Cat dragged himself home after losing eye and fracturing skull in hit and run

A cat managed to drag himself home after suffering a fractured skull, split jaw, torn lips and a lost eye in a hit and run.

Maximus was so badly injured in June last year that vets feared he would have to be put down, but his owners knew they would be devastated to lose him.

After a gruelling operation which left him in need of 24-hour care, he has made it through – and now has even been nominated for a national survivor of the year award.

Vets at Inglis Vet Centre in Dunfermline devised a special treatment plan for the pet, known as Maxy, which involved a metal pin to go across the front of his face through his nose to keep the two halves of his fractured upper jaw together while they healed, while his lower jaw was also wired into place.

As he was coming round from the operation, Maxy stopped breathing twice and required resuscitation, but pulled through and was eventually stable enough to go home.

The cat still needed round-the-clock care and nursing, which his owner Sharon Trotter, from Inverkeithing in Fife, took on with support from the vets and nurses.

Ms Trotter said: ‘He needed tube feeding every four hours and his wounds had to be cleaned and redressed every day.’

This went on for over six weeks but Maximus took it all in his stride.

‘He always allowed us and our vet nurses to do everything we needed to, he had such a quiet resolve it was an inspiration.’

Seven weeks after the incident the cat managed to eat his first solid food and is now well on the road to recovery after enduring further treatments and surgery in the months following the accident.

He is one of four finalists competing for the title of PDSA pet survivor of the year 2018.

Vet Erin Logan said: ‘All of our patients are special individuals to us, but occasionally one comes along who is truly inspiring.

‘Maximus’s recovery left us in awe of the healing abilities of nature and just what is truly possible with resilience, character and the determination to survive – he could teach us all lessons about life in adversity.

‘I doubt in the rest of my career I will come across another personality like Maximus and it is a genuine privilege to have been involved with both him and Sharon. I feel he is truly deserving of the title PDSA pet survivor of the year.’

The other finalists, all from England, are a Staffie dog which had an 11-inch (28cm) stick lodged through her throat and chest after a game of fetch went wrong, a cat which was deliberately shot through the mouth with an airgun and a cat which was found impaled on railings.

People can help pick the winner by voting here.