Curious kitten Oreo used up one of her nine lives after miraculously surviving a 50-ft fall from the window of a fourth-floor flat.
The one-year-old black and white cat’s life hung in the balance following the accident. Her family, who like most across the UK are feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis, was faced with a potential bill of thousands to treat her injures.
Thankfully, PDSA was there to help and, after receiving intensive care and treatment at the charity’s Bristol Pet Hospital, she is now on the road to recovery.
Oreo’s accident occurred at her family home during July’s heatwave – her owners thought they had closed all of the flat’s windows when they went to bed but one had been left slightly ajar, piquing the interest of the kitten who managed to prize it open with her paw.
When the family awoke the following morning, Oreo’s owner Melanie Woodward (38), from Redcliffe Hill, frantically searched for her but she was nowhere to be found.
The mother-of-three said: “Oreo is very friendly and always comes into the bedroom for a bit of fuss in the morning. When she didn’t come in, alarm bells started to ring. My daughter and I looked for her all over the flat – under beds, in cupboards, behind furniture – everywhere we could think of, but we just couldn’t find her.
“By that point I was hysterical. In desperation, I went onto the balcony, and when I looked down I saw her lying in our downstairs neighbour’s yard.
“It was beyond horrendous, we were all beside ourselves. I ran downstairs in my pyjamas and socks and banged on my neighbour’s door so I could get into the yard to help Oreo.”
Melanie immediately took the kitten to a local veterinary practice but, suffering from ill health and on disability benefits, she was unable to afford the tests needed to determine the extent of Oreo’s injuries. Luckily, vets at the surgery pointed her in the direction of PDSA. Once Oreo had been stabilised and given pain relief, the charity was able to arrange for her to be transferred for assessment and treatment immediately.
“When I realised how much treatment she was going to need, I was absolutely heart-broken. There is no way we could afford it, I suffer from ill health and my husband is my carer so we’ve always been on a tight budget but with bills going up constantly we are watching every penny – the money we have just wouldn’t stretch to thousands of pounds of veterinary care,” Melanie continued.
“The days where my husband and I have to miss meals to ensure the children and Oreo are able to eat are becoming more and more frequent. We rescued Oreo before all the bills went through the roof and she has quickly become the centre of our family, we all adore her. Without PDSA we genuinely thought Oreo wasn’t going to make it.”
Once at PDSA, Oreo had x-rays which revealed she had fractured both of her front legs and two bones in her front right foot, in addition to sustaining severe bruising to her chest, mouth, and jaw. Luckily, Oreo had avoided further serious internal injuries as a result of the accident.
The team set and dressed each leg with splints to encourage the bones to heal, before allowing Oreo to go home with pain relief and strict instructions to rest. Oreo was closely monitored by PDSA vets and vet nurses over the next two weeks.
PDSA Bristol Vet Penny Morgan said: “Little Oreo’s injuries were very serious. Her legs were badly hurt and she had sustained severe bruising.
“After two weeks we made the decision to operate because her fractures weren’t healing as quickly as we’d have liked. We performed a complex surgical procedure to repair her legs, fitting metal plates to each of them.
“The surgery was a success and Oreo’s injuries are now healing well. With the care and love of her family, I’m confident she will make a full recovery.”
Melanie added: “I can’t thank PDSA enough for saving Oreo. Everyone in the team was so kind and did everything they could to help her survive so she can have a healthy and happy life. There is no way we could have afforded to pay for Oreo’s treatment as, like most families nowadays, we just don’t have thousands of pounds spare, so to be able to access PDSA’s services when we were absolutely desperate was incredible. I will never forget the kindness and compassion that the whole team showed not only to Oreo but also to myself and my family. We will all be forever grateful.”
In times of hardship pets like Oreo will still fall ill or become injured and need emergency care. While Oreo’s owners contributed what they could towards her treatment, the total cost of her care came to over £2,560.
PDSA relies on donations to deliver vital treatment to hundreds of thousands of pets across its 48 Pet Hospitals in the UK. To keep families together this winter, the charity is urgently calling on the public’s support more than ever to prevent vulnerable people having to make a truly heartbreaking decision. To find out more about PDSA’s vital work during the cost-of-living crisis, or to donate, visit www.pdsa.org.uk/costoflovingcrisis.
