Meet Maple! Wee bit different this week, we had a extra special case I would like to share with everyone and thanks to her owners for letting me. Maple the kitten came to us as at about 4 weeks old as her owner noted her front legs were developing at a strange angle. With her being so tiny it was difficult to assess what was happening to her legs. As she grew we could see a little better that her front legs were twisted at the radius and ulna (bones from her elbow to her wrist) and her carpus (wrist) was so rotated her little paw faced upwards if you tried to strangen from her elbow. With her being so young we waited until around 8 week old before we x-rayed her as kittens being so tiny can get cold very fast. We took her x-rays to see if we could help, they were very hard to position - believe me! Everytime I had one joint straight the other would be wonky! But we did our best and it gave Robert something to base the surgery plan on. As this was very unusual it took Robert a lot of thinking and research to plan how to help Maple but after a few long nights hiting the books he had a plan. We had to order the smallest external fixation kit I have ever seen normally used to fix birds broken wings meaning it is very light since Maple is only up to 1kg now. While we were getting everything ready for Maples big op, Maple was coping very well - she had learned to cope by sitting on her back legs and bunny hopping looking slightly like a kangroo! She even started to manage the stairs by using her front legs to balance herself and hop. She was even keeping up with her brother and beating him up at times! Her surgery day was Tuesday, with me on anaesthesia, Cheryl helping keep the surgeons supplied with equipment and Robert and Sarah operating we started the long process of correcting the first leg - her left. After a long 3 hour surgery we managed to straighten her leg by breaking her two long bones and pining these into a more normal position. Pins were then placed into her carpus and metacarpals (finger bones) to rotate these round to a normal positon two tiny titanium tubular bars were attached to the pins and a little hinge was added to the middle to allow in a few weeks Maple to move her carpus. Maple recovered well and was soon munching into some food in recovery. As some of you may have seen on the television, some of these surgeries can be very expensive costing many thousands of pounds. Consequently, in this case, referral to a specialist centre was not really an option so the vets and nurses gave up their time to provide the surgery and care for free costing Maples owner only the cost of the implants and kits specially ordered for Maple. Here are a few pics, we are going to follow Maples progress so I will promise more pics and xrays as she heals and grows. And of course as she has her next surgery on the right leg. Emily Wallace RVN
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 08:42:11 +0000
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