Oz couple spends $25K to save family cat

MELBOURNE - An Australian couple has spent 25,000 dollars -to save their family cat.

Charmion Phillips and her partner drew on their house deposit savings, cancelled plans for an overseas holiday and have delayed parenthood to pay for their pampered pet’s vet bills.

The cat has survived delicate brain surgery and life-threatening encephalitis, meningitis and two apparently fatal heart attacks.

Il Gato has twice died on the operating table and twice been brought back to life by a desperate vet who massaged his heart until it began beating again.

Charmion Phillips, 35, has given up her job as a scientific photographer to stay at home to be a full-time carer to the five-year-old tabby.

“He’s had a nasal fungal condition for so long that we discovered during surgery that it had spread up into his skull where it had penetrated and eaten away the bone,” the Courier Mail quoted specialist vet Charles Kuntz Dr Kuntz as saying.

“We had no option but to remove a section of the skull,” he said.

Il Gato has been plagued by breathing problems usually treated easily by medication.

But his situation became so dire, his owners attended the Southpaws specialist veterinary centre in Moorabbin with no hope of his survival.

“Even though he had twice died and twice been brought back to life by Dr Kuntz, he somehow seemed to rally again when he heard our voices,” Ms Phillips said.

“He had been on life support overnight and when staff removed it so we could take him home, he started breathing on his own for the first time.” she said.

Dr Kuntz, no stranger to extraordinary feats of veterinary surgery, described Il Gato as a “moggy miracle.

“To survive one fatal attack is pretty good but to come back after a second is nothing short of a miracle.

“To start breathing after his life support was turned off was just amazing,” he added.

Multiple scans that showed the shocking extent of Il Gato’s infection, the surgery, around-the-clock care in a humidicrib, life support, medication and anaesthesia have cost the couple a vet bill of over 25,000dollars.

“It’s a lot of money we have spent but we have spent a lot of money before on overseas holidays that last a week and Il Gato has given us six years so far,” the couple said. (ANI)