Taj came to SHUA in June. She was found in someone's back garden in Barry, cowering in one of their dogs' kennels. She was in an awful condition. The lady that found her said that aside from being skeletal, the cat smelled really bad - as if there was something terribly wrong with her. When we coaxed her out of the kennel we saw immediately what the problem was - an horrific collar injury that had been festering for some time. The wound extends from under her arm right around her back. The other worrying thing was that although she was so painfully thin, she had a distinctive bulge around her abdomen - which the vet later confirmed meant that she was pregnant. Despite the extent of the collar injury, Taj was just far too ill and underweight to undergo any surgery - including a spay. In Taj's physical condition, being pregnant carried extrememly high risks for both mum as well as the kittens. As awful as it sounds, terminating the pregnancy would have given Taj a better chance of survival. However, in her condition, this was not an option and we just had to keep our fingers crossed for both mum and babies.
Taj gave birth to 4 healthy kittens on the 15th of July. Taj was a very proud mum and positively beamed with joy as she showed them off to you.
Tragically, one of her kittens died on the 16th of August, from a congenital defect. This is why we don\'t view kittens until 7 weeks old - even the most healthy looking kitten can suddenly fade and die within 24 hours at any time up until this age.
Taj and her babies remained in our hospital wing receiving around the clock care for several weeks. While still pregnant, Taj had developed a nasty throat infection and had to have a long course of antibiotics to try to knock it on the head. It took some time for her to get over the infection and she needed monitoring for some time afterwards as well. Her collar injury wounds needed regular cleaning for many weeks but thankfully, her spirits remained high and she pulled through.
In spite of her injuries and the neglect and cruelty that she had experienced, Taj is an incredibly friendly young lass and is very positive. She just loves a cuddle and will roll over to show you her tummy within minutes of meeting you! And she has just the fluffiest squirrel-tail you've ever seen.
Taj made good progress and was soon moved into our Mum and Baby Unit. Once her kittens had started to crawl, we moved the young family into a bigger pen, so that the kittens could exercise and also so that Mum could have a break from them!
Taj and all of her kittens have now been rehomed (in fact, Taj was rehomed with her tabby and torbie kittens!)
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