Above you can see two of the three apparently purebred Abyssinian cats who were abandoned on the doorstep of a Venice veterinary practice about a week ago. The female is the least scared of all 3.
There were a total of 3 left in the night (mid-May 2011) at the vet's office this time... 2 males, one female. All were unfixed, and appear to be purebred but obviously no papers to back this up.
SDA fixed them on Sat, VCC has them now and will seek homes and donations to help pay the cost of the rescue work involved. In case you do not know the Abyssinian breed, the cats have short hair and long ears, with Egyptian features of a sharp face. They often are sought by people who believe they are allergic to other cats and want one with very short hair.
Besides spreading the word about this abandonment situation, which we are seeing on a daily basis now, this appears to possibly be the result of someone who wanted to be a breeder and found that the market would not produce the results desired, i.e. there was not a local demand for high cost Abyssinian kittens. This is just my educated guess on how 3 cats would end up on the vet's doorstep, and the vet immediately put them into the county's stray room.
If anyone locally knows of a Aybssinian breeder, please contact the VCC to help us identify the person or persons who left these cats. Abandonment of cats is an animal abuse and neglect issue. Breeding of cats intentionally is an undesirable activity, although it has been the way of the world. But you can see the result. I know there are numerous breeders of cats & dogs around here but they stay beneath the radar, and you can see why.
We also need help finding an appropriate adopter(s) for the 3 cats. They are quite striking, but they are also somewhat timid and traumatized. Again, my educated guess is that the amateur breeder did not spend much time socializing these cats but just treated them as kitten producers... and the 3 are traumatized by the 7-10 days of abandonment and being bounced around the county.
Please help us and them in any way you can. If you know somone who wants an Abyssinian, have them contact VCC asap. If you can donate to VCC, it would be helpful, as we are under dire financial pressure now. If you know of people breeding animals or buying breeded animals, let them know that this kind of tragic situation is what occurs when people patronize breeding instead of adopting homeless animals from the local shelters.
Please help these cats if you can. They are beautiful creatures and deserve better.
