[Vision2020] Caturday (December 26, 2015

[Moscow Cares]

Eating tinsel is dangerous and can be deadly to cats - but in Junior's case, it ended up being a Christmas miracle, just in time for a happy holiday Caturday.

Courtesy of Fox-8 News (High Point, North Carolina) at:

http://myfox8.com/2015/12/23/christmas-miracle-tinsel-mishap-may-have-saved-randolph-county-kittens-life/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

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’Christmas miracle’: Tinsel mishap may have saved Randolph County kitten’s life
RANDLEMAN, N.C. -- Meghan Goedeck calls it a "Christmas miracle."

Junior, her 11-month-old kitten, swallowed tinsel from her Christmas tree, which became apparent after he started vomiting.

“That's when I went into mommy mode and got off work early and rushed him to the nearest animal hospital,” Goedeck said.

Once he was taken to Pointe South Animal Hospital in Randleman, an X-ray would reveal not tinsel in Junior’s digestive system, but another problem.

"There was a blockage and when that happens the whole intestines shut down and it just doesn't move,” Dr. Clint Berdeen, a veterinarian at Pointe South Animal Hospital, said as he looked at an X-ray showing food stuck in Junior’s system.

It was clear that surgery was a must, but it was an operation Goedeck could not afford.

"I would have had to euthanize him,” she said.

An employee at the facility knew there was at least one other option -- The Sergei Foundation.

The foundation assists qualified pets and their owners with life-saving surgery, and it came through just in time for Junior.

"I created the Sergei Foundation to help people just as much as their pets to keep the two together,” Karen Fullerton, founder and CEO of the Sergei Foundation, said.

Junior is the 98th pet the organization has helped in 2015. It has assisted nearly 300 pets (cats and dogs) since its first full year of operation in 2010.

For Goedeck, the help was truly a blessing.

"I started crying. I couldn't stop crying because I knew I wouldn't lose my best friend,” she said.

Doctors were able to get to the root of the problem.

"What we did find was a hairball that had turned into a rock and was stuck in his small intestinal track,” Berdeen said.

"If we hadn't gone in when we did, he would have died,” he added.

Interestingly enough, doctors say the tinsel incident helped identify a pre-existing issue.

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Video

http://youtu.be/bAGagTN6_m0

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
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