As the army was called in to rescue stranded drivers and passengers across the island, veterinary nurses were in the streets saving cats from a potentially tragic fate.

“We saw a woman sitting on our step, crouching and looking, and then a customer came in and told us ‘a cat was hit by a car’,” one vet nurse working at AnimalPharm told Lovin Malta.

“We went outside and were told by the woman that she had been trying to contact Animal Welfare as the cat had hidden under a car. I took off my scarf and crawled under the car, scruffed him and dragged him out and we took him to the visiting room immediately and got to work.”

The cat, which was trembling and terrified, underwent some tests so the vets could see what had happened.

“We took his temperature – he was obviously hypothermic – and was traumatised and under shock.” 

The vets found that he had an exposed bone and scrapes all over his body, and was soaked through. Scared after being struck by a car, the cat attempted to hide under a car, but became stuck as fast-pace waters rose around it.

“We wrapped him in a vet blanket and put several hot water bottles in an attempt to get his temperature up, and we fed him because he was starving.”