This is Super Suzzie the Wonder Kitten. She was laying in the middle of the road on a cold Sunday morning in October when I found her. I thought I was seeing a dead baby raccoon (and I felt a stab of sadness) as I drove past this brown puff of fur, but then a tiny head looked up at me! She was alive, but just barely.
I scooped her up in a towel and put her in a crate that I happened to have in the back of my car. This was a VERY feral kitten, but she was so traumatized I was able to give her the necessary treatments for shock and pain.
I let her recover quietly in an upstairs guest-room and waited for her to calm down before running any diagnostics. Assuming she was hit by a car, there was a high probability that she sustained internal injuries.
To my surprise, she was a very lucky kitten! (considering she was only 2 pounds and lived through such a trauma) She had no use of her back hind leg. I was expecting to find a bad fracture in her rear limb, but again, she surprised me:
The only thing of significance on this x-ray is a growth plate injury (if I were more computer savvy I would put an arrow on it, but alas, I am not). Bone growth occurs at specific places (growth plates) in long bones, and damage to these areas can result in malformation of the limbs. Fixing this injury would require surgery. Since she was so tiny and just suffered a major injury, surgery needed to be put on hold.
The weird thing about her x-ray was that it did not explain her degree of injury. Even animals with a complete fracture will show some movement in the limb even though they can’t walk on it. This told me that she had significant nerve damage and may lose the leg:(
I spent every possible hour of every day I could with her to get her used to being around people. Not only is she no longer terrified of people, she has become extraordinarily loving!
As the days went on, it became more and more obvious that she had no feeling in the back leg and it would need to be amputated.
Tuesday November 20th was the big day – and as you can see, she did great!! (Props to Dr. Joni Kirch and Jenny Hostetler for assisting me with her surgery) It is now five days post-op as I write this and she is running around with the dogs – actually OUTrunning them as I type this LOL.
The hardest part of this whole experience will be having to give her up when we find her a good forever home (which she still yet to find just FYI!)
She uses the litter box like a pro (no accidents despite her injury), loves to play, gets along with other animals, AND loves to cuddle – what more could you ask for?
As for her name? I was finishing up the seventh book of Stephen King’s series “The Dark Tower” during the month that I’ve had her. There is a great character named Susanna who lost both legs, but kept every ounce of zest and determination throughout the story. Stephen King also describes his own experience of getting struck by a car and the recovery process thereafter (I highly recommend his books if you haven’t already read them!)
I think the name Susanna is thereby a very fitting one for my sweet and sassy little wonder kitten:) She’s quite the fighter!
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