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Cat Profile: Bump

This is the story of my cat Bump.

On a Wednesday in March 2010, a kind couple saw a cat get hit by a car, they thought for certain he had died and so they wrapped his lifeless body in a sweatshirt and brought him to us. Much to everyone’s surprise, he had only been knocked unconscious and shortly began to come to life.

It was clear he had sustained severe head trauma and that he had been living on the streets, Dr. Tanya took an x-ray to ensure he was not so badly injured that he could not be saved, and she determined that he was not. His little paws were cracked and calloused and he was covered with small wounds and fleas. I met him the next day at the start of a long, difficult recovery.

The degree of his trauma became clear with time, not only was this little street cat terrified, but he had forgotten how to do the basic things in life and he did not remember how to urinate or defecate or how to eat; his sinuses were damaged and became severely infected, but he was tenacious and after days of having his bladder expressed and staring blankly at every type of food we put in front of him, he finally showed progress.

His recovery was slow and steady. He was terrified of people, but with some effort, he slowly began to trust those of us who worked with him. He began to creep forward in his kennel when we applied Vaseline to his cracked paws until one day he crawled into someone’s lap, from then on, that was the routine. We would sit on the edge of his kennel, and he would crawl into our laps so we could talk to him and pet him as he learned people were not scary.

Soon he began to explore the hospital, but he would retreat to his kennel when startled. He became the best buddy of Toni our technician, and he would sit on her lap while she did her paperwork. After a month at the clinic, we discovered that he had permanent damage to his facial nerve causing the left side of his face not to work properly. He could not blink his eye or move his ear or lips on that side.  He was a special little guy in many senses of the word, and I loved him, he spent hours with me writing records.

At this time, I was preparing to say goodbye to my senior cat who had developed intestinal cancer. Just when I had to say goodbye to him for good and was feeling very low and alone, there was this little tabby cat who needed someone as much as I needed him. So after living at Harbour Cities for eight months, Bump came home with me to be a real, loved, pet. He had no idea what a television, a vacuum cleaner, or even a stove was. He quickly found his safe place under my dining room table. He would run underneath and peek out from around one of the chairs. That cat was brave, and he conquered all those fears!

Soon he was playing with toys, sleeping on a bed, sitting in the window, and sleeping upside down with full contentment. He is truly the sweetest, silliest, most delightful cat I have ever known. He still can’t use the left side of his face, but that’s not what makes him special to me! I believe the universe sent him to me, and who rescued whom is still up for debate.

Written by Dr. Paige Marryatt, DVM

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