Maverick Humphrey Wrigley, seen here in a green bandage on the way home from the Vet, suffered a near death experience which his owners, Dave and Annie, say has left him unchanged and "just as spiteful and bitter as always." Mav was rushed to the emergency vet late Sunday night after his mom applied the wrong flea and tick medicine.
"He woke us up by running into the wall under the bed," said dad, Dave. As the parents investigated what Mav was doing under the bed, they were shocked and frightened to find Mav dripping with drool, hunched over, eyes dialeted, and shaking all over. "He looked like a scary animal from a movie," said the survivor's mother. "I knew something was wrong when he had drool coming out of his mouth. My immediate thought was the flea-and-tick prevention medicine I'd put on him earlier. It was the only thing different in his day."
Dave shown a flashlight into Mav's eyes, which seemed to stimulated him enough to "snap him out of [the seizure]." Annie checked the flea medicine box which indeed does have blatant warning against using the medicine on felines. "We were in a hurry to go to church, so I applied to to Slider and put him in his crate, and then put a two drops on Mav." Annie stated the vet in Kingsville, Texas, where the couple previously got their flea medicine, instructed her to use the same medication on the cat as on the dog. She says that their rush to get out the door led her to forget to check the labels on the medication, which she had ordered from 1800petmeds.com. This investigation concluded that the medicine received in Texas as not the same as what was ordered from the website.
After determining the meds where what was causing Mav's seizures, Dave called the number on the box. "It was a waste of ten minutes," said the disgruntled dad. "They asked for my name, the cat's name, his age and weight, and put me on hold. They then said to take him to the vet right away." Because of the late hour on a Sunday night, Dave and Annie had to find an emergency vet. "Luckily it was about 2 miles from our apartment," said Dave.
The couple drove the sickened cat to the vet. "He was in pretty bad shape. He didn't even fuss when we got his cage out and put him in it. Usually he's notorious for putting up a fight," said Annie. At the vet Mav was admitted right away and ten minutes later the doctor came back with some preliminary test results. "We'd told them everything we knew when we got there, even brought the box of the flea meds," said mom. "The doctor told us his liver and kidneys were functioning okay, which made me relieved, but that there were toxin levels in his blood." Mav was given a bath - which Annie and Dave both wish they could have witnessed - and admitted overnight. The doctor gave him a muscle relaxant to help the twitching stop and an IV. "Once I knew his liver was okay, it relieved a little of the stress," said the worried father. "At that point we just went home and waited to hear from the vet."
The vet called the next afternoon to tell the parents they could pick up Mav, as he was doing very well. "We picked him up 20 minutes after we got the call," said Dave. "We were both glad to have him back. I was so worried about him, especially because it was my fault he got the wrong medicine. I cried a lot that night," confessed the culprit-mother. Annie admitted she'd hoped Mav would be happy to be home and "be grateful that we saved his life, maybe a little bit nicer than before." No such luck, Annie, no such luck. The vet assistant had to wrap Mav in a towel to get him into his cage, and was very relieved to give him over to his owners. The assistant was unable to be reached for comment.
"We got him home and took off his bandage," said a relieved Dave. "He's been acting pretty normal, still letting you pet him and then biting you." When asked if Dave held any animosity towards his poisoning wife, Dave responded, "If Mav weren't okay I would. But since he's fine, I don't. We both learned a lesson: Always read the box. I probably could have made the same mistake, especially cause the vets in Kingsville told her to give the same stuff to the cat and the dog, especially in a rush." When asked if they were going to continue to use the same flea-and-tick medicine, they said yes. "So long as we don't put it on the cat, we're fine," said Annie.
Mav, shown here in a file photo from 2004, is reported to be doing well four days after this incident. When asked for a comment, he professed he was happy to be home. His quote is unable to be published because of language content. His parents apologize for his language. "We don't know where he learned those words, must be from his days on the streets."
