September 2010
Tigger was a young male cat that adopted our surgery when it first opened. Our veterinary nurse living on site looked after him like her own and very soon Tigger and Alfie, Louise’s daschund cross collie, became the best of friends. All the staff became very used to “Tigs” being around: during afternoon consulting. Tigs would often be curled-up, fast asleep on one of the waiting room chairs whilst all hell broke loose around him.
And so, when Tigs went missing one night, we were all gravely concerned. He was in a very sorry state when he was found: covered in mud and barely responsive. We immediately placed him on an intravenous drip and gave him very strong pain relief. Although in severe shock, his vital signs were stable and we knew that the morphi
ne – like pain relief would make him feel very much better in the next hour.
We thought Tigger had been involved in a car accident but then a vital clue was found: a small, perfectly round wound in his flank. An x-ray confirmed our saddest suspicions: Tigs had been shot. The air gun pellet was now lodged in his abdomen and we had no choice but to operate and assess the internal damage. Once the abdomen was open, the pellet could be seen sitting in the abdominal fat – but it had completely perforated part of Tigger’s small intestine on its way there. The pellet was removed and the damaged intestines carefully repaired. We all kept our fingers firmly crossed for the next few days following the surgery.
We all love a happy ending and on this occasion that is exactly what we got: Tigs was eating by the next morning and was completely back to his mischievous old self by the end of the week!
