Chester!

It was Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013. Early morning. Before breakfast.

The dogs were barking frantically at something they had treed on the woodpile. Probably a chipmunk (sigh).

Hosea went out to investigate.

He returned with... a cat! Not a nice, pretty cat, but a cat with completely matted, dirty, long, white fur and scratched and bleeding ears who was in definite need of medical attention. But, nevertheless, underneath his harried appearance, we could tell that he had potential.

So, naturally we took him in. We couldn't possibly let him go again in that condition.

First up, we got a vet appointment. Then we tried snipping out his mats. He was amazingly agreeable to our handling, which meant that he was either in shock, or he had been a tame house-kitty at one point in his life. Snipping out the mats, though? Impossible! He was that matted!

So, next up was the vet appointment. It turns out that this poor guy had a chronic case of ear mites, which is why he had scratched his ears to torn and bleeding bits!

The vet cleaned and treated his ears as best she could around the clotted blood and torn pieces (this was a condition he had had for some time!). She treated his ear mites. Then they took an electric clippers to his mats. That worked.

Then we took him home. On the way home, I suddenly said to Mom, "We should call him Chester!" She exclaimed, "I was actually thinking exactly the same thing!" It couldn't be anything else! He was a Chester.

Over the next few days this little guy wormed his way into my heart.

His ears were in pretty bad shape. Time, prayer, and good doses of aloe vera would certainly help them though!

With one ear already fusing itself back together in a cocked position, a scratch on his nose, and slanted eyes, it was sometimes difficult to tell if he was glaring at me or not. :-)

If he looked rough when we found him, he really looks odd now! Thankfully fur grows back, though!

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Two weeks later...

Chester is making definite improvements! He has (a little) better manners, he's now gotten his de-worming and rabies vaccination, and has been neutered. He's still living in my room, although our plan is to get him and our dogs used to each other so he can be an outdoor kitty again. That's what he would like. He's always sitting by the window meowing to go out.

See the improvement! Not completely out of the water yet. Not only did he have ear mites, but he also had a really bad infection from the open sores. That still needs to clear up.

And so, we saved a kitty! I just hope that he'll stick around after he goes back outside again. Maybe he will, now that he knows we love him.