They say that cats have nine lives, which is fortunate for pets like Squeaker…
This Sunday I am looking forward to spending the day surrounded by cat lovers: I will be at
the Cat Protection’s National Cat Centre, where they will be hosting their Summer Fun Day.
Here at the Mewes Vets we love cats, but sadly there are one or two who do not love us back. Squeaker was one of those.
Right from his younger days he took offence at the idea of wearing a microchip. Then he had attitude about the ‘little boy’s operation’. During his teenage time he got into a few scraps, requiring some treatment for cat bite abscesses, and the amputation of the tip of his tail, which only confirmed his view that Vets are not cool.
Then on Good Friday last year he disappeared. His owners did everything they could, but after a couple of months, they accepted he was gone for good and reluctantly cancelled his pet insurance.
But then a miracle happened. A Good Samaritan found a badly injured cat and took him to a local cattery. The cattery rushed him to us, and his microchip rapidly confirmed that it was the missing Squeaker, but he was in a terrible way.
He was dehydrated, anaemic, thin as a rake, and there were wounds on his paws that were writhing with maggots. His owners were away on holiday, and we did not fancy his chances. Even worse, he failed to put up much of a fight when we started the process of trying to help him.
We removed the maggots and bathed his wounds. We gave him fluid therapy straight into his vein, and encouraged him to start eating again, using painkillers and antibiotics to manage his issues. Slowly and gradually his medical condition began to improve, and against all the odds, we began to hope that he might make it.
On the 4th day he started to try to walk on his poor sore paws, which we were treating with Manuka honey for the open wounds. Then he started to get his anti-Vet attitude back, and we knew he’d pull through!
I suppose it is a bit too much to ask him to be grateful to us for saving his life. He’s back to normal again now, and still hates injections, but we know in our hearts that without us he wouldn’t be around any more to complain.
If you are a cat lover too, do come along to the Cat Protection Centre thisSunday 19th July and see if you can win £100 worth of cat food in our raffle. It only costs the price of a tin of cat food to come and will be a brilliant family day out.
