Rehabilitating from a serious injury
Murphy came to us in May as an emergency - he had a dislocated jaw and was taken directly for surgery at Rosemary Lodge veterinary hospital, but came back to the rescue centre for his recovery and continued care.
Although the jaw was now well aligned, it was swollen and sore. It meant he struggled to eat as food would drop out of his mouth again. We could see him hold his mouth open even when at rest and occasionally he had his little tongue poking out. We liquidised his food but even so for his first few days he didn’t consume much, which led him to lose a lot of weight. We were incredibly worried about him.
Happily, with painkillers and careful monitoring of what he could cope with, we managed to move him up to solid kitten food by week 2 – kitten food comes in small pieces, is easy to digest and has lots of energy and fat. He had mealtimes four times a day to build him up.
Three weeks later and he was fully healed and eating normal food – albeit very messily! He started to get more frustrated with cattery-life restrictions, and so became quite feisty with his carers. We understood this behaviour though, as he was only young and was an explorer by nature.
The Rehoming team worked hard to match him and he was adopted in July, with someone who could understand it wasn’t his true nature showing right now and that he will settle better with more space and freedom.
We caught up with his adopter a week or so after adoption to make sure everything was going well.
“He was straight out, explored the room and up onto my lap. I spent some time playing with him, but all he wanted to do was cuddle and spread himself right across my lap, and then dash for the door every time I left. I did give him some alone time, so as not to crowd him, but he’s a persistent little fellow and after a few hours I made a judgement to let him explore the rest of the cottage. He loved it. He sussed out every room, marking out his patch at the top of the stairs where he can observe, but spent the entirety of the evening following me around, purring, and wanting lap cuddles.
He spent his first night on my bed, despite his settling-in room being open and on offer, and has slept on the bed each evening since, ready to let me know when it’s breakfast time each morning. He’s showing lots of affection and is quite clingy, following me around and on my lap at every opportunity.
He’s an absolute delight.”
Having time to give to Murphy’s rehabilitation is only possible because of support from our donors – thank you.