PurHaven, Inc.: Emergency Medical Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The Emergency Medical Grant of $700 was used for surgery to remove a large, infected inner-ear polyp and also the biopsy for a cat we named Lefty.

The Emergency Medical Grant saved the life of one unassuming little tabby cat whom we brought to our sanctuary who had been doing his mousing job for a dairy farmer but was never going to receive the medical care he would need to restore his health and live a pain-free life.

How many pets did this grant help?

One cat

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Lefty is a sweet boy whom we encountered as part of a group of dairy farm cats in Maryland that we were trapping to spay/neuter and vaccinate. He had a head tilt at that time; the ear polyp was tiny and the vet at the TNR clinic could not remove it because it was so deep in his ear.

We kept him at our sanctuary so we could monitor him, and I am glad we did because the polyp grew so large that is grew out of his ear (while the last photo is not the best, you can see the pink thing in the container and it is the size of my thumb!).

We drove two hours to the eastern shore of Maryland to a vet who did these kinds of ear-polyp removals at a reasonable cost, where they drill into the bone in the neck and remove the polyp from the side.

Lefty still has a head tilt, and the vet said that it will most likely never go away. But Lefty gets around just fine and he has adjusted to seeing life at an angle! Lefty is still looking for his forever home, but it will need to be a very special one. Until that time, he will remain here at our sanctuary in Western Maryland, where he can live indoors and outdoors (his choice) within the protection of a fenced yard. He loves to bask in the sunlight and play with the leaves as they dance in the breeze.