THEO SAVED MY LIFE
Charlotte Dixon tenderly nursed her kitten Theo back to health as he struggled with cat flu, staying up overnight to keep him warm and feeding him liquidised food through a pipette. Then, a few years later in January 2015, something remarkable happened.
“I was doing a lot of physical training and was probably the fittest I have ever been. When I developed a niggling pain in my leg I assumed I’d pulled something but one night I felt especially ill.
“I put myself to bed but Theo just wouldn’t let me rest, he kept jumping on the bed, nudging and pawing at my face and trying to sit on my head. I repeatedly put him on the floor, floor pleading with him to let me sleep but he just would not stop.
“In the morning, feeling unwell and exhausted, I called my mum. I collapsed just after her arrival and she called the paramedics, who diagnosed a blood clot. I argued that I was fit and healthy and I hadn’t been on a long flight. I also explained that I was exhausted as my cat hadn’t let me sleep.
“The paramedic said that if his diagnosis was right and I had fallen asleep during the night, then I probably wouldn’t have woken up.
“At hospital, it was confirmed that it was indeed a blood clot which had travelled from my knee up into my pelvis. I was blue-lighted blue lighted to a specialist vascular unit and spent over a week in a high dependency care, fighting for my life.
“In the midst of this very scary time, my family and I also realised that Theo had saved my life. It was a pretty incredible thought – although he has always been a very intuitive cat, who would snuggle up with me if I had period pain or sit beside me if I was feeling low.
“Theo is eight now Sadly, he was diagnosed with hea art failure earlier this year. He is currentl ly responding well to treatment, but at some point soon th hat will change and tha at really chokes me up. He is family to my husband Stuart and I.
“Theo has been shortlisted for Cats Protection’s National Cat Awards 2018. He is a finalist in the Purina Better Together category, celebrating the special bond between cats and their owners. I’m so excited! It is lovely that the judges consider him to be as special as I do.” WWW.CATS.ORG.UK/NATIONAL-CATOW. AWARDS
Theo wouldn’t let me rest. But if I’d slept, I might not have woken up