Opie

Hospital Mascot

Opie came to us after being hurled out of a vehicle window. This event was witnessed by one of our great clients. We had just had to put our clinic cat, Chase, to sleep. Our client brought in this poor kitten, who needed his leg amputated. We all fell immediately in love with him, and convinced Dr. Cooney that it was fate that brought Opie to us on that day. We were convinced Opie was destined to be our clinic kitty. The staff won the argument. Dr. Cooney performed the surgery to remove Opie’s leg, and we nursed him back to health.

He has a charmed life - gets petted all the time, has beds strategically placed throughout the clinic, and does whatever he wants to do most of the time. He has, however, earned the nickname “Swiper” for his habit of stealing blood tubes (they make great cat-hockey pucks) and sometimes for finding little escaped bits of suture or plant material to ingest. He has had at least one operation to remove said suture material which has earned him some bad marks on his report card. Opie’s redeeming quality is that of Recovery Kitty. He likes to snuggle up to recovering surgical patients and monitor them with the technician in charge. We think it’s endearing!