Two-year-old rascal has had to have a leg amputated
A cat nearly died after plunging from a fourth-floor window left on the latch during the heatwave, with his two junior doctor owners warning: “It’s just not worth the risk”. Osaruese Egharevba and Hannah Hirji, both 24, said their two-year-old cat, Rascal, suffered heatstroke during the June heatwave, so they left the window of their 20-metre-high flat on the latch to help cool him down.
But while Hannah was at home with her friend Chelsea, 23, she spotted a “grey shadow” outside the window and realised Rascal had disappeared. Moments later, she found Rascal beneath a car, unable to move his back legs, and believes he pushed the window open and fell out.
Rushed to the vet, Rascal was found to have a broken hip, fractured leg, shattered ankle and chest injuries, leaving them “sobbing” when they were told he could be put down if they could not afford the £9,000 treatment. After desperately searching for help, they found a clinic offering a payment plan and chose life-saving surgery to repair his hip and amputate his injured leg, with Rascal now recovering.
As the newly graduated doctors wait to start their jobs, they have launched a fundraiser to help cover the veterinary costs, with the surgery alone costing £2,000. Hannah told PA Real Life: “We want to urge all other pet owners, especially during the heatwave, if you have the windows open, or on the latch, please be careful.
“We thought Rascal was dead, or was going to die. It’s just not worth it – we will never be opening the windows or putting them on the latch again.
“They say cats land on their feet, and he did, but it wasn’t enough to save his leg…now he’s our three-legged warrior.”
Housemates Osaruese and Hannah got their two Russian Blue tabby cats, Dizzy and Rascal, as kittens around two years ago while living in their London flat and studying medicine at Imperial College London. From the beginning, they said Rascal had been “very social” and was “the life of the party”.
Hannah said: “He’s so smart. He loves playing fetch, a bit like a dog, and he can do loads of tricks.”
Apart from suffering heatstroke during the late June 2026 heatwave, when temperatures in London reached around 37C, Rascal had never experienced any medical issues. “He was breathing really quickly and panting, and the vet told us to try to keep him as cool as possible,” Osaruese explained.
“It gets really hot and stuffy in the flat, so we were running the fan constantly and got him a cooling mat.”
After Rascal still seemed “overwhelmed” by the heat, Hannah put their living room window on the latch on June 26 2026. Hannah, who was at home with her friend, Chelsea, at around 7pm, returned to the living room after using the bathroom and realised Rascal was nowhere to be seen.
“The window was open a little bit more – the cats can push it open with their heads,” she said. “It’s two windows that push outwards like double doors, with a little ledge running along the side.
“I wasn’t too sure what I saw at first, but it looked like a grey shadow by the window. I thought it might have been a bird flying down really quickly. I’m quite a paranoid person, so we started looking around and couldn’t find him.
“I’m shaking his treats and kibble, but he isn’t there, and I’m getting more and more stressed.”
She squeezed some of his favourite toys, and said she knew “something was wrong” because he would normally come running. Hannah ran outside and eventually found Rascal underneath a car.
She believes he had fallen from the window before dragging himself underneath the vehicle for safety. “When he saw me, he started meowing, but he couldn’t move his back legs and they looked really messed up,” Hannah said.
She and Chelsea rushed Rascal to a veterinary practice in Richmond, south-west London, where Osaruese met them. After examining him, the vet said Rascal had broken his leg and hip.
They were told the initial stabilising treatment would cost £3,000 and surgery would cost at least £6,000, with both requiring payment upfront. Hannah had pet insurance but it covered only £1,500 of veterinary costs.
She said she and Osaruese had recently graduated and were waiting to start their graduate jobs, leaving them without an income to cover the bills. Hannah said: “The vet essentially told us that if we weren’t able to pay this, then the only option would be to put him down, which was extremely, extremely upsetting.
“We were all just sobbing because this had happened so suddenly. We never leave the windows open – it was only because of the heatwave and we were worried about him.
“We were trying to help, but I felt like we allowed it to happen and didn’t protect him in the way you’re meant to protect your pets.”
The couple paid £175 for the initial consultation and a dose of pain relief. While at the practice, Hannah and Osaruese phoned charities and other veterinary clinics in search of a more affordable option.
They eventually found a practice in Victoria, central London, which offered a payment plan with no upfront costs. They rushed Rascal there at around 11pm on the same day, where further scans revealed he had also fractured his ankle into “little fragments”, as well as breaking his femur and bruising his lungs and chest.
The couple were presented with several surgical options but decided to go ahead with repairing his hip and amputating the injured leg. The operation took place on June 30 and cost £2,000.
Hannah added: “The vet actually told us they’d had a lot of cats come in because of the heatwave – more than in previous years.”
Rascal returned home the following day, and Hannah and Osaruese described watching him recover as “very traumatic”. Hannah said: “He seemed quite reserved, and it was so scary for all of us.
“When he got home, we were expecting this big reunion with Dizzy, but Rascal just seemed really depressed because Dizzy didn’t recognise him.”
However, as the days passed, they said Rascal was on the “road to recovery”, “hopping” around and seeming “much happier”. On July 15, Hannah and Osaruese moved out of their flat, with Hannah moving into a house with Chelsea.
“We’ve been doing a lot of research, and we’re going to make sure the house is as safe as possible,” Hannah said. Hannah and Osaruese have since set up a GoFundMe page to help cover Rascal’s monthly veterinary repayments.
“It’s just so stressful, honestly. We don’t have the money at the moment, and we need to get it sorted,” Osaruese said.
To donate to the fundraiser, visit: gofundme.com/f/rascals-second-chance-emergency-surgery-fund.
