HAMILTON, OHIO – Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend just how evil a human being can be towards animals.
Over the past few weeks, some dedicated volunteers and a very skillful veterinarian quite literally put a brutalized cat back together after someone attacked it.
Two weeks after the rescue and surgery, it’s very hard to believe it’s the same cat that Barb Wehmann brought into the Pleasant Ridge Pet Hospital.
While 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 a feral cat who living near a home in Hamilton when suddenly one day she just showed up with the entire upper part of her mouth shattered. Bone fragments were literally hanging in pieces, she was starving because she could no longer eat.
Veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Jaax stated, “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 placed a call in to “SCOOP” Save Cats and Obliterate OverPopulation. The trap, neuter and release group brought the cat to her. Barb brought “Sweetie” to Dr. Jaax, who performed the $1,100 surgery which was needed to rebuild her face. Two weeks later, she’s already put on two pounds and is not feral at all!
Sweetie was a great candidate for all the help and care because well … she’s such a sweetie!
Dr. Jaax went on to explain, “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. and thousands in the Tri-State area, Wehmann recently began a unique program which provides help for sick or injured feral cats. It’s funded by grant money and donations.
She went on to say, “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.”
When Sweetie fully heals, she will be available for adoption into permanent home. She also has her own GoFundMe page to help pay for the surgery. Any additional money will go to help to help other cats:
https://www.gofundme.com/SweetieCat
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