THIS, was the reason why my blog updates are so scarce lately. Introducing Patches, the semi paralyzed kitty! She has pretty golden eyes with just a hint of green. :)
Last Sunday midnight (June 25th) I saw a SOS post from an animal rescue group on Facebook. The cat was just about 10 minutes drive from my place, and I know I would feel terrible if I didn't help. And that was how I ended up with Patches. She was suspected to be hit by a car or motorcycle (I suspect the latter) and was not able to move with her hind legs. She was just dragging herself around with her two very strong front legs.
An X-ray of Patch's spine. Her L1 and L2 vertebrae had been crushed together, and the vet said that this was actually an old injury too, at least two weeks and above. Which means she had been dragging herself around like that for at least 2 weeks! Unfortunately that also means it is too late for surgery. Sure, she can perform one, but the bone had started to heal itself so surgery is super risky! The best chances for success for the surgery is actually within the first 8 hours after the injury. So we opted for the conservative way and try alternative treatments.
Patches doesn't really have no feelings in her hind legs. In fact, she still have some reflexes in it, so I am hopeful that she will recover in time.
Patches is currently put on Neurobion, and I have enlisted the help of a super nice animal physiotherapist - Lydia, to help. Unfortunately, Lydia says Patches is a little too early for physical therapy right now, the ideal time is 8 weeks after the injury when the bone had completely healed (over each other) and is more steady. So Lydia just taught me how to massage Patch's muscles to help with the atrophy, and also how to help express Patch's bladder properly.
I had also been looking into alternative treatments, like acupuncture. But I'll touch on that at a later date. :) To be continued!
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