Pause, an 11 month old neutered cat had a pretty good life until one day, he was hit by a car and injured very badly. Almost all of the tissue on his left rear leg had been horribly damaged, and several of his toes had been dislocated. His family rushed him to an emergency vet hospital, where the veterinarian told them that unless they had $5,000 to pay for an emergency surgery to reconstruct Pause’s leg, there wasn’t much the vet could do. The other options were to amputate Pause’s leg, which was also very expensive, or to bandage the leg and hope for the best.

Pause’s family, like so many others in these hard economic times, had already been struggling, so paying the $5,000 was not an option. The emergency vet bandaged Pause’s leg and sent him home. Worried about Pause and afraid that he might lose his leg, or worse, become infected; his family did some research and found out about Animal Health Care Specialists.

When Pause came to us, he still had dirt and debris from the road stuck in his wounds and he was very painful. He was suffering so badly that we had to sedate him to thoroughly examine his injured leg and clean it properly. While we did this, we also had an orthopedic specialist examine Pause to see if his leg could be saved. At that time, the orthopedic specialist estimated that there was a 50% chance that Pause would lose his leg.

The only thing that would let us know if Pause’s leg could be saved was time and extensive care. Pause would need his leg cleaned thoroughly every day and soaked in antibacterial solution. He would also need to be on strong antibiotics to prevent infection from setting in. Even at our very discounted costs, Pause’s owners were fast approaching a point where they would not be able to afford to care for him any more.

Because of Pause’s terrible misfortune and the great future he could have if properly cared for, Animal Health Care Specialists is providing complimentary care for Pause now. We and his owners want nothing for the best for him, and it is our hope that with diligent care and plenty of time to heal, he will make a full recovery.

UPDATE - Pause is doing very well and is almost completely back to normal!