For February pet of the month, all of the staff at the animal hospital would like to pay tribute to Tommy…

Tommy

Tommy first came to the practice following a suspected road traffic accident. Radiographs revealed he had multiple fractures to his left femur, ultimately resulting in his left hind leg having to be amputated. Usually cats manage quite well on three legs but, unfortunately for Tommy, he had some common complications after his surgery including wound break down and partial blockage of the urethra.

Because of theses issues, he spent a long time with us as an inpatient here in the hospital. His favorite spot in the hospital was right under the radiator in the kitchen, where he received lots of TLC from our nurses and vets and the occasional piece of chicken at lunch time!

Owner compliance was key in treating Tommy for his injuries and though his case was quite complicated, his owner wanted us to do everything we could for him, and so we did. His surgical wound needed to be bathed twice daily after the tissue began to break down. We used an antibacterial wash and intrasite gel, a hydrogel used to rehydrate narcrotic tissue. This took some time and patience from both Tommy and the nurses. He soon got used to the process however and enjoyed the routine of chin scratches during bath time. Eventually, the necrotic tissue began to fall off and his wound was restitched . The underlying issue of urethral narrowing was a more difficult one however. Throughout his time in the hospital the nurses would monitor his urination, which, unfortunately gradually worsened over time. Tommy was prescribed Hypovase for this issue, a drug used to increase patiency of the urethra. Unfortunately, as time went on Tommy’s urethra continued to block until one day he was struggling to pass urine. Previous attempts to try and pass a urinary catheter had failed as scar tissue had formed at the opening to the bladder and made this impossible. Unfortunately, Tommy could no longer battle this problem and so the difficult decision had to me made to put him to sleep.

I think we all fell in love with Tommy because of his loving nature. We all sympathised with what he was going through but he remained in such high spirits despite everything. He truly was a special cat and his presence will be missed here in the hospital.