Caesar

Temporary Name:

Caesar

Gender: Male
Color: Brown Tabby
Fur: Short
Born: Approximately 8/22/10

Caesar is one of our colony cats that has had a few near-tragedies happen to him. He’s a great big lover that is caught between being a street cat and a house cat. He escaped starvation, a dog attack, a hoarding house, and a seriously injured paw. We would like to get him off the street before his nine lives run out!

Caesar loves people, napping on the bed, and sitting in cars. He’s going to need patience to teach him the formalities of a real home, but his is very willing to learn and loves people unconditionally.

Adopted!

Despite his rough start, and his rough middle to life, Caesar has remained extremely appreciative of the people that take time to care for him.

Caesar before and after being nipped, 8-23-12

He arrived in our colony quite emaciated. He was a gangly and cantankerous teenager who fattened up and mellowed out after being nipped and accepted into the colony as a friend.

There was a terrible incident with a neighborhood dog that tried his best to kill Caesar. I pulled Caesar out of the dog’s mouth after a long chase and wrestle (I admit I was even biting the dog in a panic). In the ensuing drama with Animal Services, our hoarding neighbor claimed Caesar as her pet, and because I had been bit by both dog and cat, Caesar had to be quarantined for rabies evaluation. Unfortunately, his 30-day in-house quarantine turned into a full year incarceration in our hoarding neighbor’s home. On release or escape, he turned up looking greasy, ill, and emotionally drained.

We were able to fatten him up and get him clean, but he retained his weary, broken look for quite a while. He showed some signs of being trapped in a space with too many animals and too little resources–some cat aggression (being very assertive of his personal space), security seeking, and food gulping. Despite his anxieties, he remained a loving, people-friendly guy who wanted nothing more than to spend time hanging out with humans.

Shortly after another neighborhood dog incident (this time with three cat fatalities), Caesar showed up with an injured paw. Because I’m a worry wart and totally broke, I have a 48-hour rule unless something is obviously urgent. SO after two days and Caesar’s paw swelling to three times its size, I allowed myself to rush him to our vet. He receive basic medical care (thanks to VISA who keeps giving me room on my credit card), and his paw has been slowly healing.

But once he arrived with a hurt paw, he had been moved from a street cat to a pseudo-house-cat in our over crowded house. Our hope is to find a long-term foster, or a happy furever home, so that he doesn’t have to risk his neck on the street again.

I’m not going to lie–he’s going to need some patience to fully convert to a real house cat. It is painfully obvious what his life in the hoarding house had been like while I’ve been watching him find his way around our home. I am heartbroken daily to see him limp around and learn about real life with people who care about him. It is clearly his deepest hope to be a cherished pet, and I hope he can find lovely humans to give him that chance.

Update: We recently discovered Caesar playing with a rattle mouse, and discovered he’s a huge fan of toys! There are a few videos on our Facebook page just for fun!

Update: On 11/8/15 Caesar went for a sleep over with a new family. After two days they were in love with the big guy and he was officially adopted!

Health history:

8/22/12 – I finally was able to trap Caesar and bring him to an Operation Catnip clinic where he was neutered and given his rabies and FIV+ vaccines. At that point he was seriously malnourished (see gallery image).

Caesar's swollen paw 10-13-15 — Caesar’s swollen paw 10-13-15

1/11/14 – a neighborhood dog escaped (a known cat-killer) and attacked Caesar. I personally pulled Caesar out of the dog’s mouth after a long struggle. After much drama, I was able to make sure he was free from major injury. he was quarantined in our local hoarder’s house for 30 day (long story). We did not see him for over a year of imprisonment in the hoarder’s house. Since she claimed him as her pet, there was nothing we could do to even see him.

2/15/15 – Caesar was released from captivity (or escaped) back onto the street. He was filthy and foul looking, and definitely emotionally drained. It took a few months of care and kindness to get him back to his former self. He still has some cat aggression from being confined to a space with multiple cats and limited resources.

10/13/15 – Caesar arrived at our colony (two days after neighborhood dogs terrorized the colony and killed three cats) with a hurt foot. After a 48 hour delay, his foot had tripled in sized and he was in obvious anguish. We took him to our vet where he received pain killers and a long-lasting antibiotic. It took several more days of indoor confinement before he began to finally improve.

Quick Details

Litter box: B [very familiar with a litter box but because of his hoarding past, he is still concerned about safety]
Other cats: D+ [again, due to his hoarding history, he is defensive toward other cats who enter his personal space but he likes being part of a family]
Cuddling: B- [He loved people and being held, but may be emotionally needy at times]
Food: A+