Cat of the Month - May 2023 - Percy
It’s been an interesting month has May. The weather is getting warmer, we will soon have to bring the chiller units out from hibernation to ensure our medicines are kept at the right temperature; three bank holiday Mondays in one month (we could really get used to this 4-day-week thing!); nurse Harriet is settling in and getting used to the strange ways of mobile vetting; our new communication tool PetsApp has gone live; the mobile ultrasound machine has passed its 2nd annual service….
And what of the cats? Well we have selected 3 special kitties from our May patients to enter the Cat of the Month competition – Percy, Puddy and double act – Wilson & Jack Boots. And the winner is …
WINNER – PERCY!
We feel this lovable chap really deserves to be winner this month, as he has been through a lot. Although we don’t know exactly what happened to him, he had been taken into The Stubbington Ark RSPCA shelter as a stray in a terrible state; emaciated, matted all over, and evidence of purposeful abuse – a fractured sternum and a shot gun pellet in his left forelimb. On top of that, he was anaemic, has kidney disease, blood in his urine, and a big abscess on his face, and nerve damage to the left side of his face. Thanks to the devoted love and care of The Ark staff and their vet unit, Percy has pulled through and has been adopted by a lovely lady.
Despite everything Percy has been through, he remains a super friendly cat and just wants to be loved and have cuddles and strokes. We are honoured to be his vets and promise to take good care of him!
Runner up - Puddy
Coincidentally, Puddy is another ex-stray cat, that has landed on his paws having been rescued by Portsmouth Cats Second Chance charity, neutered and rehomed to another lovely lady. (Where would we be without lovely ladies to take on all these kitties?!) Puddy is a loving boy, but a bit nervous, and likes his routine to be predictable, as do most cats.
Puddy was impossible to get into a carrier, any attempts to do so ended disastrously… cue Vet2Cat home visiting vets. At his first thorough check-up (with some calming gabapentin on board) we discovered he had awful dental disease including 3 fractured canine teeth and the other one infected around the base. An extensive dental procedure was required to get these out plus several other affected teeth.
Not long after recovering from this, he developed a urethral obstruction (where the urine tube coming through the penis gets fully blocked and he could not pee) and had to attend our out-of-hours emergency cover vets MiNightVet. He was successfully unblocked and stabilised and had a few weeks of his bladder discomfort settling down. Feline Idiopathic Cystitis is a fairly common stress-related condition of cats, and if obstruction occurs it can be life threatening. Fortunately, Puddy’s hooman gets a gold star from us, for following all the advice we have given, to try to prevent further relapses.
Runner up - Wilson and Jack Boots
Would you believe it – more rescue cats! Wilson and his buddy Jack Boots came to his hoomans a couple of years ago, also from Second Chance. Both incredibly nervous cats at first, they have since chilled out somewhat. Boots remains cagier with us, but Wilson can be quite easily won over with some Dreamies, at least to get him close enough to catch him! Both cats had their annual MOT and vaccinations this month and passed with flying colours – including weight loss from 6 months ago when they had become a little on the rotund side! So, another gold star for their hooman, for successful cat-dieting!
