Seventeen-Year-Old, Sickly, and Blind Orakel Is Abandoned to Fend for Herself in the Unforgiving Streets of Breitenfurt bei Wien

Orakel

"Auch ihr fehlendes Augenlicht scheint sie nicht zu beeinträchtigen. Sie erkundet bereits neugierig ihre Umgebung und ist sehr geschickt, was den Schluss zulässt, dass sie bereits seit Lägerem erblindet ist."

-- Wiener Tierschutzverein

Just as the thorn always accompanies the rose, so too is it with cats in that the immense joy that they bring to their owners and supporters is always tinged with, at least, an equal proportion of profound sorrow. Das heißt, they are such tragic actors and actresses upon the world's stage that the only thing missing from their illustrious history is a dramatist of the caliber of Sophocles to do for them what he did for mankind all those millenniums ago.

The outrageous Unglück that always has dogged their every step like a malevolent shadow manifests itself in a million different abuses and deprivations that fail to recognize any international boundaries and few, if any, legal and moral constraints. Consequently, to single out any one particular class of offenses from this turbulent sea of unrelenting misery is an almost impossible task but without question the utterly deplorable plight of elderly and infirm cats has to rank at the top of that list.

Even so the overwhelming majority of these abused, neglected, and forgotten senior citizens of the feline world never make the headlines; im Gegenteil, they most often are either systematically liquidated by society or die in obscurity on their own. Despite that harsh reality, ever so often one of them, thanks to a favoring nod from The Fates, does come to the attention of the public and that has been the case with Orakel.

Found wandering the forlorn streets of Breitenfurt bei Wien, thirty-three kilometers southwest of Wien, sometime over the long Easter weekend, she was then was transported to Wiener Tierschutzverein (WTV) in the Vösendorf section of Wien. Judging by the pitiful condition that the diminutive brown, black, and white female was in, her deliverance did not come a day too soon.

Most readily noticeable to the naked eye, her fur had become so matted that she was unable to untangle it. The charity's Tierärztin soon thereafter quickly discovered that she also was suffering from severe malnutrition, respiratory difficulties, a liver condition, and that plaque had accumulated on her teeth and gums.

As if all of that would not have been enough misery for any cat to have borne, Orakel was laboring under two even more formidable disabilities. First of all, she was judged by the veterinarians to be at least seventeen years old and, secondly, she also was blind.

No one connected with WTV has publicly speculated as to how long that she had been on her own but, given her handicaps, it would seem unlikely that she was on the street for more than a few weeks. That estimate is based upon how exceedingly difficult it would have been for her to have procured very much in the way of food, water, and shelter over a protracted period of time.

Being elderly and blind, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that she had spent her entire life indoors and therefore neither possessed the Sachkenntnis nor the means in order to fend for herself in the wild. WTV has not broached the subject, but it is entirely possible that she even may have been declawed and as such that would have made defending herself and climbing trees in order to elude predators pretty much impossible.

Why, just the fear, stress, and other psychological horrors that surely must have accompanied such an abrupt change in lifestyle would have been sufficient in order to driven a young and healthy cat out of its mind, let alone one laboring under the difficulties that afflicted Orakel. It accordingly is truly a miracle that she lasted for as long as she did without succumbing to either despair or the machinations of the elements, motorists, dogs, and cat-haters. (See Cat Defender post of February 2, 2015 entitled " Cruelly Declawed and Locked Up Indoors for All of His Life, Nicky Is Suddenly Thrust into the Bitter Cold and Snow for Twenty-One Consecutive Days with Predictably Tragic Results.")

Despite quite obviously having had at least one and possibly even more guardians during her lifetime, Orakel was neither wearing a collar nor microchipped. Furthermore, no one has filed either a missing cat report with the authorities or inquired about her at WTV.

It accordingly is difficult to get around the distressing, and simultaneously infuriating, conclusion that she was intentionally abandoned. As best it could be determined, neither WTV nor the Polizei have opened an investigation into this matter but if such an effort accomplished nothing else it, if successful, would at least put a face on such a heartless crime.

