Young black cat named Johnnie needs emergency care!

About three weeks ago, a black cat came to our front door to partake of the food we leave out for two strays that have been a part of our outdoor family for years. I wasn't expecting to see him, and he wasn't expecting a large "two leg" to walk up to our front door window either. The result was a black streak that took off around the corner of the house...hobbling...and only using three legs.

To say I was immediately distressed was an understatement. People who follow me on FB, Twitter and Google+ know I am an animal lover at heart.

So for the last two plus weeks we have been trying to capture him. Finally, two days ago, we succeeded.

The damage is much worse than we originally thought.

All four of his legs have damage:

Right rear (the one he doesn't walk on) is probably broken; he does feel pain on the leg so probably no nerve damage (luckily) but the claws do not retract so his foot itself is also injured with lacerations. The leg is swollen.

Left rear has swelling and lacerations. I suspect it is fractured.

Front right has a laceration so deep it barely covers the bone and needs stitches at the least.

Front left has a laceration.

His head has a few abrasions so it seems he was knocked around pretty badly. He may have suffered a concussion. He seems to have a cut right on his gum line (long) but you have to look right at him to see it.

No idea about other injuries (such as internal).

It is suspected that he may have been laying up under the hood of a car to escape the Florida day’s heat (as so many cats do down here) and the owner came out and started their engine. Startled...he flew into the fan.

The scary/sad part of this is he has survived almost three (or more) weeks with no treatments. The important part to remember is he "has survived" this time without treatment, so he is a fighter at heart.

Named Johnny, this little guy is lovable and sweet. When I rub his abused head he pushes against me for more affection. His coat is getting pretty bad as all his paws are hurt so I can well imagine it hurts to groom himself. I have started brushing him...which he seems to enjoy. He was obviously someone's cat (already fixed); how he ended up outside and then injured is anybody's guess.

He won't drink water on his own (which is bad), but he will take it when I feed him with a syringe. He eats pretty well...and he is mobile enough to go in the kitty litter...which are all good signs.

There are no rescue organizations in our area (as reported from the Humane Society) and due to the recession no funds in general for a "special needs" animal.

Finally, we recently had a 6K medical bill for our long time house cat. We are tapped...we have no other funds to help this poor little fighter. While I have other projects on the books (business) ... they are months away from fruition. Food and love isn't a problem...but money is.

So I put this before all the animal lovers out there who know no animal deserves to be euthanized when it wants to live so badly. There is a lot of life left in Johnny.

We are asking for $2000.00 initially.

This will cover :

1. Initial evaluation - x-rays and blood work - $400.00
2. Licensing fees and vaccinations - $200.00
3. Initial treatment of pain meds, antibacterial shots, bandaging of the three less damaged limbs - $400.00
4. The extra thousand ($1000) I added is for the surgery to stitch up his front right paw and hopefully covering the cost of casting his left rear.

Obviously if he needs major surgery on his right rear this could go into many thousands of dollars. We'll keep you all appraised of the situation and "a new fund drive" once this initial assessment is complete and he has time to respond to initial treatments and meds.

In the interim, he has a good home here with us until he is fully recovered. Then we'll work on getting him adopted out to a good family who wants to keep him "furever". We do have good resources in our area for that.

So let's help Johnny out and give him a Kickstart on life.