This is Victoria. I found her lying on my stoop Saturday evening — in fact I almost stepped on her. She was partially paralyzed and I do not believe she could’ve gotten there unaided; I believe she was left there. I could see she was in bad shape — other than the paralysis she had an obvious wound, goopy eyes, a lot of missing fur.

We made Victoria comfy in a crate and arranged a veterinary housecall. Our vet noted that she was very pale and weak and presented with a number of other issues — dehydration, missing teeth, tremors, dilated pupils and more. We decided to watch her for a bit.

Victoria was very quiet in her cage and enjoyed some meals of broth. She was gentle and sweet, but not engaged and not really “with it” sometimes. However, she was noticeably worse on Monday morning and we made the decision to have her humanely euthanized.

Heartbreakingly, when I put the carrier in front of her cage she got up and did her best to get right into it. She trusted me — she was not afraid — she wanted to go wherever I was going to take her.

Because of her neuro signs and her unknown vaccine history she could have had distemper and was also a rabies risk. We feel confident we made the right, and humane decision.

Victoria could have been a (presently) unowned cat and somebody was trying to do the right thing by leaving her on my stoop. She was definitely someone’s cat — once — she was a sweet and gentle soul. We’re very sorry for whatever befell her and grateful we could give her what we could, at the very end. We only wish help had not come too late.