Defeated

Saturday was another not so great day in my rescue world.  For me it was heartbreaking.  We had a huge adoption event with a couple other rescues in the area.  Quite a few dogs got adopted, quite a few went on home visits.  (we allow our dogs to stay with you for a period of time before you officially commit so you can decide if it will truly workout)  Towards the end of it all, I went to visit the cats we had and noticed a particularly mean cat that we had in a cage without a cage card.  I asked about it and found out he was an owner return.  We had told this woman several times that she needed to make other arrangements for this cat.  (i.e. don't bring it back to us and then told her what we would be forced to do if she did) She wised up and just showed up knowing we would be having an event, knowing we wouldn't make a huge scene in front of tons of people.  I guess the woman had bites all down her arms from the cat.  She said he'd always been mean and they had him 4 paw declawed at six months old.  First of all, we do not condone declawing and strongly urge our adopters to find alternatives.  Not only that but there is NO reason to do all four paws on a cat.  There is no furniture they can destroy with their back claws.  She took away every defense that cat had other than his teeth... so he used them... a lot.  He became very mean and aggressive, frequently attacking her as she would walk through a room.  (not playful attack but trying to kill his prey attack)  I've never seen a cat behave this way.  If you find a feral cat, trap it, they will hide at the back of the cage and only lunge at you if you push them to do so.  This cat would lunge at anything that moved.  I was told he would be euthanized on Monday if no one offered to foster him and try to work with him.  He's dangerous and already a bite case so it would be irresponsible for us to knowingly adopt him out, just as it would if he were a dog.  I spent about an hour trying to calm him down, to no avail.  I eventually took my chances on opening the cage, knowing that my time was running short working with him.  He lunged and bit my arm.  Had I not been wearing a sweatshirt, he would've broken the skin, easily.  As it is, I have a nasty purple bruise.  I still persisted, trying to convince him that I would not hurt him and trying not to jerk away to fast when he lunged.  I got no where with him.  I was his last hope for survival and I ultimately made the decision to end his life.  He would never be able to live happily with humans and we certainly couldn't let him loose as one woman suggested as he had no defenses against wild animals.  I left feeling defeated and awful.  I have really never seen an animal act that way.  It was as if he had rabies.  I was able to pet him a bit in the parking lot while he was trying to figure out what was going on.  I wanted to pet him and reassure him that I wasn't out to hurt him and in my own way, apologize for what humans had done to him.  A cat is not born that way and we'd had him since he was a kitten before he went to this woman.  And by the way, she was the only one the cat was attacking to that degree.  I just couldn't risk having an animal like that in my home with a two year old child.  Otherwise, I would have taken him, without a doubt.  I wanted to try but I'm not going to risk my daughter getting hurt.  I was proud of myself for saying no as awful as that sounds.  I have NEVER refused an animal that I knew would be put down.  I had to learn to say no eventually.  Even now, I'm wanting to call up my director and tell her not to do it, that I'll find a way to work with him.  Poor boy.  He was midnight black with amber colored eyes.  He had a nice full face.  Really a good looking black cat.