Pet Success Stories
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Gentle Doctor Animal Hospital donates thousands of dollars of veterinary care each year to treat the sick and injured homeless animals that live in our community. A portion of your money spent at Gentle Doctor Animal Hospital enables us to contribute services to local rescue groups and shelters. Here are just a few of the many animals we have successfully treated:
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JT is a 3-4 year old male cat that was brought to us due to multiple burn wounds on his body. It is unknown whether someone poured hot liquid or acid on JT or whether he accidentally got exposed to a hot or caustic liquid. We treated JT for several weeks to get the wounds to heal. Most of his hair grew back but there are a few scars left over on his legs and feet. |
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Athena was a cat brought to the shelter to be euthanized because she was peeing on the furniture in the house. We ran a urine test and found she had a bladder infection. We also found crystals in the urine which are frequent causes of bladder infections in cats. After antibiotics and a change in diet, the bladder infection resolved, the crystals went away, and Athena stop urinating on furniture. |
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Tom is a middle aged cat that was found on the road hit by a car. Tom had very severe injuries including a fractured jaw, internal bleeding, a severely injured eye, and nerve damage to one side of his face. After weeks in intensive care in the hospital including surgery to repair his fractured jaw and the placement of a stomach tube to feed him until his jaw healed, Tom recovered. Although he plays and is enjoying life again, he is partially blind in his injured eye and has a drooling problem due to nerve paralysis on the side of his face. As he would have been very difficult to adopt due to his drooling problem, we kept Tom as one of our “hospital cats”. |
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Ichabod is a beautiful 2-3 year old cat that was attached by another animal, most likely a dog. He had severe injuries to his belly when he was picked up by the shelter and some of his intestines were hanging outside his body. After surgery, intravenous fluids, and weeks of antibiotics, Ichabod recovered and has been living a very comfortable life. |
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This was a two year old female black Labrador retriever that was infected with heartworms. She stayed in our hospital for several days while we successfully treated her for heartworms. |
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This poor two year old male black cat came in to see us because he was drooling excessively. When we opened his mouth we found he had several severe ulcers on his tongue. These ulcers may have been caused by a virus called calicivirus or may have developed after licking something caustic. Either way, the cat was in too much pain to eat or even drink water. We kept the cat fluids so he would not get dehydrated and kept him on antibiotic injections until his mouth healed and he was able to eat and drink again. |
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This was a four month old Collie mix that was found on the side of the road walking on three legs with an injured right rear leg. An x-ray revealed a broken bone of his upper leg bone (femur). Unfortunately, the fracture was too old to repair and the leg had to be amputated. However, he recovered nicely and can still chase rabbits despite the loss of the leg. |
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This young Great Horned Owl was unable to fly and was brought to us because of an injured wing. He had what appeared to be a puncture wound near the center part of the wing. Fortunately, x-rays revealed no broken bones. He was treated with antibiotics and fluids injected under the skin and sent to a wildlife rehabilitation center to rehabilitate him and release him back into the wild. |
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This female beagle was a stray that was picked up that would not eat. She had a high fever and a cough which we diagnosed as “kennel cough” or Bordetella. She recovered with antibiotic treatment and was adopted out to a new home. |
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These two cute little stray kittens were relatively healthy except that one of them had a swollen spot on the side of the face. In the center of the swollen spot was a hole in the skin. We sedated the kitten and flushed out the infected wound and found a parasite in it called “cuterebra” which was about 2/3rds of an inch in length. |
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This is a very malnourished kitten that had several wounds on the body that were loaded with maggots. The kitten was also severely malnourished and near death when she arrived. In addition to cleaning and disinfecting the wounds, this kitten required fluid therapy and intensive care for a few weeks before she finally recovered. |
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Screech was a little black, male kitten that almost lost his right eye due to a severe herpesvirus infection. It took weeks of antiviral eye medicine and a surgical procedure on the eye to get the ulcer on the eye to heal. Fortunately, he will have a normal eye now that the ulcer is almost healed. |
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This is a six year old, female, Basset mix that had a large breast tumor. Fortunately, this tumor was benign so removing it should cure the dog even though it is quite large. The tumor was removed and the dog recovered with no problems. |
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This is a mastiff that was infested with heartworms. We treated him successfully, and he now has a new home. |
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This turtle was run over by a lawnmower. The shell was wrapped with sterile bandages and the turtle placed on antibiotics. It took several months to heal after which the turtle was released back into the wild. |
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This beautiful male chocolate Labrador Retriever had a bone infection in his leg. After extensive testing, we diagnosed a fungus infection called Blastomycosis. This fungus is very difficult to eliminate from the body and takes many months and often more than a year to cure. We attempted treatment but after about two months, the fungus spread to the lungs and unfortunately, he had to be euthanized. |
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This box turtle was hit by a car and had a shell fracture. We anesthetized the turtle and placed screws and wires to piece the shell back together. He was sent to a reptile rescue to be treated until the shell healed after which he would be released back into the wild. |
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This goose was attacked by a dog and had a broken wing. Repairing fractures in birds is usually not possible since their bones are hallow, so the goose’s wing was amputated. We found her a home with a lady that has a pond. |
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This is a poodle mix that was found in a field with severe hair mats and a severely lacerated tail. The mats were shaved off (the photo shows you the size of the largest mat; you could not see the dog’s eyes due to the size of the hair mat). The tail was not only severely lacerated but had no nerve function and had to be amputated. She recovered well and was quickly adopted into a new home. |
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This female Terrier mix dog had what are called “retained baby teeth”. This means some of her baby teeth never fell out. This is common in small breed dogs and the baby teeth need to be removed when this happens. In this case the brown on the teeth is excessive tartar which often occurs when the teeth are overcrowded due to the baby teeth not falling out on their own. We removed the baby teeth, cleaned all of her teeth, and found her a new home. |
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This homeless cat was found with the skin of its tail peeled off. This is known as a degloving injury and can occur when a cat climbs up inside the engine of a car to stay warm during cold weather. Unfortunately, when the engine is turned on, the cat’s tail and sometimes other body parts can get caught in the fan belt causing broken bones or skin to be removed from an extremity. Fortunately, this cat recovered well after we amputated his tail. |
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This male cat was found with a very severely deformed rear leg. X-rays showed multiple fractures that attempted to heal without surgery. In the end, the cat’s leg was too severely injured to be repaired and had to be amputated. He was very sweet and found a new home. He is still able to jump up onto the window sill and watch the birds fly by despite missing one of his legs. |
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This is a 1-2 year old male cat that was brought to us because he was severely dehydrated, spitting up blood and had a lot of discharge from his eyes and nose. He was nearly dead when he arrived. He was placed in intensive care and treated with intravenous fluids, antibiotics, and a procedure called nebulization for his severe respiratory infection. Fortunately, after ten days of treatment, he made a full recovery. |
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This five week old kitten was brought to us with limping on her back left leg. X-rays showed she had a fractured upper leg bone. Her leg was placed in a splint and the fracture eventually healed. |
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This 5 month old kitten was found on the side of the road after being hit by a car. She had a severe concussion and was hospitalized on fluids and cortisone injections for several days before she recovered. |
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This kitten was infected with a fungus infection of the skin called “ringworm.” Although treatable, most kittens require an average of 4-6 weeks of treatment. |
