LOOKING GOOD!
Sydney feline happy and healthy after oil-covered experience
Joey the cat has recovered from furnace oil ordeal.
A Sydney feline has made a full recovery after he was covered in furnace oil following the Thanksgiving Day flood in October.
Lucy Wintermans said Joey the cat is back to his old self, happy and healthy, after his frightening experience.
“It took a couple of weeks until he was fully recovered,” said the cat’s owner. “His skin and a lot of his fur came off, but once it grew back he was fine.”
Joey was normally an outdoor cat, but after flooding across the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, including in Wintermans south-end Sydney neighbourhood, she decided to keep him inside for nearly a week.
After the worst of the flood waters had receded, Wintermans felt it was safe to let Joey outside. However, when the cat returned home, he was covered head to toe in furnace oil.
Joey was given about six baths with Dawn detergent, but Wintermans feared for his safety after he had licked himself and eaten some of his fur off.
The following day, Wintermans took Joey to the veterinarian where he underwent a number of tests and it was determined that his organs were functioning mostly normally, but he was placed on antibiotics to be safe and was given the OK to return home.
The next day, Joey still wasn’t himself, leaving Wintermans no choice but to take him back to the vet, where he was Xrayed and spent the night on intravenous and bathed again.
When Joey returned home a second time he was placed on different medication and his recovery began.
Today, Joey is back to his normal self, playing outside and snuggling with his family, something Wintermans is happy to see.
“We really love him and treat him as a member of our family,” said Wintermans. “We would be devastated if anything ever happened to him.”
Wintermans said Joey the cat still goes outside and will turn two years old at the end of the month.