Fluffy the cat, who was frozen due to polar vortex, survives after vets thaw her

While a cat's normal internal body temperature is supposed to be 101 degrees, Fluffy's dropped below 90 degrees, a mark that is beyond what the clinic's thermometers could read.

By: Trends Desk

New Delhi | Updated: February 8, 2019 02:53 PM IST

4 min read

Fluffy got buried under the chunks of snow and ice near her northwest Montana home. (Photo: Facebook @Animal Clinic of Kalispell)

While a large number of people were busy taking the ‘boiling water challenge’ — some of whom even landed in hospitals— during the cold wave in the US last week, Fluffy the cat was trapped under layers of snow and ice.

A native of northwest Montana, she was a usually confident outdoor cat.

However, last week, when the polar vortex was raging in Midwest and temperatures were dropping below zero on January 31 morning in Kalispell city, Fluffy froze. Fluffy’s owners rushed her to the vet after rescuing her from being buried under the chunks of snow near their northwest Montana home.

“She was frozen,” The Washington Post quoted Andrea Dutter, executive director of the Animal Clinic of Kalispell, as saying.

While a cat’s normal internal body temperature is supposed to be 101 degrees, Fluffy’s dropped below 90 degrees, a mark that is beyond what the clinic’s thermometers could read.

“We immediately began to warm her up,” Dutter said. “Warm water heating pads, hot towels . . . within an hour she started grumbling at us,” Dutter told Washington Post.

Once she was thawed, the vets at the clinic discovered that the cat was injured and that had prevented her from returning home. However, by the time Fluffy reached the clinic, being frozen had become her primary issue.

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ALSO READ | Polar Vortex 2019: Frozen noodles to exploding toilet tanks — dramatic footage show impact of cold

A week has passed by. Fluffy is now warm and alive. According to Dutter, Fluffy is an indoor-outdoor cat and knows her surroundings well. Hence, after all that trouble she had run into last week, she is still taking her time and isn’t planning anymore outdoor adventures as of yet.

Meanwhile, a number of Twitter users have hailed the efforts of the animal clinic that successfully brought the cat back to life.

https://twitter.com/CharlotteBCcat1/status/1093788994327011328

https://twitter.com/readingreceipts/status/1093753285746573313
https://twitter.com/HollyJLawrence/status/1093757700549328897
https://twitter.com/aargold24/status/1093753910001614849

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