Palm Springs veterinarian Dr. Phil Caldwell has undoubtedly seen many animal emergencies. But an inflated kitten? That was a career first.
Earlier this year, a baby stray cat named Zoe showed up at the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, Caldwell’s facility, looking more like a balloon than anything feline, her tiny body swollen to an absurd degree. The poor thing had been suffering from subcutaneous emphysema. Due to some damage to her windpipe, air (and lots of it) was trapped underneath her skin.
Caldwell told Upworthy, “My guess is that she was bitten by another cat, possibly even her mother? I don’t think the trauma was anything malicious … just one of those accidents that happened.”
Regardless of its cause, the medical condition was rare enough in grown cats, let alone kittens. Caldwell told KVUE, “This is the craziest veterinarian case I’ve seen in quite some time.”
The antidote to this bizarre dilemma was surprisingly straightforward. Caldwell carefully “poked” Zoe in various parts of her body with a needle and syringe, slowly releasing the trapped air. With each deflation, she became less balloon and more kitten, appetite and all. After only a week of treatment, she already weighed a healthy two pounds.
“She’s eating like a champ,” Caldwell wrote on Instagram. “She loves to eat, and she’s gaining weight every single day.”
Zoe, affectionately known online as “Puff Kitty,” “Mrs. Puff,” and “Marshmallow,” instantly captured hearts with her unusual and harrowing story. Her videos have not only gone viral, they have been picked up by national outlets like ABC. Suffice it to say, people were invested.
“I’m obsessed with Zoe…My cats think I’m cheating when I talk about her!” one fan wrote.
“I would die for Zoe,” echoed another.
“Protect Zoey at all costs,” added a third.
Zoe’s now-famous face (the puffed-up version, of course) is even featured on a T-shirt with all proceeds going to the Palm Springs Animal Shelter’s “Love Fund,” so other animals can have more access to specialized care. In other words, she is making sure other fur babies can have their own happy ending.
“Zoe, our Puff Kitty warrior — a tiny but mighty kitten — has touched the hearts of so many with her story of resilience,” the shelter wrote in an Instagram and Facebook post.
Of course, all this high praise has apparently “gone to her head,” Caldwell joked. Now she even has a “publicist, an agent, and a stylist!”
As of March 13, Zoe has been recovering well in foster care and is preparing to find her forever home. Caldwell assures that from here on out, “she’ll be normal but will demand copious amounts of love.” But hey, after all that…she deserves it!
While Zoe’s next chapter will likely be far less dramatic than her first, she will certainly have no trouble earning that love, even without the balloon-like condition. That is thanks in no small part to Dr. Caldwell and other professionals like him who fight for an animal’s second chance.
By the way, Caldwell has even more crazy stories found in his book, The Pet Doctor’s Shoes: True Tales from the Trenches of Veterinary Medicine, which you can find here.
