Thanksgiving day we found our orange tabby, Phil, laying in the yard with a bullet wound at the top of his back unable to move his back end. With no vets or emergency centers open near us on Thanksgiving day, we laid him in his bed on the back patio under his heat lamp and gave him food and water. Friday morning I went out to get him to carry him to the vet but he was nowhere to be found. I looked under everything that I thought he could crawl under but couldn't find him. We feared he dragged himself into the woods to die. Fast forward to Saturday night as the wife and I are leaving to run to town she spots Phil coming out of a cubby hole next to the house. She stays home with him as I run to Walmart to buy a small kennel so he can spend the night in the house. We brought him to the vet this morning and the x-ray shows his L1 is shattered, leaving his back half paralyzed. His bladder and bowel movements are messed up due to the injury also. The bullet (we are assuming either .17 or .22) passed completely thru leaving 1 small fragment.
The vet said we could put him to sleep or could let him live but it would be an every day thing of squeezing his bladder and giving him an enema every couple days if those functions didn't return to normal and he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life. After talking it over, we decided to let Phil live and help him return to as close to a normal life as possible albeit he will need a wheelchair to get around. Time will tell how he does.....he refused to give up so we're not going to give up on him!
The vet said we could put him to sleep or could let him live but it would be an every day thing of squeezing his bladder and giving him an enema every couple days if those functions didn't return to normal and he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life. After talking it over, we decided to let Phil live and help him return to as close to a normal life as possible albeit he will need a wheelchair to get around. Time will tell how he does.....he refused to give up so we're not going to give up on him!
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