Kitten Surgery

[Adelei]

Hi all! I'm a member of a cat rescue group in China and I rescued an approximately 3 month old kitten last night. Now, my experiences with vets in China have not been good at all. The 24 hour vet I took her to last night was convinced she had FCV and would die soon, so there was no point in running expensive tests on a stray. I thought it was pretty obvious she was injured, even if she was sick on top of that. I told him her leg was injured and he was super rough, pushing it in various places, pulling it out real hard, etc. and it obviously caused her a lot of pain. So today I took her for a second opinion at a vet that commonly works with our rescue group. He was much more gentle with her and took several x-rays. She has a broken hip. He showed it to me on the x-ray and was pointing to an area that looks like where the femur attaches to the pelvis. He said that she needs surgery to have it removed. My Chinese isn't great (and medical language skills are a step above even normal fluency), so I asked if he meant the leg and he said no and pointed again to the hip socket. So I'm not really sure what he meant, but something will need to be removed. However, he said she needs to rest one month before they do the surgery.

Does this sound normal? I assume that it is, this particular vet seemed to be fairly competent. I assume she's too young or lightweight (she weighed 1.1 kilograms / 2.42 pounds) to be put under anesthesia. I guess my only concern is that letting it heal for 1 month and letting her do all the things normal kittens do could cause more damage. He didn't put her in a cast (maybe the injury is too high up for that to work?) and only gave a few days worth of pain medication with instructions to bring her back in 1 month for the surgery. Currently she's not interested in doing anything really, she was in too much pain before he gave her an injection to even eat. Now at least she's eating, but she's definitely not interested in playing yet.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this is the expected level of care she'd receive in a Western country (no cast, wait one month, etc.) or whether this is abnormal? Thanks!

 

[Jem]

I just wanted to say that I really don't know if the care you're getting is comparable to Western vet care as I've never dealt with a broken hip injury. Although I would hesitate to bring you kitty back to the first one. But as a health care provider here in Canada (to humans). I wonder if the "removal" he is talking about is simply a bone fragment that needs to be removed and not the whole leg. In my practice (physical therapy and rehab massage) sometimes people need to wait months to have bone fragments removed if there is no threat that the fragment will cause damage to nerves, blood vessels etc... They get cortizone shots for pain and inflammation and...wait. Did you see a fragment in the x-ray?

I'm thinking of you and the kitten, I hope it all goes well.

 

[Adelei]

I just wanted to say that I really don't know if the care you're getting is comparable to Western vet care as I've never dealt with a broken hip injury. Although I would hesitate to bring you kitty back to the first one. But as a health care provider here in Canada (to humans). I wonder if the "removal" he is talking about is simply a bone fragment that needs to be removed and not the whole leg. In my practice (physical therapy and rehab massage) sometimes people need to wait months to have bone fragments removed if there is no threat that the fragment will cause damage to nerves, blood vessels etc... They get cortizone shots for pain and inflammation and...wait. Did you see a fragment in the x-ray?

I'm thinking of you and the kitten, I hope it all goes well.

Thanks Jem! Yeah, it seemed like he was saying maybe the hip socket or something like that would need to be removed? He did say he wouldn't remove the leg. Removing the hip socket didn't make a lot of sense to me, but then again, I've never encountered this type of injury in either humans or animals, so I don't know. The thing he was pointing at looked more like a ball, right next to the femur, not so much like a fragment. But I was trying to interpret his Chinese to English as he was showing it to me, so I may have missed something if the fragment was smaller.

 

[foxden]

Can you get a copy of the xray? Some members here have experience reading xrays and might be able to offer better suggestions.

Most vets prefer not to do surgery on cats who are obviously ill, especially if they have existing respiratory problems. A small sick kitten plus potential complications from surgery may be more than your vet wants to handle.

Kieka had to put a cat (Link) on cage rest for an extended period of time for a broken leg. Link was an adult cat and he had a broken leg, not hip.

I'm sorry I don't have any other information for you.

 

[silkenpaw]

Sometimes you remove the head of the femur but that’s usually for advanced arthritis. Don’t know whether that’s what the vet was talking about. Maybe you can get him to draw you a picture.

Good luck with your kitty.

 

[Kieka]

I am not a vet but from my experiences, cage rest is extremely important to ensure healing by preventing movement. Casts in cats can do more harm then good in many cases because of causing distress or the cat increasing the injury by trying to shake it off. Removing the femoral head is common practice if the femoral head is damaged. They will usually replace it with an artifical version. There just isn't a way to set the femoral head in such a way to ensure it can heal properly. Most cats and dogs with femoral head damage who try other options end up at the removal anyways, in my understanding. Removing the head and replacing it ends up saving time and money by skipping all the other attempts that will frequently fail.

