Tilly came home on a Friday evening unable to stand on her right hind leg and in obvious pain. Her owners phoned our emergency service and Tilly was admitted to the surgery that same evening for necessary treatment. It was apparent that Tilly had been hit by a car. Her condition was stabilised over night before x-rays were taken the following morning.
The x-rays showed that she had dislocated her right hip and had also fractured the right hand side of her pelvis. The severity and complicated nature of the injury made hip replacement and pelvic repair unsuitable, and after discussion with the owners, it was decided that Tilly would receive surgery known as an excision arthroplasty.
In this procedure the ball head of the affected hip is removed – this prevents the top of the thigh bone rubbing on the pelvis which allows the cat to quickly regain function of its leg and removes long term pain.
Tilly’s surgery went well and she recovered smoothly from her anaesthetic. She was hospitalised for a further night to keep her comfortable and to allow us to give her strong painkillers through the night time.
Tilly is doing extremely well following her surgery and is regaining use of her leg rapidly. However, she has definitely lost one of her nine lives!
