Written by Dr. Elena Contreras, DVM, MS, PhD
I met an approximately 3 year old male, intact, “feral” cat on my first day working at a new job in a nonprofit spay/neuter clinic. He was an outdoor “feral” community cat that was trapped by a wonderful volunteer trapper and cat advocate. Although the trapper had assumed that the cat would be euthanized due to his injury and his poor condition, she brought him to the clinic hoping that we would be able to help him and treat him (and neuter him!).
The left side of his neck had a huge, gaping, deep, open wound spanning approx 2.5 by 3.5 inches. All of the skin was completely gone, and his neck muscles were exposed, along with a lot of pus and necrotic, dead tissue peeling off along the edges.
Since I enjoy taking care of wounds – and cats! – I brought him home with me, and he became my medical foster feral cat. I named him, David.
I provided daily bandage changes and wound care including local and systemic pain management. I also used the Assisi Loop 2-3 times per day over the wound and bandage. I simply hung the Loop around his neck. David was completely content with the Loop and just slept or relaxed while it was around his neck.
David’s wound showed marked improvements and progress very quickly. Within a couple of weeks, his gaping wound had healed, contracted, and closed so well that daily bandage changes were no longer necessary. I continued to use the Loop at least twice per day.
I really feel that the regular daily Loop treatments helped to accelerate the healing process. The rapidity of the wound healing time, even though his neck was a disaster just a couple of weeks prior, was truly remarkable.
And David’s story has an even happier ending. During the time that I was treating him, it also became clear that David, although fearful and unsure of new humans, seemed to tolerate and increasingly enjoy affection and contact. He and I became buddies during our treatment sessions. And my own cat Cabo, another Assisi success story, befriended him as well.
Meanwhile, the wonderful volunteer that originally trapped him and brought him in for treatment said that she wanted to adopt him! So he stayed with me a couple of additional weeks just to make sure he was healthy and ready. And… just in time for Christmas…. he went to his new home with the good Samaritan volunteer that trapped him. He’s currently doing fabulously and is a perfectly wonderful, healthy, healed, and handsome family member.
How the Assisi Loop Works
The Assisi Loop, created by Assisi Animal Health, is a non-pharmaceutical, non-invasive device provides targeted pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (tPEMF™). tPEMF, which was first studied in the 1970s and is FDA-cleared for use in humans, uses low-level pulses of electromagnetic energy to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms to help relieve pain and swelling. This therapy can benefits cats with pain associated with arthritis, pancreatitis, wounds, or post-surgical swelling as well as many inflammatory conditions. The Loop is well tolerated by most cats. In fact, many cats really enjoy receiving Loop treatments. Because the Loop stimulates the body’s own healing process, rather than introducing a new substance (like a medication), even a sensitive cat body can handle it easily.
The Assisi Loop Lounge Therapy Pad
Featuring the same pain control of the Loop via targeted pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (tPEMF™,) the Loop Lounge™ is the only therapeutic pet bed backed by scientific research. Click here to read more about the Assisi Loop Lounge.
For more information about how the Assisi Loop or the Assisi Loop Lounge could help your cat, visit http://www.assisianimalhealth.com or contact Assisi Animal Health at [email protected], 866-830-7342.
*FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, which means that I was compensated to feature this content. Regardless of payment received, you will only see products or services featured on this site that I believe are of interest to our readers.
Dr. Elena Contreras, DVM, MS, PhD is a veterinarian with a specialized focus and interest in feline medicine and surgery, animal welfare and behavior, and shelter medicine. She is thrilled that, at the end of the summer, she will be starting a new job as an Assistant Professor of Animal Welfare and Behavior at the new Long Island University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Contreras completed a Small Animal Shelter Medicine and Surgery Internship and a Shelter Research Fellowship at Colorado State University (CSU) after receiving her DVM degree in 2013 from Ross University. She is the 2017 recipient of the Winn Feline Foundation/Miller Trust New Feline Investigator Award. While Dr. Contreras resided in Colorado, she also helped to teach CSU first year veterinary student labs focused on feline physical exams and veterinary ethics, and she was also the Medical Director and Veterinarian at a Denver feline non-profit organization that focused on TNR and the care and sterilization of community cats. Dr. Contreras lives with six adopted cats and three adopted dogs (and one human.)