The only thing that seems off is the waiting a month. Her weight is enough to safely have the surgery. Cats bones will heal quicker then human bones but even in a human that month would be enough time for the bone to set bad.

Thinking out loud, it kinda makes sense because if the break is the femoral head or hip area but not a bad break. On cage rest there is a small chance it will self heal ifthe alignment is right and her movement is truly limited for it to not shift or get worse.. Maybe the vet meant a month of cage rest and reevaluate to see if the head is on the way to healing. It would make sense if it is a fracture. Your vet wants to give her a month cage rest, limited movement, to see if the fracture heals on it's own. If it doesn't then you'd have to do the surgery to replace the femoral head?

 

[Adelei]

Thank you all! After reading your responses and also doing a bit of research online, I realized how important it was that she be in a cage. The vet hadn't mentioned caging her, he just said she needed to rest one month. I had her in a small bathroom with nothing she could jump up on (I piled some stuff on the toilet to make it uninviting), but even that was probably too much hobbling around. A friend in my rescue group offered to let me borrow a cage, so I picked that up and she's in that right now. It's quite small though! The friend gave me a noodle bowl to use as a litter box because the cage is too small for much else! I know that bowl is too small for a 3 month old to use, so I picked up a shallow pan at the store that's about the size of a kitten litter box, but it takes up half the cage! When I folded up a towel to put in the other half, there was no room left for water (I just rested a bowl in the corner and am hoping she won't knock it over.) I plan to go to a few places tomorrow and see if I can find a slightly larger cage, at least one that will have room for water and food. If not, I'll order one online.

My Chinese isn't great, but I'm pretty sure the vet didn't say the surgery was optional if she healed well. He pretty much just said "bring her back in one month for surgery." But after doing some research on it, maybe being in a cage will help it to heal well. I will talk with the others in my rescue group about it. Some of them are Chinese and can maybe talk with the vet to find out more details. Thanks again all!

 

[Kieka]

Links litter box took up maybe a third of his crate when he was on crate rest (the cast lasted about 72 hours before he managed to twist it enough it had to be removed, my vet didn't want to cast it but he was still too mobile without the cast). All they need is enough room to turn around, potty and eat. We did clean his whole crate daily to prevent any stinky cat and because he likes clean areas. We'd put him in the carrier during that time and carry him around the house with us until he meowed to say he was ready to go back.

15391206_10154157601986453_7047938849713664773_n.j

• Kieka
• Mar 28, 2017

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Adelei , I've just come across this thread.

If I were you, I'd definitely stick with the 2nd vet, the one that has interacted with your rescue before. It's a great idea you have: to talk with people in your rescue group and see if one of the Chinese-speaking ones can help in the coming months, and go in with you when you visit that vet.

She's such a young kitten. Thank you for rescuing her! It's true that cage rest will help in the short-term until you can see that vet again. I don't know what effect a month's rest will have on your particular kitty's situation, but that is what you have to work with at the moment. If anything, lessening the kitty's movement for now will hopefully help decrease her pain (if she has more pain as a result of moving that leg too much)... but it will become even more important to make sure she eats daily and stays strong. *Many cats and kittens who are in pain do not wish to eat, pee or poo.* You only have a few days of pain medicine, so monitor her closely and if you feel the kitten is in too much pain over the coming month, I would contact the vet again to get revised instructions -- esp. if she is not eating, peeing/ pooping, etc.

How big is the current loaned cage? It might be that you'll need to get one online.

 

[Adelei]

Links litter box took up maybe a third of his crate when he was on crate rest (the cast lasted about 72 hours before he managed to twist it enough it had to be removed, my vet didn't want to cast it but he was still too mobile without the cast). All they need is enough room to turn around, potty and eat. We did clean his whole crate daily to prevent any stinky cat and because he likes clean areas. We'd put him in the carrier during that time and carry him around the house with us until he meowed to say he was ready to go back.

