After 27 days missing, veterinary student’s cat finds healing at WSU

A cat named Simba is finally home after 27 days missing and six more in intensive care at Washington State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital - where his owner is training to become a veterinarian.

Slipping out the door on Jan. 22, Simba, a fully indoor, orange, 6-year-olddomestic shorthair tabby, was found starved, hypothermic, and severely frostbitten, motionless in a snowbank on Feb. 18. Searching day and night for weeks, responding to dozens of possible sightings, posting fliers and neon posters with her cat's photo, Emma Thrower, a veterinary student at WSU, never stopped searching for her adored cat.

"I was going to take a nap, and thank goodness I didn't because my phone rings, and lately I just answer every call from any number in case someone finds him, and this woman says, 'I think I found your cat, and he's not looking good,'" said Thrower, Simba's owner since he was eight weeks old.

In Arizona for veterinary practice interviews, Thrower made a frantic call to her mother in Pullman, where she was watching over Thrower's other cat and keeping the search for Simba alive.

"They wrapped him in a blanket and called me and I said, 'get to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, WSU is right there,'" said Thrower, who will graduate with her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in May. "I knew he would get the best medicine and be safe at WSU - they'd do everything for him."

A healthy cat's body temperature hovers around 100 degrees, but in WSU's intensive care unit, Simba's was so low it took more than two hours before it even reached 90 degrees on the hospital's thermometers. He had also shed nearly half of his body weight and was in hypovolemic shock - a life-threatening condition characterized by a severe loss of blood or fluids.

They were concerned he may go into septic shock because of his wounds and overall condition," Thrower said.

Veterinarians felt had Simba been left out for an hour or two longer, he likely would have succumbed to the cold. It took days of IV fluids, antibiotics, and much-needed food for a weak and anemic Simba to bounce back.

Thrower said her cat wouldn't be here today without the around-the-clock care of WSU emergency veterinarians and her classmates.

"They are Simba's heroes, and I am so thankful for all of the care they gave him, and not just the care, but love," Thrower said. "It definitely makes me proud to be a WSU student and soon be a WSU alum of the veterinary school."

They are Simba's heroes… It definitely makes me proud to be a WSU student and soon be a WSU alum of the veterinary school.

Thrower, who adopted Simba from Austin Pets Alive! when she was completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas, said she leaned on the timid orange tabby countless times on her path to a doctorate. So much so, she even had Simba registered as an emotional support animal.

"Whenever I'm having a bad day, he just comes up to me and gives unconditional love," Thrower said.

Her partner, Jake Little, who is also studying at WSU to become a veterinarian, said home wasn't quite the same without Simba, and he felt helpless seeing his girlfriend struggling and losing sleep as she spent hours searching for the feline.

"It was stressful for me too because Emma was so clearly upset," Little said. "I love her and Simba, so I was feeling a lot of emotions too."

Thrower and Little have a message to those who may unfortunately experience a lost pet.

"Just don't give up," Thrower said. "Even though Simba was so petite, he kind of showed me that he still had the mental fight in him to survive, the smarts to hide in places where he could stay warm, and not succumb to his hypothermia or predation. He's a little survivor, and I'm very proud of him and happy he is home."

Media Contacts

• Josh Babcock, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine, 509-339-3423, [email protected]