Islington Tribune - by JULIA PHILLIPS Published: 18 April 2008
Bizzy with owners Francesca and John
Vet’s three-hour operation saves Bizzy, the cat that impaled herself
A LUCKY cat from Archway has survived after impaling herself, possibly on a Victorian railing.
The one-year-old tortoiseshell, Bizzy, was left with a 10-inch internal wound stretching the length of her body after impaling herself on an unknown object and miraculously escaping back home.
Bizzy’s owners, Francesca Kniston, 32, and John McGoldrick, 37, of Archway Road, came home on April 4 to find the usually energetic cat cowering in their bedroom.
Miss Kniston said: “I knew something was wrong because she was hiding. She can normally always be summoned by banging a plate with a spoon.”
They found Bizzy bleeding and took her straight to an emergency vet in Hampstead, where she was kept overnight.
The wound, which appeared quite small from the outside, extended all the way across her body from thigh to shoulder. But no damage had been caused to her organs.
Sergio Serrano, at the 24-hour Village Vet surgery in Hampstead, carried out a three-hour operation during the night. “She was extremely lucky – she could have been left hanging from this object until somebody found her dead, but she managed to get away,” he said. “If we hadn’t seen her she could have died from gangrene.”
After the operation, the cat was left with a 30cm-long plastic tube stuck inside her to drain fluid from the wound. Miss Kniston said: “Once we got her home they said we should limit her activity which was not the easiest job – she still likes sliding the full length of the flat on the laminate flooring.”
Two weeks later, Bizzy has had her stitches removed and made a good recovery.