A young woman wouldn't give up on a rescue kitty with a severe broken jaw even when she was told to.
Meet Smeagol the miracle cat!
Smeagol's human mom shares the story with Love Meow. Follow him on Instagram | Facebook
Jan. 9, 2015 in Belize, I was driving on the highway and saw a little kitten huddled on the edge of the asphalt facing away from the road. A motorcycle zoomed right by it, but it didn't move. I thought it must be sick! So I turned off on the next street to go back around the block, all the while hoping that no one would run over it. I pulled up behind the kitten and put on my hazard lights and parked. It still didn't budge.
I got out and scooped him up without any struggle. Put him on the passenger seat. And I could see that he was covered with dirt and what looked like dried cold all over his face and body. On the way to the vet, he was making a weird noise. And I was trying to pet him on his little side, the only part that wasn't caked with dirt.
Then we realized what the weird noise was, he was trying to pur.
His jaw was broken for several days and he had not been able to eat. He was not even 1 lb. So we asked the vet if there was anything she could do? She said they would usually wire the jaw back together but he was so tiny, they didn't have such small wire or equipment, and he was so weak already. Maybe it was best to put him to sleep. Remember that we are in Belize, a third world country. We do not have the best technology even for people. But I just thought about him purring on the way and I had to ask her what would happen if we DIDN'T wire his jaw? If we just left it alone, until he got a bit bigger? But she said, how would he eat with his jaw broken? Well, I had a tin of cat food in my purse so we tried to offer it to him to see if he would try to
Eat it. Well to everyone's surprise, he went crazy and shoved his whole face into the gravy and started to devour it.
So, that settled it. He would go home with antibiotics and a "wait and see" prognosis. That same day after we got him home, his eyes became so bright and huge, like the gollum in Lord of the Rings. I named him Smeagol.
Every day his mouth stank a little bit less, and he ate his watery cat food. He had a little set back of having digestive problems for about a week where he lost all the 6 ounces he had gained. But he made it through that, and he had to take antibiotics for 6 weeks for his jaw.
The vet said the best case scenario would be if the gum tissue formed a granuloma and encapsulated the exposed bone inside his mouth. And a couple weeks later we saw the little pink ball of tissue forming. And it did eventually grow over the bone. And he was gradually able to eat less and less watery catfood. Eventually he graduated to dry food.
Now his jaw is healed a little bit crooked, and he has a snaggletooth. But he can crunch dry food and bite just as hard as a regular kitten. He just had his 1 year rescue-versary with a cat food cake. And of course he LOVES his food and he still purrs while eating.
Amazing recovery! (watch video)
Smeagol and his bestie!
With a second chance, he's now happy...
...And loved!
What a second chance can do. Share this beautiful story!