A litter of four kittens would have any mother cat on her toes, but when a former farm cat named Casey sustained a devastating injury, she needed a team of helping hands to keep herself and her family alive. 

About a month after giving birth, 2-year-old Casey was found unable to bear weight on her back legs in November 2025 with no discernible cause. Last Hope, a pet rescue in Farmington, Minn., was contacted and coordinated a medical exam for her at Southview Animal Hospital in West St. Paul.

There, the little family would meet Danielle Muller, a veterinary assistant who has fostered dozens of animals. 

“As soon as I heard that there was a mama with medical needs and babies in need of a place to land, I immediately agreed to bring them home,” Muller says, who brought Casey and her kittens home to foster. 

Having an experienced foster in her corner was vital, as Casey’s exam revealed multiple fractures in her pelvis—one in her left hipbone affecting her joint, one at the joint connecting her pubic bones, and one in a bone forming part of her pelvic floor. The extensive injuries would require surgery to heal properly. 

“When I first started fostering, I cared for mostly hospice dogs and neonatal kittens, so pets with high medical needs are far from new to me,” Muller says. “Casey was my first foster with a pelvic fracture, and honestly, I was terrified at first when I saw how badly broken it was.”

Southview referred Casey’s case to the Small Animal Surgery Service at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center. There, the surgical team reviewed X-rays but thought a CT scan would provide a more comprehensive picture and better inform their surgical approach. 

Initially, the team planned to piece back together Casey’s pelvis, but information from her CT scan led them to pivot to a procedure called a femoral head ostectomy. Surgeons removed the head and neck of the femur, which comprises the “ball” portion of the hip’s ball-and-socket joint. Scar tissue that forms after its removal holds the remaining bone in place and creates a false joint. The team left her other pelvic fractures to heal on their own. Casey also was spayed, a procedure completed by the service’s rotating intern that provided a valuable teaching experience.  

Without guidance from the CT scan, Victoria Vigstrom, a surgery intern who was part of Casey’s care team, says the team likely would have spent more time in surgery to assess the extent of Casey’s injuries and how best to approach them.Really 

"Pelvic surgery is a lot for a little cat,” Vigstrom says, noting that without the CT scan, the surgery would have taken more time under anesthesia and required a larger incision to figure out what was needed. “Our team may not have made the same choice to pivot to a less invasive procedure, as we might not have seen the injuries fully in the surgery site. A larger approach to the pelvis also risks the normal structures around the fractures, like the colon, urinary tract, nerves, and large vessels. You don't want to mess around too much with all those structures because you could really do some damage."

The cost of the CT scan and surgery posed a challenge for Last Hope, but Casey’s case qualified for assistance from the VMC Shelter & Rescue Fund, which uses donor gifts to subsidize the cost of specialty veterinary care for animals under the care of qualified 501(c)3 non-profit organizations. 

A grant from the fund made Casey’s procedure possible, saving the young cat’s life and giving Vigstrom and other interns the opportunity to learn from the procedure. 

“Casey had a good prognosis, but without the funds to do the CT and surgery, we may have lost her, or she may have healed in a way that limited her mobility," Vigstrom says. "She wouldn't have been able to live a quality life with her injuries—running, jumping, or playing like a normal cat.”

Despite her injuries, Casey had continued to let her kittens nurse. Then she was prescribed pain medication that meant she no longer could, so it was up to Muller to bottle feed the litter. 

“Suddenly, I had a cat with high medical needs and four bottle babies,”  Muller says. “It was an intense time, but we made it!”

The kittens grew quickly, and all have been adopted. Casey remains with Muller, who says you’d never be able to tell she had survived major surgery save for a scar and a difference in musculature of her back legs. She’s back to running, jumping, pouncing, and playing just like any other cat.

“I had no fewer than 80 heart attacks watching her re-learn to run and jump,” Muller jokes.

Casey remains available for adoption through Last Hope. Muller says she is young enough to be lively, goofy, and playful, but old enough to be out of the kitten shenanigans phase. She loves napping in sunbeams and cuddling up at night. 

As Casey starts a new chapter in her life, Muller is grateful for the VMC team’s help in making it possible. 

“The communication throughout her hospital stay and recovery was impeccable,” Muller says. “I felt so supported, and it meant the world to me to have a world-class team of doctors and support staff taking care of my girl.”