Extremely Metal Cat Survives Being Frozen Solid
February 7, 2019The next time you worry about your local bodega cat this winter, just remember that cats are indestructible. They basically take care of themselves—roaming from nook to nook, indoor to outdoor, surviving on the Fancy Feast that a random cat-lover leaves on their patio, and generally taking zero shit from anyone. Apparently some cats are so resilient, so bafflingly impervious to what would kill an ordinary house pet, they can survive being frozen solid in subzero temperatures.
According to ABC News, a cat named Fluffy was found in a snowbank with her fur completely caked in ice on January 31, right around the time the polar vortex hit the US. Fluffy's owners live in Kalispell, Montana, which was rocked by more than 15 inches of snow in January and temperatures that dipped below 0 degrees. She was rushed to the Animal Clinic of Kalispell, where veterinarian Jevon Clark tried to take her temperature, but couldn't even manage to: It was so low, it wouldn't register on a thermometer. Worried the cold might kill her, the clinic rushed Fluffy to an emergency animal hospital.
"I’ve never seen this. I’ve been in practice for almost 24 years and she was actually caked in ice, like those ice balls were caked on her all the way around her—360 degrees all the way around her," Clark told local NBC affiliate KULR8.
"She was essentially frozen," Andrea Dutter, the animal clinic's executive director, told CNN.
Miraculously, the veterinarians managed to defrost Fluffy from despondent catsicle to "recovered" and "completely normal," according to a Facebook post from the clinic. Using a combination of warm water, hair dyers, heated towels, and a heated kennel, they were able to save Fluffy's life, according to CNN.
The owners don't know how Fluffy wound up frozen in that snowbank, though it might have to do with an injury that kept her from getting to a warmer perch. According to CNN, she's mostly an outdoor cat that the owners "acquired" when they moved in—but maybe it's time to keep Fluffy inside for a while.
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