Hades
Date of Birth: ??
Gender: Male
Gotcha Day: 01/06/2018
Breed: European Cat
There was a woman in her 80s living in the nearby village of Queyssac who used to feed 20 local wild cats. Sadly she died leaving no-one to care for them. The mayor’s solution was to poison them so when Ariane found out about this she went many times over 2 months to try and trap the cats, one after the other until they were all caught. They were neutered and socialised and we found new homes for them. Only three of them, Narnia, Hades and Tara stayed at Mudita.
Hades was one of the first cats we were able to catch, alongside Tara. We always have the animals neutered and tested as soon as they arrive at the sanctuary and unfortunately we got the news that Hades is FIV (feline AIDS) positive. For this reason he was unlikely to be adopted.
We put him in the (chicken-less) coop outside, away from the other cats, along with lots of comfy baskets and shelter options but in the beginning he was just hiding between the chickenwire and the tarp we had hung along the top and the sides to provide shelter from the rain. He was always lying in an uncomfortable place. He was hissing a lot and seemed quite aggressive, we couldn’t touch him at all.
After a few months he stopped hissing and even started enjoying being pet. Later he started purring and appreciating Ariane’s presence. He was still sleeping in the most uncomfortable places even though we kept adding cozy things for him. All he would do was pee in and on all of them and then sleep on the hay bale squished between the wire mesh and the tarp.
He’s what we call a “problem cat”, he’s got lots of allergies and aches and he looks scrawny; his fur doesn’t look good because he keeps licking and biting it off. He’s our little gargoyle. The only part of his body that looks like a cat is his head and neck, where he can’t reach. There you can see that he has nice and shiny fur.
In the beginning we tried to treat him with allopathy but nothing worked. Now he’s getting a treatment from an osteopath who also practices naturopathy. This combined treatment is supposed to alleviate the pain and the discomfort but obviously it can’t get rid of the disease.
It is our belief that, whether for humans or animals, one cannot just heal the physical body, one must also work on the psyche. So we’re trying to help him on both of these levels. We’re eagerly awaiting to see if this special treatment works because if it does, it might be interesting for other cats with similar afflictions who, for whatever reason, can’t get treated with allopathy.
Hades developed a terrible abscess on his tongue which made him suffer a lot. It was a tough decision to make but ultimately we did not want him to suffer so he was put to sleep on 12 January 2021.