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Source: Seacoast Online Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA
Vet calls cat rescue a 'miracle'
Feline found near death in a snowbank
By Susan Nolan
December 22, 2007 6:00 AM
KITTERY, Maine - It was exactly 10:56 a.m. Thursday when Brad Sherman spied something gray and furry deep down in a snowbank at the edge of the road.
An animal lover who feeds peanuts to the neighborhood squirrels, the local artist climbed into the deep snowbank thinking the gray fur looked like cat hair. Its head and feet were buried, with only the arch of its back exposed. Sherman reached down and gently scooped up the little animal, and sure enough, it was a cat.
It had apparently been trying to dig itself out, Sherman theorized, but the half-frozen little cat had dug itself into a death hole.
Yet it was alive. "Within a minute of getting it out of the snowbank, it started to move very, very slightly. And by the time I approached the house, it had started to howl in pain," said Sherman.
Local veterinarian Dr. Frank Marchell, who helped Sherman save the cat's life, described Sherman's discovery of the cat as nothing short of "a miracle."
The cat might have lived another couple of hours in the frigid snowbank at best, said Marchell, but not much more. It was on the verge of death when Sherman found it.
When Sherman brought the cat to Marchell's Piscataqua Animal Hospital little more than an hour after rescuing it, its body temperature was so low that it "didn't even register" on the thermometer, said Marchell. Its feet were purple.
"We actually put him in a hot water bath to bring his body temperature up," said Marchell.
When its temperature finally returned to normal, the cat revived. "He started purring," said Marchell.
Marchell and Sherman believe the cat is likely someone's pet.
"He's not a feral cat," said Marchell. He estimates the male cat is between 3 and 5 years old. It has been neutered and has no feline leukemia, he said.
The cat has medium-length gray fur with white markings.
"It's got to belong to somebody, and I'm sure they're worrying like crazy about him," said Marchell.
Sherman agreed. "Clearly if somebody has lost this cat and is anguishing over his disappearance, we want them to know that we have this cat and are taking care of it," he said.
"And if this cat was homeless, he has found a home," said Sherman.
Marchell gave Sherman special food for the cat. The kitty, now known as Banks - short for Snowbank - is recovering at Sherman's home.
Marchell did not charge Sherman the nearly $400 cost of his emergency veterinary services, and he even called the Sherman home Thursday night to check on the little vagabond's progress.
"It's a Christmas present to the cat," said Marchell.
Rescuer Brad Sherman and Banks
I love happy endings.
