Introducing… Rumi

Rumi is the newest member of my feline family, joining us in June 2010. He’s named after the thirteenth-century Sufi poet, Rumi. (PBS ran a great video about the poet.)

Rumi’s wounds

He’s about the same age as Emma. I met him just hours after he showed up at Feline Friends. The people who brought him in said that he was a stray who sometimes showed up at their house and they sometimes fed him. They noticed that he was hurt and started to get him help. They had very little money but didn’t want to see him euthanized. The vets they took him to said that’s all they could do for him. Someone told them that Feline Friends might be able to help the cat, so they talked with Jo and brought him in.

He had lots of scrape-like abrasions that indicate he was hit & dragged by a vehicle not too long before he came in. Every rib on his left side was broken. (Ouch!) His left arm was broken in several spots & a couple wounds were severely infected. (There is puss oozing out from several spots on his hand & arm, including from under his paw pads. OUCH!) Remarkably, there was very little damage to his neck, head, or face.

He tested positive for FIV+ and with those wounds… Well there weren’t many people who would be interested in adopting him. Jo called, I dashed over to meet him, and as soon as I saw him I knew he belonged with me. There was something about his demeanor that touched me. It didn’t hurt that he is also strikingly beautiful – his coloring is mostly a muted caramel, with Tabby markings on his back and face and Bengal markings on his arms and belly. We quickly scheduled an amputation of his left front arm and shoulder (and neutering, while they were at it).

After being crated at the vet while his ribs began to heal and as he learned to balance with three legs, he finally came home. I had made a carpeted ramp for him to use to get onto higher furniture but he only used it a few times. He preferred to jump and seemed to already know how to get around without that formerly injured leg. In the first six months with me, he got regular acupuncture treatments from his vet (Kim Martin at Hawks Prairie Veterinary Hospital), massage treatments from a licensed small animal massage therapist (Marnie Black), and chiropractic treatments from a wonderful, generous doctor who – out of the goodness of her heart – worked with Rumi free of charge.

Rumi fit right in with the others because he has the same play behavior (roughhousing to an extreme) and the same cuddling needs as the others. He and Emma became fast friends. Andy and Rumi are still trying to figure out their relationship. Lucky little Emma can take her pick when she wants a brother to groom her or wrestle with her. I’m telling you, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a three-legged cat chasing a blind cat!

(More photos of Rumi)

Rumi & Emma