I’ve been spending a lot of time with Tiffy, a cute kitty who came in with a hurt foot. Tiffy’s foot was badly infected and was not healing. He was in pain. I saw what Tiffy’s foot looked like and encouraged him; taking off the leg was the right thing to do. He had his leg removed much like mine was 10 years ago. It was a great releef to have Tiffy tell me how much better he felt once his leg was removed, but he didn’t even have to tell me because I could see by the way he was acting that he felt so much better. Tiffy’s experience reminded me of my past.
A lot of you may not know this, but I had a ruff start in life. I had a dry place to sleep and thanks to the goodness of hoomans, I had food and water, but the fact is I spent the first year of my life living on the streets of Parksley, trying to stay out of trouble. I had no hooman to pet me and cuddle with and no house I could call home. One day I was out roaming the town, minding my own business when I was struck by a car. Those hoomans didn’t even stop to check on me, they just drove away. Thankfully, a kind mechanic in town saw I’d been injured and brought me in to see Dr. Bailey. That was now over 10 years ago.
The worker hoomans at Greenbush Vet looked me over and found a dislocated hip joint, and leg bone that had broken just below my knee, and also just above my ankle. They tried to fix my leg, but the fractures were too bad, and my leg reelly hurt. Dr. Bailey talked to me about what he needed to do. He encouraged me, telling me if I had my leg amputated, it wouldn’t keep hurting. We decided it was best to take off my broken leg. Once my leg had been taken, the pain of my injuries was gone, and I felt good again. I wished we’d done it sooner. Sure, it’s harder getting around on three legs than it would have been with four healthy legs, but I was never going to have a healthy fourth leg; it had been destroyed by that car. I get around better than most of the hoomans do anyway . . . and they start out with only 2 legs!
Now, I’ve talked to you longer than I wanted. I’m tired. It’s past my nap time . . .
Bettie
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As GVC’s queen bee, I try to encourage other kitties I see when they are feeling sick or are in pain. I tell ‘em everyone here at Greenbush cares about them and will do their best to help ‘em feel better, like they did for me.