15391206_10154157601986453_7047938849713664773_n.j

• Kieka
• Mar 28, 2017

Yeah, I'd like for her to have as much room as your kitty had there. Or at least enough room so that the water bowl is not precariously perched on a towel! I'm posting some pics to show how small her cage is.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

One other idea could be to borrow a 2nd crate like the one in your photo, and attach them together on the side(s) that have the doorways in them. You could maybe attach them with a handful of some sort of enclosed hook, like metal or hard plastic shower curtain hooks. Then put the litter pan in the 2nd crate. This would make that 2nd crate easy to detach, letting you close the door on the "home base crate" while you remove the litter pan to clean it each day (which could end up being several times a day).

 

[Adelei]

Adelei , I've just come across this thread.

If I were you, I'd definitely stick with the 2nd vet, the one that has interacted with your rescue before. It's a great idea you have: to talk with people in your rescue group and see if one of the Chinese-speaking ones can help in the coming months, and go in with you when you visit that vet.

She's such a young kitten. Thank you for rescuing her! It's true that cage rest will help in the short-term until you can see that vet again. I don't know what effect a month's rest will have on your particular kitty's situation, but that is what you have to work with at the moment. If anything, lessening the kitty's movement for now will hopefully help decrease her pain (if she has more pain as a result of moving that leg too much)... but it will become even more important to make sure she eats daily and stays strong. *Many cats and kittens who are in pain do not wish to eat, pee or poo.* You only have a few days of pain medicine, so monitor her closely and if you feel the kitten is in too much pain over the coming month, I would contact the vet again to get revised instructions -- esp. if she is not eating, peeing/ pooping, etc.

How big is the current loaned cage? It might be that you'll need to get one online.

Thanks! Yeah, in addition to breaking her hip, she also has injuries all around her head and face. I'll post pictures of what she looked like before she got to the first (bad) vet and what she looks like now. The vet said she had blood in her right eye and pointed out a blue spot above the eye. She could barely open the right eye on Saturday night. Also, when I first got her she could barely breath. Her nose and upper lip were covered with dried blood. The first vet used tweezers to pull a lot of it off as well as out of her nostrils. He wasn't super gentle with that, but I suppose he could have been rougher. Anyway, the second vet sent me home with eye drops I give her 4-5 times a day. Her eyes look so much better already! And her nose does as well. She's definitely still recovering, but compared to how she was just 48 hours ago, I think she's well on the way to a good recovery.

She ate a ton last night (Sunday night). I'm not sure when she was actually injured, but I assume she didn't eat anything at all from then until last night. She didn't have a bowel movement until tonight though. I thought sure after how much she ate at her second meal last night, she'd have a bowel movement within an hour, but she didn't. I was a bit worried earlier today - but thought I'd wait till tonight, since I know moving or changing food can affect bowel movements. I'll continue to keep a close eye on her eating and drinking, as well as her litter box usage.

The top picture is before the vet. In the bottom picture, she looks scared, lol, but that's just because I only pick her up when it's time to medicate since I don't want to jar her hip. So she knew medication was incoming, lol. But the picture shows how wide her eyes can open now and how her nose is coming along.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

She is looking great! You are amazing for her. She needs a perfect name, what a little trooper! What kinds of nicknames do you find yourself cooing at her when you're trying to comfort her?

 

[Adelei]

She is looking great! You are amazing for her. She needs a perfect name, what a little trooper! What kinds of nicknames do you find yourself cooing at her when you're trying to comfort her?

Well, I kind of wanted to name her Hope, but we had a well-known rescued dog named Hope in the group not too long ago, so I thought it would be too confusing to name her that as well. So I just went with Snow. Generic, I know, but I had to tell the vet something and it's better to pick a name that can be pronounced easily by Chinese people. I love this little fighter already, but I'm trying not to let my heart adopt her! You're only allowed to take one pet out of the country per passport holder and I've already got two cats, so I've already been panicking about how to take my two back to America! I'm gonna make it happen somehow, but if she winds up being a foster failure, that will probably greatly increase the amount of money it'll take to get them out - not to mention increasing the stress of whether it would be possible to take 3 cats out. Plus my Mom and sister would probably kill me, lol, they've been listening to me stress over how to get my precious kitties back to America ever since I rescued the first one when she was 1 month old (a little over a year ago). Every cat I've ever fostered has wound up being a foster-failure, so I don't have a good track record, lol, but the hurdle of getting them back to America makes it more important for me to really try to find her another family. But this little girl is so brave and such a fighter, I really would love to keep her!

 

[silkenpaw]

Her weight is enough to safely have the surgery

It's big enough in the 1st World, with modern anaesthesia equipment, but they may not have that in China.

 

[silkenpaw]

Adelei Thank you so much for taking care of this adorable kitten in spite of all the difficulties. You are the best!