Animal Cruelty: Update on Tiger (good stuff!)
Two weeks ago I told you about the cat Tiger, who came to our stray cat jail after living in a basement for most of his life. Due to other commitments, I've been away from the jail for a couple of weeks, so today when I went back I was the recipient of some great news.
Tiger's case, it appears, was not so much cruelty as it was neglect. His former owners were disabled, one a double amputee and the other very ill and now terminal and in hospice care. The neighbor who was looking after them was feeding Tiger but giving him no other attention, and he was being kept in the basement. When she became overburdened she brought Tiger to us. That's his backstory as far as we know it.
Today I went in and was greeted by the news that he is now out of his hide box and no longer growling and hissing at everyone. Natalie, who runs the stray jail, and Shannon, the animal care manager, have been able to pet him, albeit with a bite glove still because he did try to take a chunk out of Natalie's finger the other day. He has a stuffed puppy toy in with him that he snuggles with and which we spray with catnip spray every couple of days (he LOVES catnip!). He watches what goes on with some interest, but on close inspection today I am pretty certain that he is blind in his right eye, whether from birth or from an injury or infection. His eyes don't look quite right anyhow so I suspect he may have been born with some visual defect. I'm beginning to think it's possible he could become adoptable by some special person! 
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