Real-Life Claim Story

July-HRPG-Real-Life-Claim-Story

‘He's a sweet, sweet kitty—according to me,' says mom of feisty feline.

Some pets have ironic names—think mastiffs named Mouse or Yorkies named Hercules—while others embody their names to a T. Stephanie Antao's mother would probably say her daughter's cat, Danger Zone, falls into the latter category, though Stephanie begs to differ.

When a local woman was offering kittens for adoption, Stephanie knew the time was right to get a cat. She picked one from the litter and named him Danger Zone, a reference to her favorite TV show, “Archer.” Little did she know how much the Himalayan would live up to his name.

Not grumpy, just ‘angry-looking'

“This cat is amazing. He is my best friend in the world,” Stephanie says of Danger Zone, or DZ for short. She's quick to point out that “he's the sweetest kitty ever” in spite of his naturally dour-looking mug.

But she admits in the same breath, “Ask anybody else though, and they probably wouldn't agree with that statement.”

Grumpy—for good reason this time

Stephanie's job requires her to travel frequently but also allows her the freedom to work remotely. Fortunately, she was working from home one Friday when Danger Zone had a medical emergency.

While dialing in for a conference call, Stephanie heard DZ make “a noise he never made before.” Startled, she went to investigate and found him just as he “dragged himself out from behind my curtains—and his back legs weren't moving.”

Panicked, she hung up the call, put him in his carrier and took him straight to the hospital. Because of DZ's unfortunate track record of trying—and failing—to jump to high places, Stephanie thought he had fallen from somewhere and broken his back.

It turned out Danger Zone's back wasn't broken, but something was definitely wrong. It would take several weeks and an exploratory surgery for Stephanie to finally get answers.