Starving and suffering from a broken jaw, the street cat that looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings wasn’t expected to live. But his rescuer refused to give up on him, and now he’s truly her Precious.
“I was driving, and I saw something on the edge of the highway,” said Melissa, who lives in Belize City, and was interviewed by Caters News Agency. “I realized it was a kitten sitting there, as a motorcycle sped right by him. But he didn’t run away, so I figured something must be wrong with it. Then I drove up right behind him, and got out the car and scooped him up in a little towel. He didn’t run or fight, he had already given up.”
“When I put him in the car, he started purring very loudly.”
She took the emaciated, dirty kitten straight to a vet, according to the article in The Daily Mail. He had a broken jaw that had become infected, and the vet didn’t think the kitten would survive. The bone was sticking out of his cheek.
“He hadn’t been able to feed himself out on the streets and he was just skin and bones, not even one pound,” said Melissa, who asked her last name not be used.
He was too small to operate on, she was told. And the vet suggested putting him down. “I asked what would happen if we just left it to heal on its own, and the vet said, ‘Well how will he eat like that?’ I don’t know why I had a tin of cat food in my purse, but we opened it for him.”
“He just shoved his entire head into the gravy and showed us all that he could very well eat. So we decided to just give him antibiotics and see what happens.”
Melissa took the injured kitten home, and was delighted to see him gain weight. She named him Smeagol because his eyes were so big and bright. With the aid of antibiotics, he healed, although his mouth is a little crooked. “Hence his snaggletooth.”
Nearly two years later, Smeagol doesn’t look a bit like Gollum. He’s happy and healthy, and enjoying the good life.
About Author
I completely agree! I think it’s amazing that she had a can of cat food with her and just used common sense to try and see if the cat could still eat, and he could! She just cared enough to try something besides putting him down.
wow, that’s unthoughtful considering not all vets, we make rash suggestions. Many of us fight to recover health and happiness for our patients.
Wonderful people dovwonderful things. Thsnk you for saving this beautiful cat
Me too! Thanks for saying so.