Pet of the Month: Chester

Hello, my name is Chester, and I am a young orange tabby boy. I was alone and homeless, scavenging for food, when a Coolridge client found me.

This good Samaritan noticed me limping on my bad front leg and was concerned for my wellbeing. My left front leg was deformed and had been injured and infected from me trying to walk on it. Man, it really hurt! This nice lady caught me and brought me to Coolridge Animal Hospital to get checked out.

Unfortunately, Dr Quigley decided that my leg needed to be amputated. She also found out that I had intestinal worms and an immunosuppressive disease called feline leukemia. The feline leukemia meant that my benefactor couldn’t take me home to live with her and her other cats, and it meant that I could have problems healing after my surgery.

Although many people would have given up on a scared, sick cat with all these issues, my good Samaritan enlisted the aid of the rescue group Animal Allies and decided to give me a chance and pay for my surgery. My anesthesia and surgery went well but unfortunately the infection in my leg got to my surgery site, which got infected and opened back up.

Since then, I’ve had to wear a bandage that wraps all the way around my chest to keep my wound covered. Dr Quigley changes my bandage every day or so. She says that I’m a great patient.

I feel much better without my leg hurting me anymore! The funny thing is that since I’ve been at Coolridge, I’ve discovered that I’m not such a scared cat after all. I like the doctors and technicians that take care of me. I love being petted and rubbed and purring in Dr Quigley’s lap when she makes phone calls. Of course, my favorite time of day is feeding time!

Now I am parasite free, and my wound is healing. Dr Quigley says that hopefully I can take my bandage off soon and then I can go to a home with other feline leukemia positive cats. Everybody tells me how cute I am, and you can see from my picture, they’re right!