What Love Can Do... #MyZombieCat

Pabebe, my 1-human-year-old pet cat who, I rescued from the street after he was hit by a tricycle when he was a baby, one day, had another accident; a car hit and run. Prior to that, he used to roam around the subdivision, chasing female cats and it seemed that all the other male cats in the area were afraid of him. I don’t know why!

He was about to be neutered when it happened. A few days of hospital confinement I had due to a mild heart ailment delayed the procedure. After the accident, a portion of his cranial bone was exposed and his jaw was dislocated. He lost his front teeth; both upper and lower and three fingers of his left paw. Upon seeing him, the vet who attended to him in the hospital for animals where I brought him screamed in astonishment “oh my, why is this still alive?”(Ay! Bakit buhay pa to? in Filipino). I told the doctor then, “I was about to ask you if he could make it... will he live?” The disheartening, but, at least honest reply I got was… “I don’t know. This is the first time I had a case like this.” “Cats have 9 lives, aren’t they doc?” I insisted... trying to fool myself. “Even if he has 13 lives… that would not be enough to pay for the damage he had. The blood he had lost was more than enough to kill him,” the vet said. With an earnest hope and a fervent desire that my cat would survive, I expected him to be confined at the hospital for at least, a few days due to the degree of his injuries. But, after all the treatments, care, and medical attention, the vet let me take my baby cat home. The thought that, perhaps, he was giving me the privilege to spend the last moments with my cat privately played in my mind.

Since my baby had lost his front teeth and with a dislocated jaw, food, and water intake in the usual manner were almost impossible for him. I used to put him on my lap during “mealtime,” wrapped his body with a towel, and literally put the food into his mouth opened just enough to accommodate a single piece of cat food at a time no matter how hard he tried to open it. I had to wait for 2 to 3 minutes then for him to chew each piece of cat food before giving him another one only to find out that not every piece was swallowed and went to his stomach. Others just went to the towel I wrapped around his body after chewing them. It was quite despairing to realize then that he also had a hard time swallowing food. How could he survive when the source of nutrients his body needed didn’t reach its destination?

Well, at least he still had the urge to eat although it turned out to be an arduous undertaking for him. "He needs extra succor and I will give it to him," I told myself then. While religiously following the doctor’s prescription, I fed him 10-12 times every day spending more than an hour on each meal. In between those meals, I gave him blended foods to make sure there were foods that went into his stomach. However, I could not do such a thing all the time because he had to move his jaw by chewing, as an exercise, otherwise, it might remain dislocated or worst, might be locked, as the vet advised. I used a syringe then for his water intake which I put in his mouth and eject the water, of course, without the needle. Sadly, after consistently doing it for two weeks, Pabebe started to have seizures with 10 to 15 mins intervals between attacks. Seeing how my poor baby suffered really broke my heart.

When I informed the vet thru the phone of my fur baby's condition, I was instructed to bring him back to the hospital. As the medication for seizure was prescribed, I was advised by the vet to make sure that I have a valid ID with me and make myself ready for an interview; a sort of personal background check when I go to the drugstore. Such medication was among those so-called restricted drugs which Pabebe had to take for life. Also, he could only prescribe a maximum of 7 tablets per prescription, as stipulated by the land's law on drugs, according to him. I had to be back then to the hospital which was about an hour and a half drive away from my place for a prescription every time the medicines were finished off and needed to buy another. No drugstores would allow me to purchase such medicines without his signed, up-to-date prescription, the vet further explained. “If there’s any problem, call me,” he added.

My post on FB about what my cat was going through prompted Sister Macabalug; my churchmate to recommend Spirulina. It was a natural antioxidant that could quicken my cat’s recuperation, she vouched. She was selling it at a reasonable price. However, I was already short of cash because of the previous expenses I had for my own and Pabebe’s hospitalization. Although she said I could take it and just pay later, I was hesitant to do it at first. Bearing in mind that it was her business, I was so ashamed to have it without paying it off. She gave me choices then; “be ashamed or your cat dies.” Of course, without a second thought, I favored the first option. I’d rather be ashamed … even for life than let my baby die.

In less than a month of giving my cat Spirulina, I witnessed a great improvement in his condition. He could open his mouth wider and could take food and water by himself, slowly. It seemed that his jaw was starting to be back to its proper location and the muscles responsible for food taking were halfway functioning again. However, the wound on his forehead was still open and his frontal bone was still uncovered. Actually, he looked like a zombie cat! Before, all the other male cats in the area seemed afraid of him… I wonder why. After the accident, all the other cats in my house were so scared of him. No wonder why!

Bothered by the side effects the medication for seizure might bring him, I decided to stop him from taking it but continued giving him antibiotics and vitamins which the vet prescribed, and of course, spirulina…. and he never had an attack again.

One afternoon, as I watched my baby cat sat next to my screen door, staring at the lawn where the other cats were playing, which he usually did since he had the accident, a strange thought visited my mind. What if one day I could no longer do the same things I used to do before like what my Pabebe was experiencing then? I may not encounter the same accident and suffer the same injuries my cat suffered, but, what if my body had surrendered and lost all its physical strength, whatever the cause might be? Who’s going to take good care of me? I’m alone. For sure, my cats could never do the same things I did to them (though they might want to!!!) and who will look after them?

Well, I just shook my head and took my baby to my arms to blot out such silly thought, then uttered these words close to his ear... "one day, you will regain your strength, your wound will be healed and your cranial bone will be covered with new, healthy flesh and skin adorned with gorgeous fur. All the other male cats in the land will admire you and bow down to you because you will capture the hearts of all lady cats. My love for you will make all those things come true. Let time takes its course and we will cross the bridge together, with love for each other when we get there. No matter what, I will always be here for all of you, my fur babies because I know God gave me you! For now, let's have some selfieeeee." Pabebe, then, replied.................... M E O O O O O W W W!!!

My apologies for the poor-quality photographs. They were taken using my low-resolution webcam; some were a year ago, others were a few months ago, the last was the most recent one, as should be.

Comments of people who have seen those photographs before reminded me of what my mother, once, had told me… i.e…“When a person starts loving his pet so much, then, they start to look similar.”

Here they are again.....