Scruffy was found dragging the enormous metal trap up a house's driveway where he lives. Scruffy's owners rushed him to East Lake Animal Clinic in Watsonville. It took veterinarian Dave Carroll and a nurse to get the trap off the cat’s leg. Scruffy lost all feeling in his paw, and the cat's leg may need to be amputated.
“When they step on the metal plate, it releases the trap, and the bars come up against the leg. This one was big enough where, if a person stepped in it, it would have broken your ankle," Carroll said. Most animals, wild and domestic, who step in traps usually don't survive. Carroll credited Scruffy's scrappy spirit for helping him drag the trap all the way back to his house so that he could be found.
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East Lake Animal Clinic is caring for Scruffy free of charge. The SPCA is investigating the case and attempting to find out who is responsible for setting up the illegal trap. On Friday veterinarian Elizabeth Martin said the cat was in good spirits and recovering well. "He's bright, alert, happy, purring, and doing all the kitty things that he should be doing," Martin said.
1 comment:
I don't know if it's the same for cats, but for humans, a crush injury where the object's still on the limb should be left in place if it's been on longer than 15 minutes. Amputation's often the next move. Othereise, once the weight's released all the stale blood from the limb is now free to move about the body and can cause more problems than the initial squishing.
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