One Tough Mama

A crazy, crazy day at the clinic today. Someone brought in this stray cat because she was having difficulty breathing. She was full term pregnant with a ruptured diaphragm and many of her abdominal organs were in her chest! Definitely a first in my veterinary career. She survived surgery but needed a transfusion afterwards. All 4 kittens survived as well. I took this picture after she had finished her transfusion. She was purring and kneading and loving my attention. What an amazing cat.

Update 8 days later - 3/4 kittens have survived. Mom is doing wonderfully and she is nursing the kittens. Hers was truly one of the greatest cases ever. I will see if I can get a link to her radiographs, for those who are in to geeky stuff like that!