Palo Alto Daily News:
http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/article/2006-9-28-pa-cat-problems
(opens in new window)

Alice Yang, an accountant at Connexed, looks at Buddy who was shot in the leg on Embarcadero Way across from the Palo Alto Airport. Buddy is an office cat at Connexed and was adopted one year ago. Another cat in the area has been reported missing and people fear it may be a related incident. Buddy's owners are offering a reward for information.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Rick Bentley [mailto:rick@connexed.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:11 AM
To: 'friendsofbuddy@thebentleys.com'
Subject: Buddy update: his first day back

After a successful operation on Monday, I was encouraged to pick up Buddy yesterday in the afternoon. He’s back at the clubhouse now, I think being home visibly lifted his spirits … but he’s a real mess.

A large part of his femur is simply not there anymore, there’s a gap near the knee between the knee and the hip. They ran a pin in through his hip, all the way to his knee, and left it sticking outside of his haunches. Then they ran two more pins in through the side of his leg, one in his hip and one by his knee, and joined it all up on the outside with more pins. Leaving that in place for 6-8 weeks will, they say, give the bone a chance to grow down and meet up and fill the current gap in his femur.

It breaks my heart to see the symbol of grace and vigor that has been Buddy reduced to a crippled cat, flopping around awkwardly, and only able to barely stand and shake while he pees on his own leg in his litter box -- which is exactly what he did before he curled up in it and went to sleep (I cleaned out his deposit first), picture attached. That is the most comfortable he’s looked since he’s been home.

That said, he’s alive and on the mend. He is a strong cat and I’m sure he will get better. I’m looking forward to the pain and discomfort he so obviously feels finally diminishing so that I can see the look of happiness in his face that I miss so very much.
From: Rick Bentley [mailto:rick@thebentleys.com]
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 10:05 PM
To: buddysfriends@thebentleys.com
Subject: Buddy update: they saved his leg today

Attached is the x-ray of his femur, it’s not pretty. Nevertheless, they saved his leg today. He has pins both inside and outside the leg, the ones outside at least will have to stay on for a couple of moths while he lives in a dog-kennel sized cage so that he can’t re-injure it.

I think he’ll be coming home tomorrow! It will be a long hard recovery for him but the long term prognosis is good.

If only all my wishes came true like this one.

Rick



From: Rick Bentley [mailto:rick@thebentleys.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 2:17 AM
To: 'buddysfriends@thebentleys.com'
Subject: BUDDY WAS SHOT!

As some of you may know, Buddy went missing sometime Thursday night after 7:30pm when I last saw him. According to the video logs he didn’t come in that night. By the next day, after looking and calling everywhere for him, Alice and I hung fliers in the area in hopes of finding him. I kept looking and calling and expanding my search and driving around and calling shelters and everything.

This evening, in a fit of desperation, and after putting on a nylon outfit, head sock, gloves and goggles, I crawled through the hedge in front of the clubhouse on my belly. There, about 8’ into it, I found him curled up in a ball. He was nearly comatose; I dragged him out and rushed him to the vet.

It turns out that he was SHOT in the right rear leg; the bullet/pellet devastated his femur. The x-ray shows empty space, surrounded by bone fragment, where the middle of his upper leg bone used to be. There is an entrance wound on his leg as well, but no exit wound has been found.

He is on IV, pain killers, and antibiotics waiting a transfer to another veterinary clinic tomorrow and then surgery on Monday by an orthopedist. It is not clear if the leg will be saved or not, but it does appear that he will pull through, despite his 52hrs w/o food or water and his substantial injury and subsequent infection. For the Doc/Vets in the house his stats are: fever = 104.4, heart rate = 200, and he is 11.1lbs, down from about 12.

I will be posting the attached flyer in the area next. It turns out that another great cat in the area, Buster, who lives across the street from Buddy, has been missing for just over a week. I hope that the incidents are not related.

Sorry for the mass e-mail, I had a lot of people to update and it’s 2:15am...

Rick