R.I.P. Mary

On Sunday, Matthew was going out to walk to his friends next door. The cat was on the porch railing and the dogs were in the front yard. When Demon (the dog) looked toward Matthew, he spotted the cat. He grabbed her tail and yanked her off the railing. He then let go and grabbed her rear right leg and lifted her up and began to shake her. She turned around and scrapped his snout. As this was happening, Matthew was yelling for the dog to stop. We had told the kids to NOT approach the dogs if they were fighting so they would not get hurt. When I heard Matthew yelling, I could tell by his voice something was wrong. I got up and ran outside. I yelled at Demon NO, and he finally let the cat go. She tried to climb into the tree but she couldn't get a grip with her rear legs and fell about 2 feet to the ground. Mike put the dog back into the kennel. We then picked up the cat and brought her inside. We could tell that her rear right leg was injured, but didn't know how badly.
We called a few vets before finding one that answered. I brought her about 45 mins away, to the open vet. After x-rays, he said that she had no broken bones, but the rear right leg is dislocated at what would be our knee joint. When the dog shook her, it tore all the ligaments and tendons that hold that joint together. It's a pretty significant injury. He gave her pain meds observed her overnight to make sure her lungs weren't damaged or bruised from her being shaken.
Yesterday morning, the vet performed surgery on her leg. I called around lunch time to check on her. The vet said that she went throught the surgery fine and that she was in recovery. We decided that I would pick her up today, after lunch.
This morning, just as the kids were getting ready to catch the bus, the phone rang. It was the vet letting me know that Mary did not make it. He thinks that her brain was damaged from the shaking. He said she was very slow to come out of the anesthesia.
Matthew is pretty upset about it all as Mary was his cat and he witnessed the attack. She was given to him by a friend who moved away a few years ago. All the kids took the bus to school this morning, even though they were upset about Mary. Matthew stopped by my office today, between classes, to 'check to see if I was ok'. He is so darn sweet.