UPDATE (2/15/22, 1:11 p.m.)
Thank you to everyone who donated to help the three cats who arrived in our care with severe burns a little over a week ago. Cupid and Casper are showing some hopeful signs. Their bodies are working hard to heal, so they’re on a special high-calorie diet to help with that. They have been eating well and both love their food. They start talking whenever they see us, asking for attention, and they love being petted. Casper will even give us head butts when we have food.Both continue to be housed in our Miracle Medical Ward under the close watch of our veterinarians. We are controlling their pain, and our surgical team spends about an hour each day on bandage changes, thoroughly cleaning their wounds, applying medication and putting on clean bandages. When they’re in their kennel we often find them cuddling together. They are still in the very early stages of healing and are definitely not out of the woods, but these signs of hope are encouraging.
Sadly, Cloud, the most severely burned of the cats, declined rapidly days after his arrival. The trauma of his burns was just too much for his body to recover from. We made the difficult but compassionate decision to humanely help him take his last breaths. While this isn’t the outcome we’d hoped for, we are comforted knowing he was cared for during his final days, and while we’d taken great care in ensuring his pain was managed, he is now truly pain-free.
Cupid and Casper still have a long road ahead, but thanks to your support, all three of these cats had the chances they deserved, and Cloud was loved until the very end.
ORIGINAL POST (2/7/22, 10:00 a.m.)
Cloud, Casper and Cupid arrived at the Animal Rescue League late last week suffering from severe burns after ARL Animal Services officers received a call about a fire in a Des Moines area inhabited by people without housing.
Our emergency care team was ready when the cats arrived, and our hearts ached just looking at them. With burns extending from their paws and legs to their faces, they clearly needed critical care. Pieces of plastic had melted into their fur and paws. Their coats were singed, their whiskers had burned off, and they were covered in soot. Cloud, who is suffering from the most severe burns, could barely open his eyes. We can’t even imagine the pain and terror they experienced.
We immediately moved them to our Miracle Medical Ward, where our veterinarians started them on pain medications and antibiotics and gave them subcutaneous fluids to help their bodies cope with the trauma they had been through. We placed them under anesthesia to evaluate their injuries and determine if they could be saved. They appeared to have a good prognosis, so while they were under, we cleaned their wounds, treated their burns and wrapped their injured legs.
They remain under the close watch of our veterinary team, and their pain is being well-managed. We’re committed to their humane rehabilitation. But we can’t do it alone.
They’ll likely need surgery in the coming days to remove dead tissue and help their wounds heal. Their recovery is expected to take months, but they deserve a chance.
Your gift to our Miracle Medical Fund will give Cloud, Casper and Cupid, and other pets who come to us injured and suffering, the critical care they need and deserve. If you choose to give monthly, you’ll make a difference for these cats now and help countless others who will arrive at our doors in need of lifesaving emergency care.
Please give today. We never know when cases like this will come to us, but with your support we will always be there for pets like these who are hurt and in pain with nowhere else to turn.
