Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (July 17/02) - Two out-of-town veterinarians were forced to the Rankin Health Centre after a cat they dubbed "Satan" went berserk in a makeshift animal clinic.

The cat had been brought to the office to be neutered and vaccinated. But when the vets attempted to pre-medicate the cat, giving it tranquillizers and pain killers, it escaped their grasp.

"Satan went crazy," said Jennifer Brazzell, a Winnipeg vet who flew in to operate the clinic from July 6-7. "He was bouncing around the room, hissing and scratching."

The cat began running around a side room after it had been given a dose of Ketamine, an oral sedative. When the vets pursued it, the cat dashed into the main room of the makeshift clinic, where it climbed halfway up one of the walls, and clung to a poster.

When Sherrie McNeir, an animal health technologist, moved in to catch the animal, it leaped off a table and grabbed hold of one her arms with its teeth, where it hung until McNeir shook it loose.

"It grabbed on and wouldn't let go," she said.

The cat then bit into Brazzell's arm before it was stuffed into a cat carrier.

"It went totally psycho," she said. "That honestly is the worst cat I've ever dealt with."

After securing the cat, the vets covered the carrier box in saran wrap and blew in anaesthetic gas before neutering and vaccinating the cat.

Neither vet was seriously injured, although they sought antibiotics out of concern for bacteria in the cat's mouth.