Sasha was our family cat, she was a ragdoll breed and very cuddly and good natured.
She was missing for a few days and we were starting to get a bit worried and also looking for her in the mornings and at night as our house backs onto a reserve and sports fields.
My first thoughts were that she either was out on and adventure or she had somehow got stuck in the many storm water drains around here.
We had a big storm on Saturday night and then also through Sunday morning, I went looking for her again on Sunday morning, I looked out the gate and wandered up onto the fields first keeping an eye out for a big ball of fluff that stands out amongst the landscape as it was wet and she is a very light brown colour as rag dolls are.
I walked for about 30m and then decided I would have a look back down the storm drains that lead to the lake and in the distance I saw a light coloured mass that looked like a plastic bag, as I walked closer I realized it was our cat and I started to run, I’ll never forget the way she looked at me when I found her and picked her up, her breathing was labored and she looked like a drowned rat, I quickly ran her back to the house to comfort and warm her up.
She was very distressed, not eating or drinking and barely moving, we thought it was just from the trauma of being stuck and getting washed out or similar.
We decided that we would put her in the wash house overnight as she was improving a little and then if needed take her to the vet in the morning on Monday.
Sad to say she didn’t improve over night and her breathing and movement were getting worse, but she did have a little heat in her body.
We took her to the vet and found out she had a paralysis tick on her, which would explain the lack of movement and the inability to eat or drink, they removed the paralysis tick off her, gave her injections and put her on oxygen.
Sadly she passed away before lunch.
The sad thing about the whole situation is we didn’t even think it was a tick and so we are left with a lot of what ifs about the whole ordeal.
We buried her in our garden in front of the swing set so she can hear the kids playing and the birds chirping around her, she will be a sadly missed pet as she was great with the kids and had a great nature about her.
R.I.P Sasha.
