The Digglers

At one time, I had amassed twenty two mogs at my small holding. Unfortunately, many were ferals. Sammy P (2) one of the cats was having considerable trouble with his ears and the vet diagnosed ear mites. This was proving to be a problem. Although, Sammy P could be treated, I because could not handle the ferals consequently they would re-infect the other cats. The vet however, heard of a new radical treatment. A drug related to a chemical used in sheep dip could be injected and would not only eradicate the mites but the eggs as well. This appeared to be the answer to my prayers but a nightmare for my friends and the vet was about to begin.

The vet (brave woman) said she would be willing to inject all the cats providing I could get them to the surgery. Easy? Where was I going to get twenty two cat baskets? Fortunately, most of the Digglers came from local cat sanctuaries. These were cats that could not be homed in a normal home environment. These sanctuaries were my first port of call. It took me several days to collect all the baskets. Now I had to find transport! Many of my friends offered to use their cars to transport the mogs to the vet's. The only remaining problem was to catch the ferals. I had to make sure all the cats were treated otherwise if only one was left, it would re-infect the others. What a problem, how was I to catch the ferals? I could hardly expect them to walk freely into a basket! A volunteer from Cats Action Trust - a society that is involved with ferals said he would help. The vet was contacted and a date for the mass inoculation was fixed.

The day arrived. My car friends were given a time to arrive. I arrived earlier and managed to get the catchable cats in baskets. The ferals witnessing this event had a determined look as if to say 'no way!'. The cat-catcher arrived and one by one they disappeared into cat baskets. When my car friends arrived, three baskets were placed in each car and eight cars in convoy set off for the vet's!

When we arrived, thank goodness it was a large waiting room, the cats in baskets were lined up! When the vet arrived and saw all the baskets, she turned a very peculiar colour! As she looked at the ferals, her colour didn't improve! She left and I was very surprised to see her return! She was armed with thick gauntlets! I'm sure she must have helped herself to a few stiff drinks!

One by one, the baskets were carried by a veterinary nurse disappearing into the consulting room. Everyone was quiet waiting for the screams. None came and one by one, the baskets arrived back.

'Never again!' sighed the vet which was echoed by every one and I think that included the cats as well!

The cats made a safe return however, one of the ferals lost all her fur. I think this was due to stress as a few weeks later it started to grow. I was surprised this didn't happen to me!

I decided that if the ear mites returned they would be less stressful for the cats to cope with than another convoy trip to the vet's! Me too!