When your pet loses its parts
They really do have nine lives because they are survivors – their ability to clot their blood and withstand some nasty injuries saves them more times than not.
At this time of year, families have been home together and there can be some interesting conversations. ‘‘It’s not in here.’’
‘‘Are you sure?’’
‘‘It’s not there.’’
‘‘Have a good look.’’
‘‘I’ve looked.’’
Sound familiar? Then you know what comes next.
‘‘There it is. You didn’t look properly did you? You had a boylook.’’
Harsh, I know, but unfortunately often true. It even happens at work. I can never find my watch even though I am the one who obviously took it off and put it down somewhere.
But all I need to do is ask one of the nurses where it is and they know exactly where to find it or they have tidied it away to some safer place. Those maternal genetics are something else.
Two of our star patients lately haven’t been so lucky in finding what they have lost. And they have lost some major items.
‘‘Hi. My cat has been missing for five days and he has come home like this,’’ an unbelievably calm Melissa told me.
Trev looked great from my side and at first I wondered what was wrong. I thought he had a sore leg because he was hopping a little bit and then he hopped right around and sure enough, he had a problem with his front leg. It was missing altogether.
It really was a classic moment. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at and Melissa was so calm. Trev hadn’t temporarily misplaced his leg – it was gone for good.
His front leg had been removed just below his shoulder somehow several days earlier by the look of the wound and he had managed to find his way home on the remaining three.
Cats are absolutely amazing little creatures. They really do have nine lives because they are survivors – their ability to clot their blood and withstand some nasty injuries saves them more times than not.
Trev was quite happy and didn’t appear to show any sign of discomfort. With a large infected wound like his, we couldn’t stitch it closed because it would only trap all the bugs inside.
After a week of daily antibiotics and gentle cleaning, the wound was 100 per cent better and after another week, the area was a fraction of the size and Trev was keen to go home. It is amazing that the body has an almost alien ability to heal and close over large wounds without any real help, other than a few antibiotics.
And maybe Trev’s injury would have healed eventually without our help if he was in the wild, but then again, the infection may have overtaken his body’s healing powers – we will never know. Trev is back home running on three legs and looking for more adventures, but he wouldn’t tell us where he misplaced his leg.
Alex has another story of misplaced body parts. He was once a very proud and regal silver tabby with a tail to be admired by all those other moggies. But he returned home recently after a five-day absence with a very sad looking tail.
Almost half of his tail was missing and the remaining half wasn’t looking very healthy at all. Alex must have injured his tail at a point just down from the base.
Sometimes, an injury on a tail can cause a loss of blood supply to the area below. The tail then starts to ‘‘die off’’ with an effect like gangrene.
So, Alex has already lost the far end and now the infection was advancing towards the base. The only treatment option was to remove the tail at a healthy point, and the only point for that was right up at the base, well away from the advancing infection.
Luckily, there was just enough healthy tissue to work with – another few days and it would have been a difficult situation to sort out. With Alex snoozing in the surgery, we gave him a nice streamlined rear end with just enough tail to cover his pride. Three days later, he was sunning himself on the bed at home and dreaming of the long fluffy tail that was.
So not all things can be found, even with that genetic advantage.