The journey began one recent spring morning when my husband called me on his cell phone. He had called to warn me that he had seen a light colored cat (limping badly) run under one of our barns. He was unable to find it, but wanted me to keep an eye out for him. This is not unusual for our family- especially since we live in a semi-rural region with an ever-present "VACANCY" sign posted for all the strays to see.

I looked that morning and evening for the new arrival and was unable to locate him. Then, that evening when my husband and I were on our way upstairs for the night, there waiting at our deck door was the new arrival holding a right front leg up looking in- "Here I am."

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I opened the door and he proceeded to roll around on the rug in the kitchen and purr and seemed to say "Thank You." I promptly saw that he was a male tomcat and definitely not neutered. He also looked like he had been outside a long time and had significant mats in his fur and was thin. He had quite a few scars on his ears as well. His front leg was much thinner than his left leg and it appeared to have a sore over the paw and his fur was missing over this area. We placed him in a safe place and fed him and gave him water. He ate 2 bowls of food!!!

Well, off we went the next morning - carrier in tow- to work. We placed him under anesthesia so that way I was able to obtain a better exam of his leg and the rest of him without stressing him and causing him discomfort. I found a small puncture wound on his leg over his right front paw and a very hard dime-sized swelling just under it. The technicians took an x-ray and I evaluated it. It appeared that the injury was more of a chronic injury. The actual bone of one of his toes was almost moth-eaten in appearance. This could mean a couple things - the patient could have had an old injury involving an abscess that invaded the bone or cancer.

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Well, in his case, I wanted to believe that he had more of an infection that was invading his bone- especially since he was an outside cat and a stray and an evident puncture wound was noted. So I opened up the scarred puncture site and flushed the region with dilute antiseptic solution. I also neutered him. I placed him on a course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. The plan for him is to restrict his activity during this time of treatment for a minimum of three weeks and retake his x-rays and evaluate his progress.

The new arrival already seems to be enjoying his surroundings. He is great taking his medications and a true gentleman. He seems to be improving slightly on his leg. The journey for our latest arrival continues...