Rory the cat was in dire straits after eating rat poison.
His owner Kim Edwards rushed Rory to Rauranga Vets in New Zealand after hearing him howling and limping in pain.
Vet Kate Heller gave Kim the news that Rory wouldn’t survive without an immediate blood transfusion.
However because Rory’s blood type was unknown, using the wrong type would have killed the cat.
Blood transfusions between different species are not common and not recommended, according to Dr. Heller in an interview published in the New Zealand Herald last year.
It’s not something we’ve done before, but it was one of those emergency situations where we didn’t have any other options available.”
But the desperate cat owner was running out of options.
By the time Rory made it to the vet, it was Friday night and the blood lab was closed. Rory would have died for certain if he didn’t undergo a transfusion.
If we didn’t do it, he would have died so we had nothing to lose by giving it a go. It was a `do or die’. I’ve never heard of it before, but the guy at the companion animal blood bank said he’s done it before with some success. People are going to think that it sounds pretty dodgy – and it is – but hey, we’ve been successful and it’s saved its life.”
Prior to the transfusion Rory was “really flat and gasping and howling”
One hour later he was sitting up, purring and “tucked into a bowl of biscuits,”Dr. Heller said.
He seemed to be a different cat.”
Ms Edwards said when she contacted a friend from her book club who had a pet Labrador, her friend initially didn’t believe her strange request.
The whole scenario was very dramatic, and Macy the black Labrador was rushed in for an emergency transfusion, Edwards said.
“The vets just went above and beyond … it’s incredible that it worked. Rory is back to normal and we don’t have a cat that barks or fetch the paper.”
h/t: New Zealand Herald
Photo credit: Joel Ford/NZ Herald