My own pets; Fluffy, the mysterious wonder

Fluffy is, as you can imagine, a fluffy black cat. At nearly ten years old, our pet cat Fluffy has been through a lot but her journey has also been very personal to me and the family as it may have helped bring Jacob along! Let me explain…

Fluffy goes missing

Many years ago we moved house from rural Warnham to North Horsham. At that time it was me and my partner, our dogs, rabbit, and two cats, Nutmeg and Fluffy. I had adopted Fluffy from an owner at the vet surgery I worked at the time. Fluffy had come to the vet practice with a fracture in her leg, but the owner was unwilling to aid Fluffy in the lengthy recovery process and so wanted to put her to sleep. Fluffy was only six months old and I felt this was very unnecessary so suggested I adopt her, the owner signed the paperwork straight away and I so I gave Fluffy the treatment and help she needed.

Our new house had a conservatory and also, crucially, two cat flaps. One which leads from the house into the conservatory and another leading out in the garden. Brilliant, we thought, a house with cat flaps already installed! On the first night in we foolishly didn’t check both cat flaps, because the internal flap was locked we assumed the external one would be too. However, it turned out the cat flap into the garden wasn’t locked… so the next morning had one cat, not two.

Nutmeg was not there in the morning, so we assumed she would be hiding in the garden. However, we hunted and couldn’t find her. All over the weekend we continually looked for her and knocked on our new neighours doors feeling pretty embarrassed. During our searches, Fluffy would follow us looking for Nutmeg, so after a few days, we kept the flap open thinking that Fluffy knew her way around the garden! I should know better! What also didn’t help was that the cat flap, new to us, was set to be open to go out but locked to come back in.
(NB – Ideally cats should be kept in for two to four weeks when moving into a new house. This establishes where ‘home’ is and allows them to get to know their surroundings.)

Worried for both the missing cats I messaged our old neighbour that both had gone missing. Much to my surprise, she replied saying “I heard a cat calling late last night” I left work early and drove back to our old house, got out of my car, and there to my utter amazement, Nutmeg springs out of a bush. YES!

One cat found, now where is Fluffy?

Thinking they might follow one another, we assumed Fluffy would also be en route to the old house. So every day for two months I stopped at the old house. I would walk the dogs twice a day and at weekends to see if I could find Fluffy. Nothing. But somewhere in my heart, I knew she wasn’t dead. The months rolled on, I would try Warnham nature reserve, then five months came and went and in November it snowed.

Microchipping your cat works!

One day that Winter I got a call from a vet in Horsham, at this time I was at home recovering from emergency surgery. They had Fluffy! She had appeared in a garden eating bird food. She was skin and bones. Four years old at the time, she had been living wild. I went straight there and brought her home, she was just a skeleton with fur. The vets had scanned her and found her microchip and my details! She had gotten completely lost, but her chip had reunited us!

A rocky road to recovery

The timely return of Fluffy after five months was such an emotional time for us as I was recuperating after having emergency surgery for my 2nd ectopic pregnancy. For what was quite a dark time for me having lost my natural fertility, Fluffy brought hope and belief that anything is possible. Her first few weeks were about giving her the correct nutrition, support, and attention to ensure that she recovered from her five months of living in the wild. On initial examinations apart from her emaciated appearance all we could find was she had evidence of a fractured jaw that had healed. HOWEVER, the next two years that followed could not even be written in a textbook. Out of the blue, she started to have seizures, full blood workups and a CT brought us to a dead end. The only theory was a delayed reaction to the head trauma that she must have had to fracture her jaw. She was put on anti-epilepsy drugs and fortunately responded well. Then she developed a complete intestinal blockage from a hairball which required surgery. After the surgery, she wasn’t recovering as we would have expected and on examination, the vet discovered she had inflamed reactive joints. This meant more tablets and more head-scratching. Once the inflammation settled it left her with two joints, an elbow, and ankle that would dislocate due to the weak ligaments that had developed from the inflammation. This led me to seek the opinion of two orthopedic specialists; one who believed it was time to say goodbye and one that said surgery shouldn’t be ruled out.

A hard decision to make

Anyone that knows me knows that the welfare of our beloved pets is always at the forefront of my mind and so I was now in the firing line of what was the right decision to make. Apart from the leg issues, Fluffy was back to her old self and something inside me saw resilience and spirit in her that I just couldn’t ignore. She was still only five at this time and so this made the decision even tougher. With all our cards on the table, I chatted with one of my colleagues who I completely trusted clinically and emotionally as a good friend. We were given details of the procedure that needed to be done and we pondered but something inside me just couldn’t give up. I felt a lot of my colleagues raised their eyebrows when I said we were going to take the gamble, but a family cat that has survived for five months in the wild surely has some fighting spirit…and I saw that!

So the next four months saw Fluffy under-go two separate joint stabilising surgeries which led her to be confined to cage rest throughout. Her large cage became another bit of furniture in our front room and she got quite used to her new pad. Both surgeries went well and as time went on she became stronger and more confident with her new ligaments.

Fluffy gives me the strength to start something too

That was seven years ago and I am pleased to say that Fluffy is still with us. Yes, she has arthritis and has to have special joint food and medication but she lives a fulfilling life with a family that loves her dearly. That day of hope when she was found also gave me the belief that I should remain positive with my own personal battles. In 2012 I decided to start my

IVF journey, for me I was one of the lucky ones and I was successful on my 1st cycle. I now am lucky to have my son who is learning the importance and love that keeping animals can bring. Never give up on something or someone you believe in.

Fluffy & Jacob

You can see some more about Fluffy and Jacob on my ‘Pets are great for children’ blog. The two of them spend a lot of time together, as Fluffy often follows him to bed. Fluffy loves playing with catnip mice and sleeping in the bath.

Does your cat have an amazing story?

Please share your pet cat tales on my Facebook page, I’d love to hear about them too.