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Here at Mission Animal Hospital, we take every patient’s care seriously, and treat every pet as if they were our own. But every once and a while, a case comes through our doors that hits us differently—a case that pulls on everyone’s heartstrings and makes us stop to find out what happened.
A few weeks ago, Fuzz was one of those cases.
Fuzz is a one-year-old, orange-and-white cat, who came to Mission Animal Hospital with a tragic gunshot wound. His family was devastated when he was caught in the crossfire of neighborhood gun violence. Fuzz is a curious kitty, and slipped out of the door while his mom, Emily, was bringing in groceries.
The family heard the gunshot, but couldn’t have imagined how that gunshot would impact their family.
Emily, her boyfriend, and their kids all love Fuzz. Emily says “He really runs the show here.” He’s a sweet, loving cat who’s so patient with the kids in the family—even the one year old who’s still learning how to pet Fuzz gently. He’s been with his family since he was a kitten, so when they discovered him bloody and broken from the gunshot wound, they were absolutely heartbroken. The whole family was sad and scared, not knowing what the future held for Fuzz.
Emily took Fuzz to the closest animal hospital she could find and was referred to an emergency animal hospital for treatment for this serious injury. But when she got to the emergency animal hospital, she was dismayed to find that the cost of treatment for her beloved kitty was just not affordable for her family.
Emily worried about what would happen if she couldn’t find another option for Fuzz. When she was younger, she had to surrender a pet kitten due to the cost of veterinary medicine, and she couldn’t imagine going through that again with Fuzz, all because of a tragic incident.
Thankfully, the veterinarian at the emergency clinic referred her to Mission Animal Hospital.
X-rays showed that the bullet had only hit Fuzz’s leg, which likely saved his life. Had the bullet hit him elsewhere, he easily could have died.
The bones in his leg, however, were shattered, making repair impossible, and amputation was the path forward for Fuzz. He was able to have his broken leg amputated the following day at Mission.
Without Mission’s accessible veterinary medicine, and subsidized care for pets in need, Emily’s family would have been put in a difficult situation trying to find care for Fuzz.
“I wholeheartedly believe that Mission is the difference between him making it and not,” Emily said.
Fuzz is now home with his loving family, adapting to his new life as a tripod. His whole family is so grateful to have him home where he belongs!
Make a donation to help pets like Fuzz get the care they need. https://www.missionah.org/donate
