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I have not been keeping up his blog. As soon as Dobby left for Austin, we took in a five-week-old kitten whose back legs were paralyzed. She was destined to go to Wichita, to a lady who specializes in paralyzed animals, but sadly, little Taco passed away tonight. However, she really kept us busy for the last few weeks.
So you’re missing a lot of news on Dobby—or some of it non-news, if there is such a thing. He went to Austin, had a diagnostic appointment. The vet called for x-rays. The vet said that he had a dislocated elbow on the right side, a dislocated hip on the right side, and a misaligned, fractured pelvis on the left side, and that that side also had tendon damage and nerve damage. They felt it might take three surgeries to repair, and one of them was an amputation of the bad leg on the left side. However, the amputation would have left him putting all his weight on the side with the two dislocations. It was problematic.
Rebecca at Cedar Forest Cat Ranch is hosting him, so she took him back for x-rays a the following week—the first appointment was on a Thursday, I think, the x-rays on a Tuesday. Then we waited. And we waited. Then she got a call a week later, on Friday, asking her to bring him back in the following Tuesday for more x-rays! We couldn’t get any details from the clinic. More waiting. Then another call, come back for an appointment.
As it turns out, during the diagnostic, they felt that Dobby had no deep muscle pain—when they stick a needle between the toes to see if there is any feeling way down inside. Well, then when they did the x-rays on Tuesday, they had to adjust his really bad leg, and the vet techs swore he whimpered in pain. The vet also saw on the x-rays that it looked as if the dislocations were healed, and that the joint had fused in such a way that he would have decent movement on his right side. The vet thought it better not to rebreak the dislocated joints at this time, but to wait and see. Either way, he would have arthritis down the line, but there is no predicting how bad it might be. The left leg was the big problem. After the vet techs said he whimpered, they did more x-rays, an ultrasound, and the vet re-examined him. Guess what? The nerves are beginning to heal. They don’t want to do surgery on the leg so as not to damage the nerves any further. So first, he gets physical therapy, which actually might cause the nerves to heal as well as help with the tendon damage. Whether he’ll end up needing to have the fracture rebroken later is anybody’s guess. The vet said that it might take many months for the nerves and tendons to heal sufficiently to risk surgery, and by that time, it may be better to leave the crooked leg the way it is, if he has a decent range of motion. So he’s looking at six to nine months of physical therapy. Rebecca and her husband John are in love with Dobby, who is super sweet (did you see his video on the chip in page?). They are willing to take him for the first phase, which is where the therapist works with the leg, and the second phase, where they work with the leg under supervision. Then they will teach his new mom, Mari, the lady who rescued him, how to do the therapy, and she’ll continue. In nine months, he’ll return for more x-rays, and we will all be crossing our paws that he’s sufficiently healed that he will need NO surgery at all.
The vet said he’s not out of the woods yet—he may end up losing his leg, but the vet doesn’t think so, if he can tolerate the intensive physical therapy.
