Amazing Survival Story of The Million Dollar Cat!

Dakota, my 6 year old Tuxedo cat, was adopted from our local no-kill animal shelter almost 6 yrs ago, ok, I wasn't actually involved in his adoption, my OH took it upon himself to adopt this crazy 11 week old kitten while I was at work one day! I had told him numerous times, NO MORE CATS! Obviously that didn't go over so well. But I am not complaining, really I'm not! I fell in love with this guy, who couldn't? Actually I became so bonded and attached that what you are about to read is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever been through with one of my pets.

On May 7, 2005 by beloved kitty wasn't at the back door by 10 p.m. He always came to the door by 10 to be let in for the night. I stressed, I stayed up late, I would have stayed up all night if I had too. He finally came home. But something didn't seem quite right. He always would go to the food bowl to be petted when he came in. This time he went straight back to the bedroom. I just thought maybe he wasn't feeling well so I just let it go.

The next day on my way home from work I get a phone call from my OH asking if I had seen Dakota. I said yes, he came home a little late last night and he is still inside. He says oh good, I thought I saw a coyote this morning on my way to work. About 10 minutes later I get another call, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH DAKOTA! He's not moving and he's breathing really hard! I tell him to call the vet and I would be home shortly. I get home and check him out and yes he needs a vet. I didn't see any visible blood or wounds but knew from his vital signs he needed help. We rushed him to the closest vet that was open at that hour, 1/2 hour away. They were getting ready to close and said that they couldn't help him, they thought he might have a broken back. They told us to take him to the emergency vet even further away. So we took him there.

After that vet looked him over they came back with some not so good news. It looked like he had been attacked by a dog and had puncture wounds all over his body. He had septicemia, where bacteria gets into the bloodstream. They said his prognosis was not good, he needed to stay there so they could treat and monitor him. They would call me with updates. I was a wreck, I knew something wasn't right when he came home the night before! Now it could be too late. Of course I beat myself up over this.

I got many updates throughout the night. They almost lost him a couple times. He was struggling to hang on. I know they were doing everything they could for Dakota. He wasn't even 2 years old yet! He actually turned 2 during his stay at the emergency vet. A couple days later the vet called to ask if they could try a fairly new treatment in the experimental stage. He really needed a blood transfusion but with cats I guess you can't really do those. So what they had been doing is using a human blood by-product for the transfusions. I told them to do it. They did. They had to do it again and again. They kept me updated every few hours on his condition, no matter the time of day or night. While I was at work my boss was very understanding and allowed me to take and make phone calls to the vet to check on him.

We'd go visit Dakota every couple days, this place wasn't very close to home so we couldn't be there every day. After about 2 weeks Dakota was starting to come around and we were visiting with him. The vets said that he was a miracle cat and he probably could come home in a few days! The relief of hearing those words, I was so excited! But than my OH noticed something wasn't quite right with his skin. It was turning black and was crispy and he stunk. He asked the vet about this, they said he was fine. That day when we gave Dakota back to the assistant to have him taken back to his cage there was a look he gave us I will never forget, he stretched his head and neck out as far as he could toward us with his eyes open really big like he was saying "you are not leaving me here!" This broke my heart.

The next day I get a phone call. Dakota was NOT fine. 20% of his skin was dying and he would die if they didn't remove it. I could not believe it. This could not be happening! Not now! He was supposed to be coming home! The only thing that could be done was this VERY expensive skin stretching surgery after they removed the old, dying skin. We already had put so much money into this little guy and were out of funds. We made the heartbreaking decision to go pick him up, bring him home, say goodbye and have our local vet euthanize him. I was DEVASTATED! I cried and cried and cried. I could not lose him!

The next morning my wonderful OH called me to say he thought he found a way to get the money for the surgery, even the vet called me with other options to get the surgery done, there was a college across the state that could do it half price but we would have to try to take time off work to get him there and it just wasn't an option for us. We were able to get the money and told the vet to do the surgery.

They removed 20 % of his skin all the way around his belly and back. He had nothing left but tissue. They actually sent him home this way so the tissue could build a healthy base before they did the skin stretching surgery. He had bandages on but they would always slip back so you could see the red tissue. I had to take him to my regular vet every other day for bandage changes.

If you look really close in the picture you will see the tissue along his back where his bandage was slipping back and down on his belly. Look at the pretty bandage my local vet put on him! They fell in love with Dakota during all the bandage changes and would put hearts on his bandage!

He wasn't all too happy with all these bandage changes, having to go every other day was not a fun experience for him!

Dreaming of going outside again!

After a week and a half or so Dakota went in for his skin stretching surgery. The vet was a little worried since he had to be anesthetized again. He made it out ok. He had sutures all the way around his body holding the skin together. Here he is after he first came home, his cone kept ending up around his belly! I guess he wanted to wear a skirt! He could barely walk, his skin was stretched so tight that he couldn't move his hind legs very well. He kept falling over. We were worried that he'd never walk normal again, after a couple days he was able to walk pretty good.

It took a long time for him to heal. He ended up having huge gaps by his back legs in the skin where the sutures came out. You could see down inside his leg and see the tissue. The vet said that would eventually heal. It did. He has some scarring and his hair did grow back, just not as thick as before. He also has indentations where some tissue was removed and never filled in. Other than that he is completely healthy and normal. See where his hair is growing in kind of patchy?

Here is a recent picture, he has a couple spots where you can really see his skin by his belly. Those are the areas where the sutures came out and the skin just gapped really bad so it took alot longer for the skin to grow back together. That is just a really bad spot for sutures, right where their hind leg and belly meet so when he'd walk the sutures just wouldn't hold.

Dakota spent 3 1/2-4 weeks at the emergency vet. With numerous surgeries and treatments at that vet and my local vet you can imagine my vet bill and to think we almost had him euthanized. I am still paying Dakota off, he has his own credit card, seriously! This is why he is called the Million Dollar Cat or as my OH's mom would say, cadillac cat!

This is a card we received from Pony Girl.

And yes, Dakota is an now an indoor only cat! He's had a couple escapes but we have managed to get him back quickly, although the escapes were never my fault! OH, remember you have to be careful when you open the door!

Very few people actually know what our expenses were to save Dakota. Some of the comments we have gotten from people were downright cruel. The one that really gets me is It's just a cat! Yeah he might be just a cat but he is my cat! And he was worth every penny!