A familiar trapping site turned up a new face recently—and as soon as I saw this big ol’ hunk of a tomcat in the trap, I noticed something wasn’t quite right. One of his toes was bleeding and looked pretty banged up. Not all that unusual—cats can get snagged or scraped in the wild—but I kept a close eye.
Lucky for him (and us), the vet had a cancellation that same morning and squeezed him in. He got all of his necessary vetting including an antibiotic shot and came back to the rescue for some quiet cage rest and recovery.

Two weeks went by, and… still no improvement. So back to the vet we went.

They sedated him to take a better look, and the second they applied pressure—boom. It opened up and drained. (Sorry for the visual but that’s real rescue life.)

He got cleaned up, another round of antibiotics, and finally—finally—started healing.

Earl Grey ended up spending about a month in the intake cage. Not just for the toe, but to give him time to adjust. And you know what? That time did wonders. He learned the routine. Got used to our voices. Made friends.

And speaking of friends… Earl didn’t waste any time bonding with Binx (a newer arrival and senior sweetheart), and Peter, another older gentleman who’s become somewhat of a welcome committee around here.

We’re so happy to welcome Earl Grey to the rescue—he’s healed, he’s settled in, and he’s got that “I belong here” energy we love to see.
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Drop a “Welcome Earl!” in the comments—or better yet, tell us about the first time your rescue cat settled in and found their first friend. We love those stories!