Cat Frozen During Polar Vortex Survives Thaw, Still Has Eight Lives To Live

Fluffy the cat has arrived. She had a miraculous escape after being discovered buried in snow last month.

Fluffy’s owners discovered their frozen and stuck outdoor cat outside their Kalispell, Montana, house on January 31 and promptly drove her to the nearby veterinary clinic. They appear to have rescued her in the nick of time.

Fluffy’s body temperature had plummeted to less than 32°C (90°F), according to doctors. Indeed, she was so cold that the thermometer couldn’t register her temperature and the personnel struggled to start the IV drip. For the record, Fluffy’s typical body temperature ranges between 37 and 39°C (100 and 102°F).

Andrea Dutter, executive director of the Animal Clinic of Kalispell, told reporters that they tried numerous methods to boost Fluffy’s body temperature, including using warm water, a hairdryer, and heated towels that were swapped out.

“And last, we put her in a warm kennel,” she claimed, according to The Washington Post, which appeared to work.

When the ice finally thawed, the crew discovered injuries that they believe kept Fluffy from going home throughout the cold weather.

The good news is that Fluffy only had to stay in the veterinary clinic’s emergency room for one night before coming home with her eight remaining lives intact. She’s fully recovered after one week.

Fluffy wasn’t the only animal to freeze during last month’s arctic vortex, which caused temperatures to plummet to minus 40°C (-40°F), Hell to actually freeze over, and major portions of Niagara Falls to turn to ice.

Alligators at North Carolina’s 65-acre Shallotte River Swamp Park escaped the cold by going into torpor, posing upright beneath the water’s surface with only their snouts poking through the ice.

Even yet, it’s hardly as odd as the frozen iguanas that showered down on Florida or the “flash frozen” turtles that took over New England beaches in 2018.