The hardest part of animal welfare is when an orphan pet who seems perfectly healthy crashes overnight. That was the case with Galileo. When the one-year-old tabby first came to Helen Woodward Animal Center in late March, we thought he would have an easy Spring. He looked to be in good health, he had a great personality, and he had a striking cream colored coat. Surely, he would find his permanent people without a problem.
But then, Galileo’s health failed him overnight. One weekend morning he shocked the Center’s medical staff with bloody nasal discharge. He stopped eating. Whenever our staff tried to feed him, he’d throw it up almost immediately. They had to insert a feeding tube into Galileo’s neck so he wouldn’t die of malnutrition. Yet, throughout the whole ordeal, Galileo remained friendly and cuddly to our veterinary assistants. He wouldn’t let his medical emergency get in the way of his loving heart.
Our veterinary team did their best to diagnose him as soon as possible. They thought he might have lymphoma – which would require expensive and uncomfortable chemotherapy treatments. The Monday after his health crashed, Dr. Siler determined Galileo had a bad case of feline pneumonia.
With a diagnosis in place, the team started Galileo on an aggressive antibiotic treatment. The medicine worked almost overnight. Within two days, the sand colored tabby regained his appetite enough for his feeding tube to be removed. By the end of the week, you could hardly tell that Galileo’s life was on the line just days earlier.
Our team monitored Galileo’s health for the next week to ensure he didn’t crash again. When we determined he had totally beaten his pneumonia, we made him available. The two-year-old orange tabby’s search for a forever family didn’t take long. He was adopted the day after becoming available.
