Day 1 - Friday 14 September 2018 - The Car accident

On this horrible day, I was hit by a car. The awful driver didn’t stop to check whether I was okay and I had to make the long way home by myself. I couldn’t use one of my legs, so when my mummy called me because she was looking for me, I dragged myself with my two front paws to the garden, where she found me in agony. My nails and paws were damaged, and she took me straight away to the veterinarian. There they made X-rays under sedation because I was in a lot of pain. When my mummy saw the x-ray she knew I was in trouble. She had hoped for a simple fracture, but instead, it was a comminuted fracture, where my left femur had splintered into more than two fragments (see image).

  

The vet told her that at least the good news was that it was a closed fracture. She then said that there were two options. A) surgery with metals, pins and metal thread to repair the bone. B) amputation. My mummy immediately said that B was not an option. I’m a very active kitten! I love jumping, running, climbing (even though I’m not so good at that) and most of all, playing! Note that “limping” isn’t on my list of fun things to do. She was still hesitant to have surgery done though, and wondered whether I would be able to lead a fulfilling life post-surgery.

No doubt, all kinds of horror scenarios, based on experiences of friends and acquaintances, started flashing through her mind and she started bombarding the vet with a million questions to make sure that she could make an informed decision. 

What are the chances of the surgery succeeding? 90%.

What are all the things that could go wrong? Well that’s hard to say, all kinds of things could go wrong.

What are the chances that her nervous system is damaged? And what would happen if they are? We can’t say if they are, but I don’t think so.

Is there a chance that we might still have to amputate her leg if the surgery goes wrong? Well yes, but like I said, there’s a 90% chance that nothing will go wrong. 

So tell me again, what are the things that could go wrong? Well, she could reject the metal implants or they might cause her pain later on and then she will have to undergo surgery again remove to the implants. She could get an infection in her leg, but we could treat that with antibiotics. You know what? Let me just E-mail the surgeon the x-rays and ask his professional opinion on the surgery…

A little later the vet came back and informed my mummy that the surgeon said that the prospects were really good and that he had every confidence that he would be able to successfully operate me, and that after recovery I would most likely be able to do all the things I was able to do before. It would be as if I never had an accident in the first place. After a few minutes of thinking, my mummy okayed the surgery. The vet immediately called the hospital to expect us, and also let us know what the costs would be: between € 2500,-  to € 3000,-. She told us that I wouldn’t be operated today, but either tomorrow or Sunday. “After all,” she said, “it’s the weekend and many animal hospitals are closed, which means that a lot of emergencies are directed to our hospital. The surgeon is very busy and we’re not sure when we can schedule Ruby in. We’ll give you a call to let you know.”

She then gave me a shot to wake me up from my narcosis, and put me back in my cat carrier so my family could take me to the hospital. She said she would put my on an IV with a morphine like substance and would call my mummy in the morning to let me know how my night was.