Unfortunately I'm not kidding. In 2001, Ballou's original owners brought him straight from the vet's office to our shelter. They said that he had jumped onto a chair with dry cleaning, slipped on the plastic, and had his tongue pierced with the metal hanger. He freaked out and by the time they were able to get to him, his tongue was so damaged that most of it had to be removed. Instead of then waiting on him hand and foot for the rest of his life to help make it up to him, they dropped him off at our shelter.
We cared for him for eight months while we tried to find him a home. Finally a local newspaper did a story on him and he was adopted by a special ed teacher. It seemed like a match made in heaven. Then last week, after all of this time, she called us saying that she was moving and could she please come drop him back off? Oh yeah, and could we possibly take one of her other cats too? She was at the shelter all of 20 seconds dropping him off. No goodbyes, no tears....obviously no soul inside of her! The picture below of Ballou shows the state he was in when she dropped him off.
So the search is on again. Ballou's dream owner would be a groomer. That would be almost too good to be true. His second best situation would be someone with a very non-threatening, cat-friendly dog...one of those dogs that just licks incessantly who could help him do what he can't do for himself. Last but not least, and really just as good, would be someone who was around a lot who could wipe him down with a warm wash cloth every time he's done eating.
Ballou is a beautiful cat when he's clean, and you can tell that he desperately wants to be clean. After only being at the shelter for a week, he already runs to the front of his cage when we walk in the door and rubs his cheeks all over the bars trying to get our attention. He needs to eat mostly wet food that he bites into and kind of tosses back to swallow. He still has all of the natural urges to groom, so if that wet food isn't wiped off of him, he smears it all over himself as he mock "grooms". He can drink water from a very large bowl or from a fountain. Here are some ways you can reach us if you think you might be able to provide him with cleanliness and love not necessarilly in that order. Our shelter is in Deerfield Beach, FL, but I am a flight attendant and could help him get to just about anywhere if necessary.
