Cats can be mischievous. No matter if they mean it or not, they can hurt us in one way or another. Take Vicky Williams for example – she was recently nipped by her cat while they were playing, spending 3 months at a hospital and going through 16 difficult operations before she regained the use of her hand only partially!
Williams was nipped by her cat Smidge while they were playing at home and it looked like nothing in the beginning. She says that she’ll never get rid of Smidge. “He’s not aggressive and it wasn’t his fault,” Williams says. “I still love him with all my heart.”
(Image: Stan Kujawa)
“When I tell the story, people are shocked I haven’t got rid of him yet,” she says. “That will never happen – he’s a part of our family,” Vicky insists. Smidge nipped Vicky on her hand in March 2017, and the 27-year old worker didn’t think much of the injury. The cat bit her while she was playing with her other cat, and although it hurt a bit, she didn’t even notice it.
(Image: Mirrorpix)
As Vicky says, it was only a tiny rip in the skin between her thumb and finger and it didn’t even hurt that much. However, her hand was swollen the next day and the pain intensified. Painkillers didn’t help and the situation became worse by the minute. Doctors gave Vicky some drugs and cleaned the wound, but even that didn’t help. Eventually, she was admitted to hospital 5 days later and scheduled for immediate surgery.
(Image: Stan Kujawa)
According to the doctors, Smidge pushed bacteria deep into Vicky’s hand which made a lot of damage. After the first injury, Vicky was better for a few days, when she wasn’t feeling well again. The doctors scheduled another surgery, and then another, and then another…she spent a total of 3 months in the hospital last year and had 16 surgeries!
(Image: Stan Kujawa)
The infection just keeps coming and doctors have no clue how to stop it. Vicky is now using her experience to teach everyone to get to the hospital even after a tiny nip by their pets. If she went to the hospital right away, the infection might have been stopped, and Vicky wouldn’t have any problems. Now she’s hoping that the infection will finally stop so she could at least partially regain control over her hand.
