This is the story of Oliver, the stray cat, who on his arrival in paradise choose us to save his life. We couldn’t let him die. And I am sure you wouldn’t either. I got so many lovely replies on a blog post I wrote right after his arrival here, but today is the right time to tell you the story of his survival.
Oliver – we call him Oli – appeared one Sunday afternoon, he couldn’t eat, had a bubble in front 
of his mouth and was bent over with pain. What would you do in this case? We decided to bring him to the vet – and we needed to leave him there for a whole week. He needed urgent surgery because his mouth was full of infections and the gums partly necrotic.
The huge inflammation in the cat’s mouth which didn’t allow him to eat for who knows how long
Don’t be shocked to take a closer look. This photo was taken by my veterinarian Dr. Elisabetta Scorzoni during surgery where she extracted 5 teeth and cleaned the gums. The operation went well and, with the help of painkillers, the poor boy was able to eat very soon. The healing went quite well in regard to the gums, but there was still inflammation in the bones, which is a little concerning.
Oli without his rotten teeth – you still see the heavy inflammation of his gums
Of course, antibiotics are a huge help in that. Actually, I am still giving him a shot every day, 2 weeks after surgery, and I will have to continue for a while.
Oli’s spirits came back rapidly. He is a lovely gentle guy, but with his teeth deprived mouth he can also look very aggressive, which in fact he is not.
He got better and better every day and, after being groomed, began to look like a normal cat, still very skinny, but happy to be alive.
This video was taken in the veterinarian’s while I was on my birthday celebration weekend in the South of Italy. As soon as I was back we went to get him and to bring him home where we already have 5 cats of our own and a black dog. Read about Oli’s arrival in Paradise and in his new life in my next blog post! (Btw. the place where I live in Italy – and which has become the new home of Oli – is called “Paradiso Integrale”)
Great story! At least now he is able to eat.
Yes, he is able to eat, but he is really super excited with food and I have to ration his food. There is a video in my second post http://my-cat.org/oli-finally-can-leave-the-cat-hospital where you can see his hungryness!
Well done you two! I would and indeed have done the same thing!
Yes, Ella, but the bad news is that he actually was really very ill, HIV and something else, and so we had to put him down, He didn’t eat any more and would have died in pain. I will write another blogpost soon. I feel very sad, although we knew him only a short time. He was so sweet.
I have had 2 cats with the same problem and there is nothing one can do. It’s so very sad. But like you did, we have to try. This is a very bad disease affecting the immune system and there is no cure unfortunately.
Yes, it is very sad. And although we had OLi only for 2 weeks or so, when he felt well, he was such a sweet kittie, deep eye contact and you felt his gratitude. We are still sad and I will write another post after talking better with the vet to be able to explain things a little better.
Thanks for your comment, Ella.
Awww, I have 8 fur babies here. 2 on purpose, the rest were from litters of strays. All other kittens were given away but these guys. Someone abandoned the moms outside, pregnant.
It is too bad how people treat their animals – abandon them or even throw them away somewhere far away (as had happened with my dog Lucky – happily she found us).
I wish you much joy with your fur babies and I hope that they will always be fine!