Help with Tuna Turner the Cat's Vet Bills

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

I did not expect so many of you to be so kind and donate towards Tuna's vet bills, thank you for supporting and loving him ❤️

There is more than enough money for his medical care raised now, so I will be able to donate a good amount to some animal charities that help stray cats like Tuna! I have decided to support a few smaller local cat rescues as it will benefit them the most, I will post an update with the organisations and how much donated to each once Tuna is out of the hospital and his bills paid for.

Tuna Turner’s Story

About 5 years ago I found a juvenile black cat sitting in my living room on the rug. He looked thin but otherwise healthy. He wouldn’t let me near him and ran off. Over that summer he visited a lot, sitting near my son and cat PB in the garden, but never getting too close. He kept doing this over a few summers, and was getting more skinny and looking dusty and dirty. He watched from the other end of the garden and I started leaving food out for him.

Tuna sitting in the front garden in 2020, before he would come in the house.

It took us 2 years to gain his trust and for him to let us stroke him, even then he just suffered it. I moved his feeding to nearer the house door and he accepted quite reluctantly but he was hungry. We would see him wandering around Mirfield looking like a lost soul.

One day I found him eating from my cat's dishes in the hall, but when I spoke he shot outside. We continued over the next year building up trust with him and he eventually started feeding inside, but with the door open. Over the past couple of years, he has gained confidence and visits every day, usually with battle scars which I bathed for him. He has progressed to the lounge and now he likes to properly sleep on the sofa and let his guard down enough to snore! He will even come up to us for some love and attention now, and his favourite toy is our other cat's catnip...

Tuna using his favourite catnip toy as a pillow during one of his naps.

Left: Tuna sat outside in the rain waiting for food. Middle: Tuna eating PB's leftovers whilst PB watches on. Right: Tuna licking his chops after finishing a meal, waiting for more.

His worst battle scar happened about 2 weeks ago, he came in with a massive hole in his left cheek. My friend and I managed to get him in the cat carrier and to the vets, where his wound was cleaned free of charge as he was a stray. Huddersfield Ferals and Strays were contacted and said they would help but would take him in and re-home him somewhere else. This upset me as Mirfield is his patch and he has been seen visiting other homes for food. So I decided to take him home even though they would sort out his wound and neutering for free - I couldn’t let him go!

On Wednesday 29th March he came in to feed and had been fighting again - the side of his face was ripped open and oozing green infection and it smelled horrendous. So back to the vets, by this time his wound was very bad and covered the whole of the left side of his face with muscle showing and damaged dead tissue hanging off.

It was at that moment, sitting with him in the vet's surgery with him looking at me while he was lying on the scales, that look where he knows someone cares and is helping to make him better - I realised, with tears in my eyes, that he wouldn’t leave the vets this time as a stray. I was going to adopt him there and then and have him microchipped.

***WARNING*** GRAPHIC IMAGES

Tuna at the vets on 29th March.

His condition is pretty dire and he certainly didn’t seem to belong to anyone - so he is now mine! Currently, he is at Calder vets in Dewsbury after being initially treated at the Mirfield branch. He is staying in and on 30th March had an operation to remove the infected and decayed skin from his face, unfortunately this is exposing the tissue and muscle underneath and his condition is bad. While he was under anaesthetic he was also neutered.

He has to stay in the hospital for care for another 3 days minimum - but I couldn't leave him to fend for himself in the state he was.

Although he will still be a free spirit when he returns, in a while he may not wander so much or fight for the ladies. He has a home now and will be cared for.

His name is Tuna Turner thanks to my youngest son, it came about as a joke when he was listening to a Tina Turner song on one of Tuna's visits early on, and has since stuck - plus, Tuna loves a dish of tuna.

His vet bills at the current time are estimated at around £1,200 and I am not sure how much more treatment and medication he will need. But he will make a full recovery and need lots of love and TLC, which we are happy to give to him.

I am hoping with all my heart that I can recoup some of the vet bills for this poor cat, as because I have decided to adopt him, he won’t be treated as a stray, and I could not leave him in the condition he was and suffering.

Once the vet bills are covered, any extra money raised will be donated to rescue charities to help other strays and cats in need like Tuna.

Tuna relaxing in the garden between his expeditions.

Tuna and PB napping in the back garden, Tuna wants to be friends with PB, but PB is old and moody and isn't a big fan of other cats and usually hides from him on his visits!