The Cat Who Died and Then Came To Live With Us
A professor of emergency and critical care at a veterinary school in an adjoining state called to ask if we might consider adopting a cat "who had died but been brought back to life."
A rescue group running a "trap, neuter, and release" program for feral cats had spayed her. However, a little while after the operation, while they were spaying other cats in her colony, they discovered that she was not breathing, her heart had stopped, and she showed no signs of life.
They performed CPR and she was brought to the veterinary school's emergency department where she remained in a coma for 48 hours.
When she regained consciousness, she showed profound neurological deficits, lacked a gag reflex, and was unable to walk. She needed to be fed by hand.
We named her Persephone after the myth in which she was taken to the land of the dead but was later able to return to the living.
She is a wonderfully sweet cat, and her rehabilitation is going well. She loves affection and purrs happily when petted while sitting in a lap. She is now able to walk on her own, the sores on her face are healing, and she has made friends with the other special needs cats and dogs who live as a family in our home.
Here is a photo of Persephone resting on Milagro, a dog who had a hole (PDA) in his heart and has a partially paralyzed larynx and collapsing trachea:
Below, Persephone is napping with Calypso, a blind cat:
Please follow this link to the family of special needs dogs and cats who live in our home.