Winter in Missouri is often times full of surprises and pretty harsh. Extreme
temperature fluctuation is common. You could be walking outside with just a sweater today (and not die of hypothermia) and would have to gear up with 4 extra layers tomorrow just to walk to your car (that you have hopefully warmed up preemptively). Socks, a 4 month old female kitty found out the hard way just how dangerous the weather is.
One particularly cold January day, Socks’ owner came home from work and was surprised to not see her come out and greet him after a few minutes inside. He noticed both of Socks’ big sisters (Grace and Zoey, both dogs) were in the house and happy to see him, but not Socks. This was odd because Socks and Zoey are like mother and daughter. They play, eat and sleep together. He decided to look for her and could not find her in the house anywhere. While searching the house he noticed that Zoey was leading him towards the basement. This is when he realized that Zoey might have taken her down there since she likes to carry Socks in her mouth when they play. Socks was not in the basement but Zoey led him to the yard (they have a doggy door). When he stepped outside to the backyard he heard a faint call that he could only describe like a “dying duck”. He quickly realized that it was Socks and she was frozen
to the snow and was barely moving. The snow around her looked as though Zoey stayed with her and tried to warm her up. Socks’ fur showed clear signs of “licks”; Zoey was trying to help her by licking which is default “care-taking” for dogs. Her owner reacted fast and brought her inside to warm her up. Lukewarm water was used to rinse off any snow stuck to her fur without getting her too wet and she was dried with a blow drier. Once Socks perked up a little her owner rushed her to the emergency veterinary hospital. Upon examination, the emergency staff found that Socks was obtunded and very hypothermic. Her temperature wouldn’t even register, this happens when it reads lower than 92 degrees. Normal cat temperature is 101. The emergency staff was quick to react and brought her temperature up with warmed IV fluids and warm water enemas. They found that her blood sugar was low so dextrose was administered intravenously to address it.
Hypothermia can occur when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it. Hypothermia will cause shivering at first then slow heartbeat, lack of coordination, drowsiness and weak pulse and eventually loss of consciousness. The body will try to protect itself when exposed to extremely low temperatures. The tissues that are furthest to the center of the body will constrict its vessels to prevent blood from getting there and consequently cooling the rest of the body. Inadequate blood flow to any tissue will prevent nutrients from reaching those parts and they can be damaged or even die, this is more commonly known as frostbite.
Socks recovered pretty quickly but showed signs of bruising on her ears which is an
indication of frostbite. It can take a few days to know the full extent of damage. She was prescribed some pain medication to keep her comfortable and antibiotics because she is at risk for developing infections if the tissues start to die off from frostbite. Her owner brought her to our clinic for a medical progress examination and was seen by Dr.Forbes. Socks’ ears were puffy and were flopping instead of standing straight up. The puffiness is secondary to inflammation from the frostbite. The outer edges of her ears were black in color but still healthy overall so hopefully time will tell if she keeps her tips. Her toes looked good but unfortunately her tail did not. Her owner noticed some crustiness on the tip of the tail and when Dr.Forbes examined it closely she discovered that Socks had lost sensation to the last 1.5 inch of her tail. The skin is otherwise healthy but amputation will need to be considered as Socks may damage the tail further and not know it. Changes in body due to frostbite are unfortunately permanent, but since hers are minor they should not interfere with her quality of life (just with esthetics).
Thanks to her owner’s fast reactions, Zoey’s guidance (and care taking)and a great emergency staff at the University of Missouri Socks did not suffer damages great enough to get in the way of life and will live to feel the warmth of summer.
Written by Ando
