Calvin's Paws: Emergency Medical Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The money was used for cold laser therapy, surgery and vet care for a facial debriding wound on a feline. The wound covered half of the cat's face and eyelids, back to his ear and down to the base of his neck. He receives daily wound cleaning, dressing, sugar-and-honey packs and periodic sutures to help close the wound. Anticipated total time for recovery is 10-12 months.
This amazing community cat had sustained a wound (likely from a fight) which turned into an abscess and burst, leaving half of his face an open wound, exposed down to the muscle and tendon, with no eyelids and no skin from his ear to his eye and down to his neck. This cat had been walking around like this for almost two years. He presented at our clinic in a carrier, purring and rubbing both sides of his face on anyone that would give him attention. Clearly this boy wanted to live and we wanted to help him -- and our vet was completely committed to helping. Luckily the Petfinder Foundation was willing to help us finance the care that this boy needed to have his own miracle and get on the path to recovery.
How many pets did this grant help?
1
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Several years ago, someone left this gorgeous Maine coon boy to try and survive on his own. Some kind folks in the neighborhood started feeding him and trying to earn his trust, but two years ago, Elvis sustained a wound on his face from a cat fight. That wound turned into an abscess and burst. The kind folks feeding him sought help, but no one would help them – offering only vague estimates of $1,000 to fix him, or to euthanize him. Eventually, his people found us, and he came in for a community-cat spay day this weekend. As soon as we met him, Elvis rubbed his face from one side to the other on the volunteer’s hand and he purred. (Also, for those wondering – yes, we were more than a little wigged out when he rubbed his gaping wound on our hands!) He was not acting painful or scared, despite the fact that half of his face and his eye were one huge open wound.
Our vet set a plan to do a cleaning, then begin getting the tissue healthy, debriding, doing sugar-and-honey packs and cold-laser therapy while she worked on closing the wound in tiny increments to avoid starting back with another abscess. The finders named this boy Elvis and he has become the rock star cat in our rescue. Everyone loves him and he walks around the vet’s office like it is his own personal Graceland. A huge male cat named Hatteras is also at the vet’s office awaiting his forever home. He has become Elvis’s bodyguard and requires pets before he lets anyone near his pal. They are now celebrities and are even making a guest appearance at the Sip and Shop event at the Purr and Bark/Woofinwaggle event this weekend. Getting Elvis back to his perfectly handsome self is slow going, but he is a super happy cat and happy to be alive. The Petfinder Foundation’s grant helped us to be able to save a wonderful cat who had been turned away and discarded by person after person for many years. Elvis is forever grateful, as are we and his entire fan club.
