Delfin

Delfin is a battler, a bruiser, and an incredible survivor. He was found on the mean streets of Guatemala City with a terrible gash the length of one hind leg. He never told us whether he got it from another cat, from a dog, a traffic accident, or human cruelty. Either way, he could barely walk or fend for himself, and it must have been extremely painful and very worrying. Luckily though, he was found by a very kind person and taken to a veterinary clinic, where the wound was sewn up. Two days later, however, Delfin had ripped out those pesky stitches and opened up his leg again like a living anatomy lesson. Once more the  vet – with the aid of a general anaesthetic – made a textbook job of stitching up the wound, and when Delfin came round, he found he was wearing a very fetching modified x-ray transparency as a collar, to stop him doing more surgery on himself. It didn’t.

The very next morning we found the no-scratch collar in shreds, and his leg too. Not a pretty sight. It was as if Delfin just didn’t want his leg to heal – at least, not with the aid of veterinarians with double-strength surgical thread. We took him back to the clinic anyway, to get him sewn up a third time whether he liked it or not. By this time, the doctor was getting a bit fed up with Delfin and his antics, and when he came back from the Clinic he was sporting a magnificent no-scratch bucket, completely surrounding his head. This time it worked – the stitches stayed in, and the wound healed remarkably fast. One would never have  suspected the  gory time Delfin went through – except for a few tell-tale iodine stains on his fur. He also calmed down considerably. I have to say, though, that as terrible as was with other felines, with humans Delfin is sweetness itself – as gentle and friendly as can be. So much so that he was soon adopted, and went off to live a proper life in a loving home.