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Colony feral found dead
I care for a feral colony at work. The colony includes about 28 cats,
all trapped/tested/vaccinated and fixed. Today I found one of my brood in the parking lot, dead. She was a true feral, never a bit socialized except knowing who brought the food and where he put it. I'd known her for over three years, since she was a kitten. Unfortunately, she was always cagey and smart, avoiding capture until just last winter. She was the one responsible for many of the litters I dealt with before I finally managed--with a lot of help--to control the colony population. She was among the last of the colony to be trapped and fixed. Sometimes I think she actually gave herself up because she was tired of all the kittens. Anyway, she's gone. I looked her over carefully before disposing of her carcass. She had no cuts, no scrapes. No puncture wounds of any sort. No blood was anywhere in the area (she was in a vacant parking space at the far end of the lot near some thick landscaping). Her mouth and her eyes were open, the nictating membranes about half-closed. She had no broken bones, from what I could tell (she was in rigor mortis). In fact, she looked perfectly healthy. What do you think are the chances that someone poisoned her? What other causes could there be? I cannot afford necropsies on these animals, but if there is someone out at the colony with poison, I would like to know about it and maybe do something to prevent it. Poisoning animals is a crime in this state. Inspired by TV shows like CSI and movies I've seen, I've decided to look into veterinary forensics. Using that as a search term on Google, I came up right away with this site: http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/IA/SRP/vfp/ Does anyone have any printed texts they would recommend, suitable for the educated layman, on investigating animal cruelty? TIA. |
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I cannot afford necropsies on these animals, but if there is someone out
at the colony with poison, I would like to know about it and maybe do something to prevent it. I've done necropsies of poisoned animals. I've picked up lots of dead poisoned animals. If they were poisoned with antifreeze, you should see some foaming at the mouth. The area around the mouth would be wet and slicked back. If she died of secondary poisoning from rodenticide, you would possibly see bleeding from the anus, nose, mouth, ears. You will also see patches of skin that she'd scratched red and raw. Sometimes they can die of internal hemmorhage or organ shut down before you see the outward signs. Was she bloated or dehydrated? It's also possible that she was just nicked by a car in the head which caused a head injury. I've seen animals hit by cars that looked fine. Their injuries were all internal. If you'd kept her body, you might have seen bruising the next morning and that would have given you a better indication of what might have possibly happened. Necropsies are $75, toxicologies are $25-50. Each state has a state health lab that does necropsies on animals to test for poison or disease. Vets do the same service for a little more because they send the bodies out. |
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I cannot afford necropsies on these animals, but if there is someone out
at the colony with poison, I would like to know about it and maybe do something to prevent it. I've done necropsies of poisoned animals. I've picked up lots of dead poisoned animals. If they were poisoned with antifreeze, you should see some foaming at the mouth. The area around the mouth would be wet and slicked back. If she died of secondary poisoning from rodenticide, you would possibly see bleeding from the anus, nose, mouth, ears. You will also see patches of skin that she'd scratched red and raw. Sometimes they can die of internal hemmorhage or organ shut down before you see the outward signs. Was she bloated or dehydrated? It's also possible that she was just nicked by a car in the head which caused a head injury. I've seen animals hit by cars that looked fine. Their injuries were all internal. If you'd kept her body, you might have seen bruising the next morning and that would have given you a better indication of what might have possibly happened. Necropsies are $75, toxicologies are $25-50. Each state has a state health lab that does necropsies on animals to test for poison or disease. Vets do the same service for a little more because they send the bodies out. |
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On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 13:28:39 GMT, lid wrote:
In article , lid wrote: What do you think are the chances that someone poisoned her? Well, after reading the website I posted in my earlier article in this thread, it seems that toxicology is a particularly daunting forensic problem. My feral (who I called MamaCat) could have been the victim of a secondary poisoning; that is--especially given her feral nature--she might well have eaten another animal that had been poisoned. Like a rat or even a bird (exterminators poison pigeons around here). It's very difficult to tell without an examination of the contents of the throat, stomach, small intestine and analysis of other organs including the liver, kidney, brain and fat. And even if you perform those exams, there is no single complete tox panel or test that will tell you what was the lethal substance. You have to deduce what to test for, generally using indicators found both outside and inside the carcass. It's all very involved and usually quite expensive. When I found her, given the advanced state of rigor, she'd probably been dead at least six, but less than 24, hours. Sorry if this thread is upsetting to others, but I'm finding I miss her and don't want her death to go for nothing. I'm probably just tilting at windmills. I wish it wasn't so damned hard. bearclaw, I wish I had some good information to help, but all I can do is offer my heartfelt sympathies. Ginger-lyn |
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Her mouth was open as if she had been trying to breathe. Is it possible
she choked on something? I find myself wishing more and more that I had looked down her throat to at least rule out choking. It's common for their mouths to be open and eyes slightly open when they die. She was neither bloated nor dried out. Her carcass was in very good condition. Even her fur looked good, no patches out. There was a spot on her left forearm that looked as though she had been licking it...it was smoothed down and looked like it had been wetted. She may have been hit by a car. Sometimes they can just get nicked and that's enough to kill them with no exterior signs of injury. I've picked up a few cats and squirrels like this. I witnessed them get hit so I know it was a car. Do you know how many panels are possible? I guess it would depend on the number of different toxins possible, eh? Mine tested for metals, rodenticide, pesticide and a few others. Each state has a state health lab that does necropsies on animals to test for poison or disease. Do you know under what department or agency such a lab would fall? It's basically called The State Lab. Ours is in San Bernardino, CA. Every state has one. It's free if you don't want the results. Some people send in animals for rabies testing or diseases like West Nile. Mary, thanks for the info. It's very hard to think of this animal suffering antifreeze poisoning, but it's better to know the truth. God, I hope I'm not getting obsessive about all this. It's good to know. If you have some jerk feeding them antifreeze in your own feeders, you'd want to stop him. |
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