OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The blood of Bret Michaels, a Siberian husky, is credited with saving the life of a stray kitten at the Nebraska Humane Society this week.
A trio of stray kittens, about four weeks old, arrived at NHS Sunday covered in fleas.
By Monday, two of the brothers were managing well enough. But a third, now named Thorn, wasn't so lucky.
He "would've died overnight if we haven't given him blood," said Katie James, an associate verenarian at NHS. The fleas had made him anemic. He was "faceplanting" in his kennel and his mouth was full of litter.
There is no feline version of a universal donor, and there wasn't enough time to find a matching cat blood type. The humane society doesn't have that capability, James said.
So instead they turned to a hero that most would consider unlikely: A dog.
"I think I terrified a couple other people when I said, 'yah, let's get a dog to transfuse into a cat," said James. "But, clearly it worked!"
Thorn, in roughly five days or a little more, will replace the dog's blood with blood he's producing himself.
"His immune cells are building up, his dog blood cells are going down, but his normal cat blood cells are also increasing," James explained. "A single transfusion should be enough to tip him over the edge for him to build up his own (blood)."
A donor is offering to cover 6-year-old Bret Michael's adoption fee. NHS said he was still available as of late Wednesday. He plays well with other dogs, NHS said. He came in as a stray a couple weeks ago.
Bret Michaels has one blue eye and one brown eye. He apparently shares some traits with the kitten he helped save.
"We joked that he (Thorn) is as active as he is and as hungry as he is because he has some Siberian husky blood in him now," said James.
James named the kittens based on the titles of human Bret Michaels' music.
For the vet techs, especially during National Veterinary Technicians Week, it was a rewarding moment.
"There's definitely very hard days with lots of tough cases," James said. "This makes it worth while."