Abandonments occur all the time but it is difficult to fathom how that anyone could care for a cat for that length of time only to then turn around and cast it out in its old age and infirmities to fend for itself in a hostile world. Although individuals of that ilk would appear auf den ersten Blick to belong to the pages of horror stories, they in fact are definitely real. The difficulty lies in identifying them and subsequently holding them accountable under the anti-cruelty statutes.

At WTV, Orakel finally received the emergency care that she had so desperately needed and deserved for so long. The first order of business involved brushing out as many as possible of the tangles in her fur; the remainder had to be cut out.

After that she was given fluids, most likely intravenously, in order to help her regain not only strength but some of the weight that she had lost while on the street. The tartar was removed from her teeth and she was administered a battery of unspecified nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs.

It has not been specified either what ails her liver or what is being done in order to treat it. Leider, her blindness likely is irreversible considering her age.

"Generell ist, Orakel aber für ihr Alter gesundheitlich noch ganz gut in Schuss," WTV said in an April 18th press release. (See "Wiener Tierschutzverein pflegt blinde Katzendame.")

Following treatment, she was transferred to WTV's Katzenhaus where she, as far as it has been disclosed, has made a remarkable comeback. "Sie scheint auch zu merken, dass sie nun in guten Händen ist, denn Orakel ist extrem anhänglich und verschmust und sucht ständig den Kontakt zu Menschen, um sich laut schnurrend von allen Seiten streicheln zu lassen," the charity added.

Besides being a friendly and gregarious cat, she also is able to get around adroitly and that suggests that she, in all likelihood, has been sightless for a long time and perhaps even since birth. "Auch ihr fehlendes Augenlicht scheint sie nicht zu beeinträchtigen," WTV disclosed. "Sie erkundet bereits neugierig ihre Umgebung und ist sehr geschickt, was den Schluss zulässt, dass sie bereits seit Lägerem erblindet ist."

In spite of all the wonderful progress that she has made over the course of the past few weeks, Orakel is far from being out of the woods just yet. That is due principally to the fact that she still needs a home and it is extremely difficult even under the best of circumstances for shelters to place elderly felines.

Plus, in her case she is not only elderly but blind and sickly as well. (See Cat Defender posts of March 23, 2015, August 6, 2015, September 12, 2015, and August 26, 2015 entitled, respectively, "Old, Sickly, and on the Street, George Accidentally Wanders into a Pet Store and That, in All Likelihood, Saved His Life," "Elderly, Frail, and on Death Row, Lovely Pops Desperately Needs a New Home Before Time Finally Runs Out on Her," "Pops Finally Secures a Permanent Home but Pressing Concerns about Both Her Continued Care and Right to Live Remain Unaddressed," and "A Myriad of Cruel and Unforgivable Abandonments, a Chinese Puzzle, and Finally the Handing Down and Carrying Out of a Death Sentence Spell the End for Long-Suffering and Peripatetic Tigger.")

Fortunately, there are a few shelters and sanctuaries that provide long-term care for cats, such as Tilly and Maya, that are unable to secure new homes. (See Cat Defender post of May 27, 2016 entitled "Snubbed by an Ignorant, Tasteless, and Uncaring Public for the Past Twenty-One Years, Tilly Has Forged an Alternative Existence of Relative Contentment at a Sanctuary in the Black Country" and the Donau Kurier of Ingolstadt, July 9, 2013, "Die Geschichte der Maya.")

For its part, WTV has pledged to attempt to provide Orakel with a "schönen und stressfreien Lebensabend" in a new home. There is not any guarantee, however, that it will be successful in that endeavor.

That in turn brings up the disturbing topic of what will become of her if she is not adopted and none of the alternatives available to her are the least bit pleasant to contemplate. Furthermore, just because her former owner gave up on her, as WTV is likely to do at some point in the future, is not a valid reason for the remainder of humanity to follow suit.

Orakel is a courageous grand dame of the feline world who has suffered much, overcome even more, and demonstrated too strong of a will to live in order to be thwarted now. She in all probability does not have all that much time left in this world but she nevertheless is richly entitled to every last second of it.

Anyone who therefore is able to offer her a loving home is encouraged to contact WTV via telephone at 43-01-699 24 50 -16.

Photo: Wiener Tierschutzverein.