Organization and vet save brutalized cat
HAMILTON, Ohio (WKRC) - Sometimes it's hard to comprehend just how vicious humans can be towards animals.
Over the last few weeks, some dedicated volunteers and a very skillful veterinarian quite literally put a brutalized cat back together after someone attacked it.
WARNING: the details may be hard for some to see.
Two weeks after rescue and surgery, it's hard to believe it's the same cat that Barb Wehmann brought into the Pleasant Ridge Pet Hospital.
Holding the cat she told Local 12 the change was, "Unbelievable. I could not believe she was still alive. I couldn't imagine that amount of pain that she had. It was just unbelievable."
Sweetie was thought to be feral, living near a home in Hamilton when suddenly one day she showed up with the entire upper part of her mouth shattered. Bone fragments were hanging in pieces, she was starving because she could no longer eat.
Veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Jaax said, "So basically the only way this could have happened is some sort of blunt-force injury that hit her just square in the face, at that angle." She continued, "The concern is something like a foot or a golf club, this looks to me like this was an intentional strike as opposed to something that happened accidentally."
Volunteers from Barb Wehmann's 501c3 called "SCOOP" Save Cats and Obliterate OverPopulation. The trap, neuter and release group brought her the cat. Barb brought "Sweetie" to Dr. Jaax, who performed the $1,100 surgery to rebuild her face. Two weeks later, she's already put on two pounds and is far from feral.
Sweetie was a good candidate for all the help and care because ... she's such a sweetie!
Dr. Jaax explained, "Had I looked and this had been some kind of a cancer or some naturally occurring event this decision wouldn't have been made and we wouldn't have tried."
With anywhere from 60 to 100 million feral cats in the U.S., thousands in the Tri-State, Wehmann recently began a unique program providing help for sick or injured feral cats. It's funded by grant money and donations.
She said, "It's kind-hearted, compassionate people in the community who are finding these animals and want to help but don't know how to help, and often don't have several hundred dollars."
Or the connections to put a sweet cat, back together. When Sweetie fully heals, she will be adopted out to a permanent home. She has her own GoFundMe page to help pay for the surgery. Any additional money will go to help to help other cats.
CLICK HERE for more information about SCOOP and the job they're doing.
