KALISPELL, Mont. — A cat in Montana used one of her nine lives last week.
The cat, now named Fluffy, was discovered frozen in the hard ice of a snow bank in Kalispell, Mont. on Jan. 31.
She had been living outside her whole life and when a new family moved into Fluffy’s property a few years ago, they let her stay.
Those owners found her unresponsive last Thursday when they came home from work and rushed her to the vet.
The Animal Clinic of Kalispell warmed her up, Dr. Jevon Clark said, using blankets and blow dryers.
“Her temperature was less than 90 when she came in,” Clark said. “But within an hour, she was starting to act like a cat a little bit.”
After getting the frozen chunks of ice off of her and warming her up, the clinic sent Fluffy to the pet emergency room. She was discharged later that night.
“She’s doing great,” Clark said. He was able to visit with her this week.
Clark said the owners have decided to keep Fluffy inside for the time being, but he expects she’ll return to the outdoors eventually.
“By the time summer rolls around, she’ll probably want to go outside,” he said.
Clark said the cat probably survived in part because she is young, larger, and used to living outdoors.
“We think something happened to her, like some sort of trauma, that she couldn’t get back to her normal hiding places,” he said. “Obviously, she’s lived other winters outside.”
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures never reached above freezing in Kalispell that day. The high was 30 degrees last Thursday afternoon.
Clark said he had just posted the now-viral story to his Facebook page on a whim.
“The whole situation is just so ironic,” he laughed. “I figured people are sick of politics so I just posted about this cat.”
