Last Wednesday evening, Matt and I were discussing dinner plans when we heard an animal fight outside. When we looked out the window we saw that our next-door-neighbor’s dog, Cassie, had broke free from her dog walker (the collar broke) to chase our other next-door-neighbor’s cat, Jerry. By the time we realized what was going on and got outside, Cassie (the dog) had run off, while Jerry (the cat) remained laying on the back deck. Cassie returned to torment the cat some more, but Matt was able to catch her in time so that the dog walker could wrap the leash around her neck in choke chain fashion. After we had Cassie taken care of, we noticed that Jerry wasn’t moving. He remained completely still, panting and moaning, unwilling to move. We took a closer look, no puncture wounds, but he was clearly injured. At one point, he raised himself with his front two legs, but his back two legs remained limp. While I tried to console Jerry and give him some water Matt tried repeatedly to contact Jerry’s owner (and every phone number we had for her), but no answer. After consulting with the emergency veterinarian we decided to load him carefully in his carrier and hit the road, hoping to get in touch with the owner along the way.
We were one stoplight away from the veterinarian when we finally talked to Jerry’s owner who gave us permission to go ahead and take him and that she was on her way. When we walked through the door, they immediately took Jerry to the back. His panting (which, as a dog person, I thought meant he had over-exerted himself) actually was a sign of respiratory distress. Within minutes Jerry’s owner and the owner’s son came and gave the vet permission to give him pain killers. The vet performed several examinations, but believed that he would never have the use of his back legs again and they would have to euthanize the cat. Matt and I left the owner and her son alone the veterinarian’s office to say their goodbyes.
Later that night we got a call from the owner telling us that Jerry had moved his legs while they were petting him and x-rays revealed that there wasn’t any bone damage. Hoping for the best, they pumped Jerry full of steroids and kept him overnight.
Jerry stayed under the vet’s care throughout the week and went home for the weekend, but had not show significant improvement. Our guess, from what we saw, is that the dog picked up the cat and shook him, causing some sort of irreversible spinal cord damage…and in the end will have to be put to sleep.
We feel awful about this situation and have asked ourselves many questions. What if we had not been home (which is the most likely scenario)? Would the dog have killed the cat and the cat remained on the back porch to die? Did we do the right think by taking the cat to the emergency vet before the owner came home? We got her permission before we admitted the cat, but now it means a lot of money out of her pocket for a cat that will most likely need to be euthanized. In the end, we feel awful about the situation…and there was really no way we could just let that cat sit on the back porch in what had to be excruciating pain.
W.W.U.D.? (What would you do?)
I talked to the cat owner tonight and the cat has not shown any significant improvement. Tonight was the last dosage of the pain medication and the vet wanted to see how he does without the medication. Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more like they will have to put the cat to sleep. As far as the bills go, I don’t know what has been worked out. I do know the dog owner did talk to the cat owner (which was the admirable neighborly thing to do), but I don’t know if anything was settled regarding vet bills. It’s just such a sad situation…
No question: I would have done the same thing. You were totally responsible to contact the owners and showed good thinking to tend to the cat. What a terrible situation! Paul mentioned the story to me and I’ve been wondering about the cat’s prognosis… and if the dog’s owners are going to do the right thing and offer to pay for (or at least help!) with the cat’s medical bills.