“Sammy came to us in the New Year of 2020 after his owner, who had mental health problems, had thrown Sammy out. A kind neighbour, Sam, would have liked to take Sammy in but her two cats wouldn’t accept him. She therefore contacted us and asked if we could take Sammy into our care and find him a home.
Sammy is a friendly, long-haired and very loving, black cat, of around 4 years, who has been through a lot during his 15 months with us. Not long after he came to us, Debby, Sammy’s fosterer, noticed that his back legs would suddenly give way, causing him to stumble and fall.
We arranged for Sammy to be seen by Manuel Cristadoro, an orthopaedic vet at Celia Hammond Animal Trust, who diagnosed luxating patellas (or dislocated knee caps). Sammy then had surgery, followed by several weeks of cage rest to allow his legs to heal. At his check-up, Manuel noticed that Sammy’s back legs were bowed, so recommended Sammy have a bilateral femoral head excision. Unfortunately, following surgery on his right leg Sammy lost ability to weight bear or walk on his back legs and could only get around by dragging himself by his front legs.
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Manuel endured several sleepless nights trying to figure out what might have gone wrong with Sammy’s surgery. He did further x-rays and carried out, what he thought would be, corrective surgery. Unfortunately it had little effect so Sammy was referred to a neurologist at The Ralph, where he had an MRI scan. This confirmed Sammy has a tumour on his spine, affecting his capacity to use his back legs. He is now on steroids and pain killers which are enabling him to walk again for the first time since December. However, this improvement can only be temporary and to attain longer term improvement and to prolong his life, Sammy needs surgery to remove the tumour. We are therefore trying to raise funds to cover this surgery and to recoup some of the costs of Sammy’s treatment, which to date has amounted to over £5000.
Sammy is a loving and a brave cat. He has never complained, despite several surgical operations and long periods of cage rest. He has been a wonderful foster dad to the other cats who Debby has taken in during the time Sammy has been with her, including Kitty Penny, Oreo and Minstrel. He has taken Minstrel (otherwise known as Tea Leaf for his tendency to go into Debby’s kitchen, open the cupboard and help himself to food, when he sometimes takes two sachets, one for himself and one for Sammy), who was initially very shy, very much under his wing (or paws) and they have become great pals, as you can see from the photo of them together.”
