Bob survived the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. He received treatments at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital thanks to Chief of Integrative Medicine Service Jamie Peyton, who developed a method to treat burns with sterilized tilapia skins.
Tilapia skin can transfer collagen, a healing protein, to the burned skin. It also reduces the need for frequent bandage changes, which can be quite painful for animals.
Unlike the wild animals she has treated, Peyton doesn’t always suture the fish skins on cats because anesthetizing them is sometimes too risky. Instead of sutures, a tiny strip of tilapia skin is placed on the kitten’s paws, much like the spongy center of a Band-Aid.
I had the chance to speak to Bob, the kitten, about his expurrience with the “fish mitten” treatment.
KATNISS: Bob, you were three months at the time of the fire which was the worst in the hisstory of California.
BOB: Yes, I was found in Paradise, CA with third-degree burns on some of my paws. The pads of my feet were gone.
KATNISS: Me-OWWW!
BOB: No kitten. But the good mews is that thanks to these amazing vets, I’m on the mend.
KATNISS: I’m so glad you’re feline better!
KATNISS: Tell me about your foster home.
BOB: Well, I figured out the doggie door, but getting back inside is still a challenge. MOL! I play with my doggie siblings and love to antagonize my sister, Betty, who was also saved from the wildfires. And I like to hang with the old man cat, Marvin.
KATNISS: Sounds like a nice foster family.
BOB: They are! But more impurrantly, when I’m released, they’re going to be my furever family. And I couldn’t be happier.
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