Rascal Miles , a young male cat has been awarded the Fromus Vet Group’s

DECEMBER PET OF THE MONTH AWARD

Rascal came to see us as an emergency in mid December. He had been missing for two long days. He had sustained a huge injury to his chest wall. With each breath he took, air could be heard escaping from the wound. His owners realised how serious this was and having first alerted us, made their way down to the clinic.

Immediately, Rascal was taken through to our treatment room to assess his injuries while he received oxygen by face mask. Brave Rascal sat quietly but was obviously in a great deal of discomfort.

The vet spoke to Rascal’s owners to discuss the severity of the injuries and whether or not they were willing to allow us pursue a very high risk surgery to attempt to repair the wound. Fortunately for Rascal, his owners wanted us to give him every chance, whatever the cost.

An x-ray was taken to assess the damage to the chest internally and also to see if air was being trapped in the chest. Following preparation for surgery Rascal was given anaesthetic. This was one of the high risk periods where, without any warning, the cat could stop breathing.

The wound was lavaged (flushed with saline) repeatedly to remove debris and dirt. At this stage, the full extent of the wound was seen. Rascal’s ribs had been broken and spread apart allowing his lungs to be seen through the wound. A tube was placed into the chest to allow air to be sucked out during and after the procedure. As the final sutures were placed in the muscle layer, air was sucked out through the tube to allow Rascal’s lungs to expand normally.

The anaesthetic began to stabilise after this point and the cats breathing became more regular and soon only a neat row of sutures remained. A post operative x-ray was taken to assess whether there was any air trapped in the chest and also if the ribs were stabilised. As the radiograph looked promising, Rascal was to be woken up. This was another high risk part of the anaesthetic – after a few minutes, it was time to switch the oxygen off. We waited patiently to see if Rascal would be able to breath normal air by himself.

Rascal recovered from the anaesthetic well, but was very weak and shocked. Surrounded by heat pads to keep him warm, the vet sat with Rascal to keep him company and comfort him through the evening.

Rascal was hospitalised for several days to monitor for signs of infection. Rascal won all our hearts during this time. Despite all the odds, he battled on and was so happy to be cuddled and stroked. On the third day, he began to live up to his name so it was decided he was well enough to go home. Rascals owners had built a special confinement pen for him as due to his rib fractures, he needs to be rested for several weeks.

Rascal has been in to see us for several check-ups since his injury and so far is making an uneventful recovery.

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