Marti : the six-thousand-pound-plus miracle moggie
31 January 2019
Marti - a Cats Protection rescue cat who had an ‘unusual heart murmur’ - was saved at the eleventh hour from certain death by her kind and caring Erdington adopters Amanda and Monica.
The couple gave up the belated honeymoon in San Francisco they’d planned and instead drew £6,500 out of the bank to pay for Marti’s emergency life-saving heart surgery. And they did so with a happy, not heavy, heart.
Pictured is Marti the miracle moggie with Monica, who gave up her honeymoon to fund life-saving heart surgery, and Sheila, the CP volunteer who was Marti's fosterer. Sheila says it was 'lovely to visit, give Marti a cuddle, and hear such a heart-warming Valentine-month love story - I'm thinking of the National Cat Awards 2019 already!'
Amanda Lewis-Maxwell tells how she saw and fell in love with Marti in January 2018. “Martina – as she was then – was featured on the North Birmingham website as a dear little one-year old rescue cat with a very sad start in life and a heart problem. So I wrote on my adoption application that ‘Martina and I could take our medication together’ as I had a similar problem. And Monica and I adored her from day one.”
Monica takes up the story: “She loved fuss and attention and, as Amanda was abroad a lot with her job and I was more home-based, she truly became ‘my cat and my companion’. The Cats Protection welfare officer, Shaki, ensured we had a CP-paid-for consultation with the Sheldon vet who first diagnosed Marti’s heart problem. We knew that any expenses after that would be ours. Pet insurances rarely cover pre-existing conditions. And the six-month scan, around June 2018, showed a deteriorating situation. We’d noticed the changes too. Marti would play less, and was always stretching out to sleep - never curling up in a ball. It was as if her enlarged heart wouldn’t let her. We downloaded an app for counting her chest rise and fall.”
Marti was referred to The Willows in Solihull for a second opinion. And that opinion was that she needed urgent life-saving surgery. With aftercare, the cost would be an eye-watering £6,500. Amanda and Monica made the joint and immediate decision to forego their honeymoon to save the life of their beloved cat without a second thought. “Although” says Amanda, “it was only afterwards we recalled the vet said there was a chance she might not live. But our miracle Marti had already survived against all the odds, and we had every faith she would survive the surgery too.”
And she did! Marti had practically all her fur shaved off, and the photos taken after the surgery show all the scars, stitches and bald patches. Then just days after her life-saving op there were more worries for Amanda and Monica when Marti caught a cold. They had to administer lots of different medications which Marti took readily – even taking tablets gently out of their hands and swallowing them!
Now Marti bounces around, plays, eats well, greets visitors where she used to shy away and is as boisterous, happy and healthy as any young cat could be.
And the really good news this Valentine month? Marti won’t be without her devoted owners while they fly off to San Francisco. Monica and Amanda – bank balance depleted - are saving again for their five-year anniversary break – which will most likely be a weekend in Bognor!