About a month ago I was “given” a stray cat. Someone had found her in the drain pipe that runs under their drive way. At first thought, she was just “hurt” but after careful examination, she was likely hit by a car and had drug herself into the drain in fear of being found by something that she could not defend against.
Her injuries were mainly to her back and consisted of a major scrape (likely from the road) and a “de-gloving” injury. (A degloving injury is a type of avulsion in which an extensive section of skin is completely torn off the underlying tissue, severing its blood supply. It is named by analogy to the process of removing a glove.) After an examination by a holistic vet, the x-rays showed no major bone breakage or fracture but severe tissue swelling – pretty obvious from the visual examination. On top of all this, she was very malnourished – perhaps in the drain pipe for over a week. This was at the end of August so fairly hot too.
So after discussing options, off we went back home with a very hurt kitty and not a lot of options. The vet told us we needed to get her immune system going since he would likely need to surgically insert a drain in her back to help the injury heal. Keep in mind, this is a stray cat that has an unknown history with people and she was just dropped off at my house – we really don’t have any relationship developed. On top of that – she’s a calico. If you’ve ever met a calico, you know they can go either way. Naughty or nice.
“Stevie” (named after Stevie Nicks) turns out to be nice, very nice.
Knowing I needed to get going quickly, I pulled out my essential oils kit and started offering her oils to sniff. She quickly took to them and cuddled up with the TraumaLife blend and Purification. I made a cleaning mixture of Thieves Cleaner and warm water. I washed/flushed the wound areas twice daily. I would then put a drop of Purification right down in the “hole” in her back and then used the Animal Scents ointment. I got a dollop out and emulsified it adding in Purification and Lavender. She was very cooperative through all of this and just sat quietly while I cleaned her up and applied the oils and ointment. We started her on small meals of high quality canned food (about 2 tablespoons of grain-free food) mixed with filtered water and fed her 4-5 times daily. She was taking a liquid herbal mixture called Olive Leaf to help her immune system and some herbals for pain relief. A liquid version of the homeopathic remedy, Traumeel was also orally given to her. Strangely, she loved the liquid mixes and even opened up her mouth to take them. (Reminder – we’ve never met!) However, she REALLY didn’t like the injectable penicillin that I was administering. After 4 days or so we trekked back to the vet for a check up and to schedule the surgery. After a quick examination – the vet determined – no need to subject her to a surgery – her back was healing wonderfully! We do have a new problem, two of her feet were severely swollen – cellulitis was determined the cause. She was so uncomfortable, she was ripping the hair off her feet and even punctured her foot with her tooth. You’ve heard of animals chewing off their foot to remove it from a trap – kind of similar. Her front foot looked like it was a Mickey Mouse hand: so swollen it was hard to see each individual toe – just looked like a large mitt.
I thought of Cypress essential oil as it help increase circulation and is anti-infectious. I put the oil near “Stevie” and she immediately took a long sniff and followed the bottle when I tried to remove it from under her nose. I put one drop on her worst paw and then started giving her Reiki on that paw. Each time I tried to pull my hand away, she dug her nails into the palm of my hand and pulled it back closer. She wanted more. She continued to do this for about 30 minutes. After that session, I went in another room for a couple of hours. When I returned, her Mickey Mouse hand was close to normal. I could see her individual toes! She obviously felt tons better and slept very well. After a few days of this, the fur started growing back on her feet and she was able to walk and go to the litter box easily. All the while she was still taking the liquid herbal support and eating her frequent meals.
Stevie was always cooperative (except the needle stuff) and sat with these big, deep eyes filled with love and appreciation for all that was being done.
About a month later, we returned to the vet. The wounds on her back were completely closed and healed with hair growing back. Her paws looked great and she had started gaining weight. One troublesome thing – she was still having trouble walking with her back legs. We took one more xray, concentrating on the back legs/hips. Bummer – a possible fracture of the femur head. It wasn’t visible from the first xrays we took. Not 100% sure but fairly certain. But she was finally well enough to to do the FIP/FIV blood test. A couple of days later we got a devastating blow – she was FIP positive. Crap… FIP is Feline Infections Peritonitis but a better name would be Stress-induced Autoimmune Disease. We have two cats at home but have been keeping them separate until we had this news and now – not what we wanted to hear. We kind of thought that was the end but after talking to the holistic vets and discussion various “holistic” options, we have found that she might be able to live quite a while longer. We will keep her immune system supported through the herbals and essential oils, have been using homeopathic to help with the bone/nerve issues caused by the trauma and have learned
about a FIP nosode that may be something that will help her live longer – possibly many years.
Our biggest challenge is where will she live those years? She is currently in our laundry room which was a good option at the time but doesn’t have windows and is a bit lonely for her. She is a super loving cat and just purrs up a storm when you spend time with her. She just cannot spend any time with other cats. So, our biggest quest begins – looking for a loving home for our Stevie Nicks.
From the very beginning of our relationship, we’ve had many occasions of “things not being as they seem”. I’ve only known her for little over a month and already have learned SO much from her. What an amazing calico cat and her story has just begun!