Scout's story

Scout

Scout is a middle-aged domestic short-hair cat who was hit by a car on a cold rainy night. Scout's owners presented her to the hospital immediately.

Scout had sustained severe facial and pelvic fractures. Her entire face was swollen and blue with brusing. Her jaw bone had been dislocated from her skull and the middle of her jaw had been fractured. One of her eyes had burst out and was beyond repair and the other had sustained nerve damage.

She had multiple wounds over her body. She could not stand, was having difficulty sustaining normal blood pressure and her facial injuries were causing problems with her breathing.

Scout was placed on an intraveous drip, was given pain relief and antibotics. She had a nasal oxygen catheter placed to aid in her breathing. She was given special drugs to help support her blood pressure. Scout was stablised over the next 24 hours. Once stable she underwent surgery to repair her fracutred jaw, removed the prolapsed eye and to stabilse her pelvic fractures.

After surgery she remained in hospital on intravenous fluids, analgesics (pain relief), antibotics and anti-inflammatories. Her nasal oxygen catheter stayed in place until she could easily breath on her own. Scout stayed with us for nearly two weeks. During this time she visited the opthalmologist specialist who preformed a retinal scan. The retina was found to be damaged beyond repair. Thus Scout had lost both eyes.

Scout was taken home to finish recovery. The owners monitored her food intake by counting the number of biscuits they put out in the morning and subtracting the number left at the end of the day. Initially Scout's new blindness and other injuries caused her stress and she started to overgroom, removing all her coat. She was placed on anti-anxiety drugs for a couple of months and this behaviour resolved. Scout had further surgery to removed the wires that had stabilsed her jaw.

Scout continued to improve – her jaw totally mended, as did her pelvis. She got used to her blindness and could run around the house at full speed, jumping on and off furniture with ease. In fact, she got so good that the owners had to place a harness with a rope of her when she went outside as she would climb the fence and try and jump over. Nothing seemed too hard for this cat. It has been five years since her accident and Scout continues to lead a happy life and to be an inspiration.