Team Rocket’s Meowth: A Tail of Recovery

Howdy y’all, Shon here with the official GFM for Meowth, the cat that almost blasted off!

I was driving across the Midpoint Bridge coming back home from TCG outings here in SWFL and had to swerve towards the side wall due to an abrupt stoppage and after watching something barrel at the very wall I was approaching like a heat seeking missile - it was a kitten. Meowth was thrown out on the bridge like trash into oncoming traffic going 65mph+, and to be quite honest I didn’t know what he was until I was already swerving towards the side wall of the bridge due to my negligence. Upon realizing what he was I immediately hopped out after turning on my hazards, scooped him up, and began calling every single one of the closest vet hospitals to get him checked. What I hadn’t realized until I went to put him down in the back of the car was that his tail was essentially bare. It looked like someone harmed him, and simply discarded him in hopes he’d expire. His tail was missing all of the fur from the top of his tail down to the halfway point, and his rectum/lower portion had a gash going from one side of his tail/rectum to the other. Meowth was bare muscle and bone for the entire duration until his initial surgery removing the damaged half. What none of us realized is that the gash around his rectum became more severe due to an infection after he was sewn up post surgery, which the infection had nowhere to escape, causing his tail to burst from the fluids and stress. He got a second surgery done which ultimately solved his tail dilemma but has left him without any of his tail remaining. Meowth is now almost a week into recovery from the surgery and everything’s looking perfect. He had no severe injuries from the bridge incident, his tail is being remedied, and the only thing left to do is to wait for his stitches to get taken out within the next few days and implement him into our lease fully. I have no intention of surrendering him, and have already filed for adoption and had him scheduled for shots as well as preparing him for his future with us and the puppies.

Every single day that Meowth has been with me he’s shown me that even the most damaged things in this world can still be happy. He follows me everywhere, meowing to get my attention, playing as often as he can while ignoring his now missing tail, and never forgetting to instantly start purring the moment he sees myself or his new Mom. He may be thankful I was there to save him, but I’d be lying if me finding and saving him wasn’t exactly what I needed during this harsh year.