Ember was the cat that was in the house fire and wasn’t found for a couple of days afterward. She has been through a lot. There was more than a week in the oxygen cage. The heat and smoke damaged her lungs and they didn’t work well and had to be supported. The daily bandage changes are behind her and she has new paw pads and a new nose.
The fluids that combated the toxins from the smoke have been discontinued. She seems okay.
Her short hair has grown back in. We can now see that she is a mostly black tortoiseshell cat. Her whiskers are growing back in, but are not as stiff as normal cat whiskers. Since they were melted back into the follicles, it may take more time to be normal. Or they may never be quite normal.
Likewise, her claws are not quite the right shape after being melted.
The rescue still has her photo up and continues to collect to help other animals, but here at Guardian Animal, Ember has fans that visit her and bring gifts. They follow her progress on our Facebook page.
Jan 13: Ember’s ears are peeling.
Jan 15: A photo of Ember sleeping on the back of my chair’s head rest. She had also been playing in my hair, so it was messed up. I wrote: “One of us was working on taxes. Then in the comments: I run my fingers through my hair when things don’t add up. I put in a set of hours instead of pay. It was one of the Morehead students so it wasn’t obvious. That took a couple of hours. I soooooooo would go for a national and state sales tax and no income tax.”
“Guessing not Ember.”
“At least you have a good supervisor looking over your shoulder. She looks better every time a pic is posted! Who would have thought it a few weeks ago!”
“A week on oxygen. More fluids. Even more daily bandage changes. Pain meds went down to daily today and she was playing with a mouse toy this afternoon.”
“You both look pretty intense at the moment- perhaps you are balancing books, and she is, well, maintaining her balance on the back of the chair!”
“She is making sure you’re adding it up correctly ?? I love seeing her updates!”
“She’s providing moral support.”
“Smile MJ, she loves you for saving her and giving her a home”
“Ember is a CPA? Cool!”
“She’s definitely “yours” now. I always love when the animal knows it is thankful for you.”
Jan 16: A Facebook post: Ember continues to get better and I am encouraged by strangers that have offered help. This note (Photo: “Thank you so much for the care of Ember. I hope this check helps in some small way.”) arrived in the mail. Someone stopped in yesterday to visit her and leave a donation. Thank you! We try to help out in a lot of situations. It is nice to see some appreciation for that. We used it to helped an Army veteran with his dog this week, but that didn’t end as we would’ve liked. RIP JB.
Jan 18: Made herself at home she did. Yep. On top of my credenza with my advent calendar. #ember By the way, my heart was warmed when we got two donations from Grayson in the mail today. $10 or $25 is not a lot, considering the thousands her care could have cost, but it lets me know people do care. Actually if everyone who saw Ember had contributed $5, it would have paid for her care.
Jan 25: We had a wonderful visitor to see Ember! Lilly decided that for her 10th birthday, she wanted to meet her favorite internet furry friend in person. She has been following Ember’s story and progress on our Facebook since the very beginning. She came in to bring Ember gifts and make a donation, one of which was birthday money she was given. We are so thankful for those of you, like Lilly, that help us in our continued care for Ember and others like her in need!
My life got very busy about then and the Facebook updates were a little less frequent. We weaned her off pain meds, she finally didn’t need bandages any more and her ears healed well. Shorter than normal, but healthy tissue.
Ember now has a job besides putting any loose papers on the floor in my office. She helps answer the phones. “This is Ember. Press 1 if you are a new client. Press 2 if you are an existing client. Press 3 if you don’t have an animal. This call may be recorded for training of the humans.”
The end of January, beginning of February, Ember went into heat. She was all over everyone, purring as always, but yowling and mewing loudly. I posted a video of her rolling on the floor. “Ember in a different kind of heat. She was fixed the very next day. Sutures come out in a few days.”
Ember and the hamster are allowed to roam the treatment area on Wednesdays and weekends. The hamster has to be in his hamster ball and Ember is not allowed to bother him. Ember is learning to stay off the lab and out of the pharmacy. She insists that she is allowed to sleep on the fiberoptics cart. (She is not!) Ember likes dogs and walks right up to them. She is not fond of other cats.
Ember definitely has a fan club. I’m not sure I totally understand it. We have worked harder and saved worse cases. I have even spent more of my money treating other patients when there is a need. It might be people think about Ember alone and by herself those first 48 hours. It must have been rough. Was she scared? How did she deal with the pain? Did she wonder about her people? It might be that she still purrs and rubs her head on us like she did while getting her bandages changed. My new roommate is definitely settling in. She purrs really loud, even when she looks like she is asleep. It might be that she is cute. Whatever, she has fans.
#Ember