Help us save thumper
Hi Everyone
We at the Beacon Vet need help to raise money for Thumper, the 5-month-old kitten that has had an uncomfortable start to life. Thumper came to us after being found under a bush by a family who took her in for the night. The next day she came to us at just under 2 lbs, seemly unable to walk, and was in a lot of pain. The family that brought her had thought she had a broken leg because one of her back legs was limp and almost hanging. We took her into the back and gave her a pain injection, and even though she was in a lot of pain and only around 9 weeks old, she was very feisty! Next, we did X-rays and found she had a severely broken pelvis, so bad that our vet had never seen anything like it. He has been in practice for over 15 years. We told the family there was a strong chance she wouldn't make it, we told them they could take her to an emergency clinic that could give her 24/7 care, but that it would be quite expensive. The other option was to humanely euthanize her to keep her from suffering.
In order to give thumper her best shot at life, the family that found her relinquished her to our care. As a staff, we wanted to give her the best chance at life we could. Especially because she had such a rough start in life. But she seemed so bright and alert that we wanted to see if she would eat. She immediately started eating with gusto. One of the main concerns was that she would be unable to go to the bathroom due to the way her pelvis was broken. We decided that one of us would take her home for the night to see if she was able to go to the bathroom, and if not, the next day we would euthanize her.
To all of our surprise and excitement, she was able to both urinate and defecate. We had never been so relieved to see poop! This did not mean she was out of the woods. She had to be on pain meds 3 times a day and still could not really walk. We looked into doing surgery at that time as a team and decided it was too much of a risk. She was under 2 lbs and so young that her tiny bones would likely not hold pins. It would also mean that she would definitely need more surgeries as she got older. We named her Thumper and she became the emotional support for all of us at the office.
She was taken in by one of our staff and came to work with her every day. As she has grown up, her pelvis has healed very wrong and has given her much less space for her lower organs. So, she can go to the bathroom, but it has become painful. The good news is she started using all of her legs and began getting around very well. She now runs (a little sideways), jumps, and gets into kitty mischief like a normal cat. She does have to get laxatives 3 times daily to make it more comfortable for her. Unfortunately, as she has been healing, the space gets smaller making it harder and harder to poop. This is why she needs surgery to reconstruct her pelvis, and remove scar tissue so she can pass stool without pain. She also needs to be spayed.
It’s going to be a long road to recovery but without it, she will not have very long and it will only get worse. Thumper has the craziest will to live. She is very resilient, bossy, and always makes us laugh. She has two families, a dog sister who she loves and who loves her, a mom and dad, and all of us at the Beacon Vet. Please help us get her this lifesaving surgery!