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1baikim   KrazyKelli   Turtlemom  
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 #1778196


1baikim
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 My poor cat got hit and needs surgery!

I went out of town for a couple of days and left someone in charge of my cats. The dogs went into boarding since I work at a vet that also boards and I get it for free. Anyways, I got back late this last thursday night and couldn’t find my 15 month old tom, T.C. I didn’t think anything of it since he likes to find little corners and tight spaces around the house to sleep in. I was concerned when he didn’t show up for breakfast friday morning and didn’t come when I called him. I had this really strange feeling that I needed to go into the backyard and look over the back wall. There’s a sump behind the house that’s completely inclosed by a brick wall, and a major highway on the other side of that. So I look over the wall and see my cat just laying there. I thought he was dead. But then I called him and he looked up at me, which made me feel better for a minute. Then I realized that he wasn’t getting up to come to me like he’d usually do. When I got closer I could tell that there was something wrong with his back legs. So I had to pick him up and bring him back over the wall into the house. He screamed every time I accidentally touched his legs. This was at about six thirty in the morning and I was on my way to work anyways so I took him along to have the vet check it.

He wasn’t able to put any weight at all on his left back leg. He could kind of balance on the right leg but the back one was just hanging there. No open wounds, abcesses, or anything like that. Just a leg that he couldn’t use. So the vet took X-rays. He at first noticed that the hip was dislocated and so was gonna put it in a sling and keep T.C. there for a couple of days. Then they looked closer and saw that his leg was completely broken at the joint. And I was told that it looked like he was hit by a car, which is one of the most common injuries that the vet there sees. The position that I found him in looked like he was trying to get home. So that would mean that he had gotten onto the highway and got hit then he climbed over the wall into the sump and walked (As best he could) over to the wall where I found him. My thought is that he didn’t have it in him to climb such a high wall a second time.

So anyways, he’s spent the last couple of days at the vet hooked up to I.V. fluids and pain meds. He’s scheduled to have surgery tomorrow to have his leg and hip reset and pins put in. He’ll be there until at least wednesday. And then after that he’ll have to stay in a kennel for about six weeks or until X-rays show that he’s healed. This is a surgery that my work sees all the time so I’m not worried about anything going wrong there. It usually costs around a thousand dollars. All I can say is thank God for payment plans and associate discounts!

I guess right now I can consider him a lucky little cat. Hit by a car and all he has to show for it is a dislocated hip and a broken leg. All I have to show for it is a vet bill and a cat that’s still alive eventhough he is gonna have a long recovery.
06/29/08  11:30pm

 #1778237


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: 1baikim   In reference to Message Id: 1778196


 My poor cat got hit and needs surgery!

That sucks. I had a similar, but not exact, thing happen to me today with my dog. I came back from a convention run around the eastern states and the person who was supposed to walk my fat corgi didn’t do it whatsoever. My poor dog was so bound up with energy from not being walked that I instantly got the leash out and took him on a short one. Midway through the walk, after a rather large dump, he started limping. I think he pulled or sprained his front right shoulder, but I feel terrible about it. I don’t know how he pulled it on the walk. He’s also not crying or anything outside of not putting too much pressure on his one foot and he’s terribly tolerant of my fooling with his limb (though he trusts me to his death, so he could be hiding it). Tomorrow, should he still be limping, I’m taking him to the vet.

The stress from it is terrible. You have a great time being out and about, then when you get home stuff blows up in your face.
06/30/08  12:13am

 #1778254


Turtlemom
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   Message To: 1baikim   In reference to Message Id: 1778196


 My poor cat got hit and needs surgery!

Thank God you work for a vet when something like this happens, eh? When my cat was shot and it shattered her femur, the vet I work for gave me three options to save her. One extreme was to take her to the orthopedic specialist and have surgery to insert internal rods and pins with an external steel cage like splint for a (discounted!) $2,500. The other extreme was amputation. Since she was a young cat (only 2) I opted for the middle ground. A good old fashioned Thomas splint. We had to fish the mold out of the cellar and clean it up, but it worked.

Your cat is young, she’ll probably surprise you with a quick recovery! Mine did, she had to have the splint replaced after wiggling out of it after only 2 weeks. Two weeks later I gave up keeping it on (yep...got out of it again!) and she recovered without even a limp! It’s amazing how well a cat can tolerate these things.

Anyway, good luck.....I’m sure your kitty will be fine.
06/30/08  12:34am


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