Another Matted Cat Gets a Haircut Just In Time, and A Lot More

Ziggy Stardust is a long-haired orange cat that’s been hanging out in Kim’s yard for months now. 

Ziggy was not easy to trap, but with trap conditioning, like I did with Puffy, Kim was able to trap her. Yes, I said her. Most orange cats are male, but Ziggy is a female.

The vet also determined that she was already spayed, and about eight years old. Unfortunately she is not microchipped. Because she has been hanging out for so long now in Kim’s yard, we think she is either dumped or lost long ago. She does not let anyone get too close to her.

Once the vet shaved her, they discovered that her mats really were a problem. All of that red you see on her skin here is a rash, now treated with antibiotics.

Boots, another one of Kim’s colony cats, was very concerned about her. They’ve been hanging out a lot together.

Ziggy is also underweight. Since Kim feeds the cats good food daily, they decided to do bloodwork to see what’s going on. She has hyperthyroid and some high liver enzymes. Kim is now putting medication in her food twice daily. She is supposed to be in that medication now for the rest of her life. The vet wants to see her every time the medication needs a refill. Since Ziggy is still acting feral and is so hard to trap, we’re currently trying to figure out how that going to work.

Ziggy also got updated vaccines, flea treatment, and tested negative for FIV/FeLV. Her total vet bill is $526 so far. If you’d like to donate towards her care, you can do so at the donate link at the top of this page, or through paypal.com, [email protected]

We’re hoping Ziggy continues to improve and gain some weight. Maybe she will learn to trust humans again once she feels better.