Bella is a 4 yr old moggy who presented to Vet Lauren recently with a very painful and swollen leg. Lauren found a small cut on the leg and a crunchy feeling on palpation of the bone. She quickly recommended x-rays, and everybody was horrified by the results.
Beautiful Bella had been shot! The pellet had passed through the humerus, smashing the bone and stopping just short of the chest cavity. Bella was very lucky to be alive.
Fortunately, Lauren and Kyra have both done years of additional surgical training and regularly perform orthopaedic surgeries.
They were delighted to put their skills to use in retrieving the pellet then repairing the fracture. This was done by inserting a pin down the middle of the bone to realign the ends then attaching a plate with 9 screws to hold things firmly in place whilst the bone heals.
Bella was a wonderful patient. She tolerated weeks of crate rest and within 3 weeks she was using the leg well again. She’ll be back for a check-up and follow up x-ray in the summer and hopefully we can tentatively start to have some more normal exercise.
We are all horrified that someone’s pet cat could be shot like this and are thankful that the pellet stopped short of the chest.
A few more centimetres and Bella might not have survived. This incident happened in Wendlebury, and the owners would be pleased to receive any information on how this might have happened.
Thankfully, Bella is doing well, and we trust her positive recovery will continue, and that she’ll be back to her wonderful self very soon.
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