Princess recovering well

The Timaru rescue cat that underwent brain surgery this week is recovering ‘‘much better than expected and has returned to her normal self’’. Princess, adopted by Timaru’s Family Vet after being found abandoned at Jack’s Point near Timaru in June, underwent surgery to remove a cyst which caused near blindness and seizures in Auckland on Wednesday. Clinic manager Jamie Crilly said yesterday Princess was now as ‘‘super smoochy as she was before the procedure’’. Scans on her brain showed a secondary fluid buildup within the brain cavity which has also drained out. ‘‘As she had to have a small piece of her skull removed, she needs to be careful about jumping and knocking her head,’’ Crilly said. ‘‘Recovery will take a while to fully heal but she has made such a huge improvement over the last 48 hours.’’ He was now considering changing his travel arrangements to leave earlier than anticipated, and bring Princess home. ‘‘The 3D image of her skull showed a dent above where the fluid lesion was and Richard Jerram [the specialist veterinarian surgeon who performed the surgery] wondered if this stemmed from that as a fracture of the skull, which could have happened as a kitten.’’ A Givelittle page set up to raise money for the surgery jumped from $1940 on Wednesday to $7328 on Thursday, following a story in The Herald. As of yesterday afternoon that total had risen to $8113.