One ordinary Tuesday in September took a decidedly extraordinary turn for Lea Perugini and her beloved 7-year-old orange tabby, Eli. This wasn’t a typical feline frolic; Eli, a generally sociable cat who enjoys occasional neighborhood strolls around their Boston home, had been conspicuously absent all day. “He doesn’t go and wander,” Lea explained to us, a growing knot of worry tightening in her stomach.
Her search led her next door, where a large foam insulation truck had been parked for hours. Little did she know, this innocuous vehicle held the key to Eli’s mysterious disappearance.
An hour into her increasingly frantic search, Lea’s phone rang. It was her roommate, who had just arrived home and was speaking with an animal rescue worker outside. “[My roommate] was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Eli, he got sprayed,’” Lea recounted. The words sent a jolt of adrenaline through her. “And I started, like, sprinting home. I ran a record-time mile back to my house.”
The unbelievable scene that awaited her was something no pet owner ever imagines. Workers had been spraying foam insulation in the neighboring attic, and for reasons unknown, curious Eli had ventured in to investigate. Perhaps the fearless feline saw it as a playful escapade – until the moment it wasn’t. Now, a thick, hardened layer of ivory foam encased his entire body, obscuring his face and trapping him within its rigid embrace.
Panic surged, but Lea knew she had to act fast. She immediately called the Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG) in Newton, her voice tight with urgency, explaining the bizarre and alarming situation. On the other end of the line, Dr. Thamires Nunes, a seasoned ER veterinarian, listened with a mix of concern and disbelief. “I was like, ‘We’re not groomers, but we can [help],’” Dr. Nunes told The Dodo, initially underestimating the severity of Eli’s predicament.
But when Eli arrived at the bustling emergency room, the reality of the situation hit the VEG team with full force. “We were just doing the other cases in the ER, and then all of a sudden, Eli comes in, and we’re like, ‘Oh my God. This is a bit more than a little bit of spray foam.’”
Their priority was immediate: ensuring Eli could breathe. Miraculously, despite the suffocating foam, a tiny bubble around his nose allowed for precious breaths. “He had the tiniest little bubble around his nose where he could still breathe properly, even though his full eyes and mouth were basically shut,” Dr. Nunes marveled, suspecting Eli’s own efforts to clear some of the foam before it hardened had saved him. “He got very, very lucky,” she emphasized.
With time ticking, the team administered pain medication and gently sedated the trapped cat. The arduous task of freeing him began. “We felt the time crunch,” Dr. Nunes explained. “We just started hacking along. And it was a team of five or six nurses. Everybody got some tool that they could find in the hospital to be able to do this. Most of it was like breaking pieces of foam. Others were shaving.”
Amidst the painstaking work, Dr. Nunes’s concern shifted to potential internal damage. A call to the ASPCA poison hotline thankfully confirmed the foam wasn’t toxic. However, the worry about Eli’s vision remained. “We had concerns about his vision, like, did spray foam get into his eye?” Dr. Nunes recalled.
But Lady Luck seemed to be watching over Eli that day. His thick fur acted as a protective barrier, preventing the foam from reaching his delicate skin and eyes. After two grueling hours of “straight shaving and cracking and breaking stuff up,” Eli was finally free – albeit completely bald.
Back in the familiar comfort of his home, Eli’s resilience shone through. “The second I brought him home, he acted like nothing happened to him [even though] he was shaved,” Lea laughed. “He looked like a sphynx cat. It was so funny.”
It took two long months for his fur to fully regrow, restoring him to his fluffy glory. And true to his nature, Eli seamlessly resumed his role as the beloved “neighborhood celebrity cat,” often found lounging on the front steps with Lea, greeting passersby with his usual nonchalant charm.
For Dr. Nunes and the dedicated staff at VEG in Newton, the memory of the foam-covered Eli remains etched in their minds. “I mean … No one has ever seen anything even remotely like what happened to Eli,” Dr. Nunes affirmed. This unbelievable incident serves as a testament not only to the unexpected challenges that can befall our beloved pets but also to the unwavering dedication of emergency veterinarians and, most importantly, the incredible, built-different strength and spirit of a little orange tabby named Eli, whose resilience continues to bring a smile to his human’s face every single day.
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