UPDATES

The little black and white kitten, named "Victory" by a staff member that closely worked with her, made a complete recovery and was transferred to NOAH (www.thenoahcenter.org), a wonderful facility in Stanwood, WA where I am absolutely certain she will find a terrific home!

"Treadwell", the gray and white kitten run over by a truck, is continuing to make his recovery. While he is still not out of the woods yet, he has overcome his neurologic signs and has become quite affectionate! He has even started to purr! I will let him walk around on the floor of my house from time to time - where he is greeted by my aussie, my shepherd mix, my pit bull, and my other cat - and he has definitely learned his routine of being offered delicious canned food and using the litter box when I place him in there!

Have a Heart

He was brought to us - in a cardboard box - after being run over by a truck. The idea was we would "put him out of his misery". He was definitely in shock; mucous membranes were white/pale, he was unresponsive to basic physical stimuli, and he was trembling. After a quick physical exam I found no evidence of extreme external bleeding or injuries, no broken bones, and his pupils were responsive to light. Part of me agreed that his suffering should end; part of me questioned the idea that he couldn't recover from this... Do I put him down? Do I try to save him?

I decided to give him a shot at recovery.

Since we do not have the capacity to set up animals with IV catheters and deliver intravenous fluids at a continuous rate (which would be ideal for a patient in shock), I only had the option of giving him subcutaneous fluids. After inserting the needle into the skin of his scruff he reacted by trying to crawl away from me (a GOOD sign). I administered as much fluids as he would allow (about 15 mLs), and then I wrapped him up in a towel and held him close to keep him warm and monitored his progress.

I was going to give him a couple of hours and see if his mental status improved and then make a decision about his fate...

By the end of the afternoon, he had stopped shaking and was acting more alert. By the end of the evening, he was eating soft food from a spoon.

Within 2 days he was up and walking (though, abnormally [hypermetric in front left limb; ataxic in hind limbs] - the evidence of being squished by a truck tire was blatantly obvious).

Now, 3 days after his accident, it has become apparent that he is a feral kitten. He is making progress, day by day; he's still not the most affectionate guy in the world, but he's getting better.

As good as he is doing, he still has a ways to go... And as pliable and recoverable as a kitten body is, the fact is he was run over a truck and it might take months before he as good as new.

But, I'm in no hurry; I'm just glad he's getting better.

Signs of Life

This little girl was brought to us in a cardboard box by a police officer. She was rescued from a less than ideal situation -- the rest of her litter mates had died from a really bad upper respiratory infection. When she was brought to us, it with was with the premise that we "don't waste too much time on her"... I brought the box back to our medicine room and mentally prepared myself for what I might see upon opening the box. I lifted the first flap and her little head popped right out! I had to put my hand over her to make sure the rest of her didn't fly out as well!

I removed her from her cardboard vessel and assessed her general condition. She was borderline emaciated, dehydrated, and had a pretty bad upper respiratory infection. Her eyes and nose showed significant discharge and it was apparent she was horribly uncomfortable. However, she was bright, alert and responded to physical contact. I couldn't just put her down - she wasn't ready to give up, and I wasn't going to give up on her. We started her on some oral antibiotics to address her secondary bacterial infections and moved her to our isolation room. Within a couple days she was making some progress, but one of her eyes really started to get inflamed so we added some eye ointment to her treatment list. A couple days later we tried a couple drops of nasal decongestant to try and dry up her nasal passages - it worked! From then on, she continued to get better and better and fatter and fatter!

Today was day number 12 of her treatment and she is nearly as good as new! And just a couple days away from being put up for adoption! As you can see, she's active enough that it's hard to get a good picture of her :) It's things like these that make me remember why I do what I do...