Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Lifesaving vets inspire Holly’s career dream
ATEN-YEAR-OLD girl from Wiltshire has vowed to become a vet after she penned a charming letter about her injured kitten.
Holly Floyd wrote to vet Kate Russell in her neatest handwriting to thank her for saving her cat Bailey after he was hit by a car.
And Holly said that when she grew up she wanted to be like Kate.
On a hand-made card, Holly said: “As well as saving Bailey’s life you have inspired me to become a vet one day myself.
“Thank you so, so, so, so much for looking after our precious and most loved cat Bailey – you have saved his life.”
Then Holly added that “our whole family – grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins and friends” would have been devastated if Bailey had not made it.
Kate was so bowled over by the card she invited Holly and her seven-year-old sister, Ella, to the Vets Now hospital in Swindon, where she works, to look around.
Kate said: “We were really touched to get Holly’s card. It’s a lovely reminder of the human dimension to what we do – as well as the animal one.
“We like to think that we care for owners as well as their pets, so it’s great to get this sort of feedback.
“I’m so pleased that Holly and Ella want to be vets. It’s a wonderful thing to be and I can honestly say that no two days are the same.”
Mischievous one-year-old Bailey was struck when he was out prowling for mice at night. But the first Holly and her family knew that anything was wrong was the next morning when Holly went downstairs to get breakfast.
Somehow, Bailey had managed to drag himself back through the cat flap and into the utility room, where he was lying with a swollen head and with blood coming from his nose and mouth.
“Holly yelled up the stairs to me,” said her mum Lorraine. “She said, ‘Mummy. Mummy, it’s Bailey, something’s happened. I rushed down and poor Bailey really did look in a terrible state.
“He looked awful. I really thought we were going to lose him.”
Lorraine, from Highworth, Wiltshire, phoned Vets Now and was urged to bring Bailey in immediately.
“I’m very glad I did,” said Lorraine. “It was touch and go. Bailey was in intensive care for two nights and they warned us he might well not make it.
“He had a really bad trauma to his head which the vets said could only really have come from being hit by a vehicle.
“Those two days were awful, just awful.”
To make matters worse, not long after Bailey got home, Bailey’s brother Charlie was taken to Vets Now after he, too, was hit by a car. He somehow managed to make it home.
Kate said: “Both the cats are lucky to be alive.”
Bailey is largely back to his old self now, although he has ended up losing an eye. Charlie faces weeks of rehabilitation after undergoing surgery for a fractured pelvis and dislocated hip.