Not Inspiring At All

Beemer came in to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary after one of our employees found him injured under a car. Beemer was initially in shock, weak and dehydrated, and he had a nasty large wound involving the base of his tail. What was most profound, however, was that his hind legs and tail were completely limp, and he could not move or feel them. Well, unfortunately, the prognosis did not look good for Beemer. However, since some of his injury and paralysis could be secondary to infection and inflammation, we elected to give him a couple of days to see how he would do.

We gave Beemer fluids, antibiotics, pain medication, a warm bed, and, of course, loads of lovin'. We could tell that he was a special cat and had a great spirit. He did pretty well for us that first night, eating most of his food, and he was more responsive the next morning. Unfortunately, he had not urinated and had a large bladder. We were able to manually express the urine, but he just couldn’t do it on his own. Animals who experience severe trauma to the lower spine often also have compromise to the nerves that supply the bladder and colon, resulting in incontinence. Again, there was still a lot of inflammation and infection present so we felt it was too soon to determine whether his incontinence would be permanent. Since he stabilized, we elected to take him to surgery and clean up those wounds, which, wow, were quite extensive and deep. We also took some radiographs of this area. Luckily, there were no obvious problems (fractures/dislocations) involving his spine and pelvis.

So we think a larger animal may have picked up and shaken Beemer. Many times, the force involved in shaking is enough to damage the spine without causing fractures or dislocations. With any neurological problem, improvement is possible, but it often takes weeks and more likely months for any significant improvement.

“Ha,” Beemer seemed to say, “I’m going to surprise you all!” We were reassessing his neurological status three days after he came in, and, he was able to feel both of his feet, and when I stood him up and supported him, he could support some of his weight on his own. Now I know this doesn’t sound like much, but in our world, this type of progress is huge! So that settled it. We decided that this cat deserves a chance.

So, at this point our plan is to care for Beemer's wounds and continue to monitor his neurological status. We will also begin a physical therapy plan with him to encourage continued improvement in his hind end. That is a pretty big agenda for our little guy, so I would like everyone to welcome our newest kitty in the Guardian Angel program. Did I mention he is absolutely adorable? 

 (From Best Friends Animal Society)

Look at him now!