OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Mid-December, we brought you a story about a severely burned cat treated with tilapia skin at the Nebraska Humane Society.
King the cat's body was covered in wounds after he was pulled from a house fire. Doctors put their trust in a new treatment to help King heal, and according to Dr. Katie James, the fish treatment was a success.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but he is meowing quite a bit right now," Dr. James said. "I's nice to have him coming back to his normal personality.'
The tilapia allowed new skin to grow back to the point where vets were able to take a skin graft from his belly and cover burned areas. Most of the spots will re-grow fur, however King could be bald in spots with scar tissue.
"The tilapia skin did exactly what it was supposed to," Dr. James said. "It provided pain relief and coverage to stop infection from getting in long enough for the skin to start healing."
While he's been healing, King has been licking at his scabs. He has to where a cone to protect open wounds.
He's also been coddling a paw, something vets are keeping their eye one.
"It has tissue over bone and that's all we can ask for at this point," Dr. James said.
King seems to be pretty energetic and is definitely keeping NHS workers on their toes.
"He's going to return to being a pretty normal cat," Dr. James said.
She adds he is not completely out of the woods, yet. King will be on pain medication for quite awhile, possibly the rest of his life.
Dr. James says they will continue to take it day by day, and hopefully send King home with his family soon.
The team at Nebraska Humane Society says they plan to now use this treatment in the future on other animals.
