, as it appeared he had had a rocky past.
Within a few days, Rocky was limping on his left front paw, which was very swollen. Sometimes the males fight and get bites that become infected. I added antibiotics to Rocky’s canned food, and though the paw quickly improved, it took quite a while for the swelling to go down. There has been less fighting since the big spay/neuter operation (no pun intended).
The cats who were spayed or neutered had their left ears cropped, so it would be evident in the future which cats had already been through the trap-neuter-release (TNR) process. So, Rocky’s left ear is now even shorter, but now flat across its cropped tip.
Rocky’s fur is in much better condition now, and he no longer moves as though he’s in pain like an arthritic old man. Sometimes he even runs in a playful short burst. He may even go as far as the gate to greet or follow me. He seems fairly content, and may even purr when petted.
Rocky’s condition improved after his treatment and receiving regular meals. He has never wandered far from the patio since he arrived. He doesn’t leave the yard. Over the course of several months, he became less fearful, and now he loves to be petted. Whenever I open the patio door, he’s right there, and he’ll swat at other cats to show the patio is his when he wants it. They all share it for mealtime: We have a “Tolerance at the Table” rule!
In the photo here, taken September 28, 2020, Rocky was dozing beneath a bush and the sun was partially in his face, so he had his eyes closed. You can see the corkscrew whisker that inspired the “Wild Whiskers” portion of the Wild Whiskers and Cat Tales title.
