Well, let me tell y'all a story I didn't think I would mention. I was travelling through Ecuador about two weeks ago, and stayed in a hostel in city Baños.
The first morning there I met a cat - it was in a very pitiful condition - gaunt, dirty and in pain. I examined the poor thing and it became evident that the animal hurt its front right paw and could not use it. It'd be good to attach a photo here, to support my words, but I didn't think of making it at the time.
Instead, I confronted the owner of the hostel who turned out to be the owner of the cat as well. He clearly didn't give a shit about his cat and seeing me getting angry added that the cat is getting better already. Meaning, it was going on for days, all the suffering without a bit of compassion. I can understand why other travellers haven't intervened, but I certainly can't sympathize with the owner.
So, I ended up making him drive me and the cat (wrapped up in a bundle in my shirt) to the vet, where I paid for the treatment of the festering wound, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics injections and some pills to be administered in days to come. Despite being in a really shitty financial position at this point, and these 15$ could go a long way in Ecuador, but it had to be done.
Walking back to the hostel I set it free and fed for the rest of my time there. Surprisingly, by the end of the day the cat was hard to recognize, it started to use the paw again, cleaned itself up, and was looking rather good. After this I got a new best friend there, trailing me wherever I go. Here are the "after" pics: