This is my poor lil Zigster. A couple of weeks ago on his 2nd trip into the garden... he went up a tree after a magpie. Another magpie joined in and they started making a right noise which he could resist and climbed higher and higher. Unfortunately he found out that unlike birds, he couldnt fly.
I took him to the emergency vets when at first they couldnt seem to find anything seriously wrong, but after a few days I took him back because he was still very lame and unable to use his leg at all. They couldnt x-ray because he'd eaten that morning but the next working day had him booked in for obs, when it became apparent that something serious was 'afoot'. They were dubious about putting him under anaesthetic cause he also appeared to have intestinal damage, but I gave the go ahead.
The results of the xray werent good he'd snapped off the ball of his thighbone (which was still in the hip socket). and had 'shattered' the head of the femur. The vets immediately booked him in to an animal hospital/surgery OverWyre for the required surgery before Id even got back there to pick him up or look at the xrays or give the go ahead.
The choices were slim.. operation to remove the top part of his thigh-bone and hip joint (socket).. the other alternative.. just wasnt an option for me.
10 days on.. hes had his stitches removed and is now able to take about a dozen or so tentative steps, and hes become really fast at bombing around on three legs. The vets are delighted with his progress and hes doing remarkably well for such a major op for a lil kitteh. Eventually the hip/femur will form a sort of false joint.. and hopefully in several months time he should almost be as good as new.
He will never have a proper hip joint and will have one leg a bit shorter than the other.. but hes coping very well... and at least he doesnt seem to be in any pain now. He's eating fine and is still a major purr-puss. Zac has been absolutely fantastic with him and spends a lot of time grooming him. They even spend hours playing together. Favourite game is Ziggy led down one side of the bathroom door and Zac on the other whilst paws constantly bat each other under the gap of the door.
The vets have been fantastic and weve come to an arrangement as they too didnt want to contemplate the alternative when this op gives him such an excellent change of recovery. He's such a happy and cheeky kitteh and he's been soooooooo brave and good through all this.
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