On a suburban street outside Pittsburgh, a tiny black and white cat used the last of her strength to drag herself up an icy driveway. Weakened by hunger and an infection, the 4-pound cat lay down in the snow and started to freeze to the ground.
Carly Toth, cat coordinator at the animal rescue Pet Friends, was nearby helping a feral cat colony when her phone rang.
“There was a good friend of mine who was trying to get a newly discovered colony inside before the weather took another turn. So, I agreed to take three [cats] who were pseudo-friendly,” Toth told The Dodo. “I literally had just pulled away … and she called me, and she was like, ‘There’s a frozen cat in McKeesport. Can you find somewhere to take it?’”
“This was the first frozen cat I’ve dealt with in the 10 years I’ve been in rescue,” Toth added.
Toth hoped she wasn’t too late to help, but the cat was so cold and stiff that it was unclear if she could be revived. At the vet clinic, a team was ready and waiting. Lizzie B., a vet tech, took the little animal wrapped in a blanket to one of the doctors. When a faint heartbeat was detected, it was all hands on deck to thaw the cat and get her back to consciousness.
“She was as cold as she could get,” Toth said. “It took three hours for her temperature to even register on the thermometer.”
On a heating pad and covered in warm towels, the cat slowly woke up, showing her medical team her fighting spirit.
“Just as soon as she woke up, the first thing she was doing was making biscuits,” Lizzie B. told The Dodo. “She’s just so resilient. And, I don’t know, just the way that she looks at you like she’s so thankful and she’s so happy to be here.”
The little cat wasn’t spayed or vaccinated, but she did have a microchip. The vet’s office called the number on the microchip, and instead of taking over the cat’s medical care, the former owner opted to surrender her.
The cat had been living on the street for over a month, near her former home, and the wounds on her back legs suggested her medical care and recovery would be extensive and time consuming.
After four hours of treatment, the cat went home with Toth and managed to make it through the night. The next day, Toth named her Birthday — celebrating the first day of the rest of her life.
Despite being starving and fighting an infection in her legs, Birthday was so grateful for any love offered to her, purring with her entire body.
“She’s friendly as can be,” Toth said. “She’s sweet as pie.”
But it wasn’t just Toth that Birthday was winning over. On her near-daily trips to the vet for bandage changes, the cat spent time with her favorite vet tech, Lizzie B. And before either of them realized, Lizzie B. decided to adopt Birthday into her family.
“It wasn’t even a conscious choice. I was like, ‘I just can’t let her go.’” Lizzie B. said. “I just have to keep her in my life.”
One of Birthday’s legs was unable to be saved and had to be amputated. But that isn’t going to hold her back from starting her new life. Once she’s healed from surgery and has reached a healthy weight, she’ll go to live in her forever home with her biggest fan.
“There’s just something about her. I can’t put it into words,” Lizzie B. said. “I was one of the first nurses there helping when she woke up. And I was holding her the other day, and I was like, ‘I can’t let you go anywhere else.’ You know what I mean? I just love this cat.”
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