31/10/2025
On Monday, a member of the public alerted us that there was a deceased cat near Ellenborough Crescent. One of our nurses went to collect the cat, straight away, as she checked him over, she realised he was just about breathing. This cat was minutes from death. She ran back to the practice as quickly as possible. As he had no obviously unrecoverable injuries, we decided that it was worth trying to save this poor cat. We didn't know if we'd be successful and it was a race against time, as the cat was dying in front of our eyes.
Unfortunately he was not neutered or microchipped.
Vet Helen and the nursing team worked hard to save this poor cat - it took almost three hours to register a temperature because he was so cold. Our first challenge was to get an IV canula in, which was successful! - We warmed him up and treated him for shock, this included intravenous warm fluids and closely checking his blood pressure, heart rate and breathing.
He was covered in maggots, fly eggs and fleas, in a disgusting state. After running a blood test, we discovered his glucose was incredibly low and needed some iv glucose to help restore some energy. This made him feel momentarily better, but he was still very weak. We also did a FIV/FELV blood test, as the cat is entire, this luckily came back negative.
Time was against us to help save the cat, with intense around the clock nursing to ensure that he was not deteriorating. Our nursing team stayed with him for hours, staying late and communicating with Helen, to give him the best chance of survival.
Once his temperature was registering and the cat was feeling a little better, we groomed and bathed him to get off all the dirt, maggots and fleas. The water was dirty and he needed two baths to get all the maggots and flea eggs off of him.
Later in the evening, when his glucose was higher, and his temperature was better, we offered him some food, which he loved!! We carefully worked out how much food he needed so that he didn't get 're-feeding syndrome', where eating too much when malnourished could make him even more poorly. Turns out he is quite a foodie!!
That evening, our student vet nurse Lauren, took the cat home to monitor him. It was touch and go to whether he'd survive the night, but he did!!
He is still being closely monitored by our team, but his future is looking bright. We have named this lovely little cat Elliot!
Elliot would have had a very different future if he had been left any longer. Elliot is showing signs of cat flu, which is not surprising, considering it's highly unlikely he is not vaccinated. It's incredibly important to have your cat vaccinated, microchipped and neutered.
As an independent practice, we were able to make the decision to help Elliot and pour our hearts into his care - all at the cost of the practice. This can be an emotional challenge for all the staff involved and requires a lot of communication between everyone.
Whilst Elliot is not completely out of the woods yet, he's currently doing remarkably well 🥰 Updates will come shortly with more Elliot progress.
