Sue's Blog - Some assembly required.

Battle of Wounded Knee

Took Lily to see Dr Thomas about her leg yesterday.
As you maybe aware, this is what Lily thinks about going to the vet.

After being told by the very nice young man at the other vet's (Dr Thomas was on vacation) that we would need x rays, mri etc (very costly) to determine what was wrong with her leg, oh and how one of his cats started limping like this and soon died of cancer (eek!), Dr Thomas told us exactly what was wrong.
He listened carefully to our description of how it started, he then examined the leg.
Oh how simple this sounds.
It bloody wasn't.
Lily is likely to explode in the vet's office at the best of times.  Having someone pull her hurty leg around to examine it was a step too far.
She, as they say, went off on one.
After a couple of minutes of this furious white fluffy ball of fangs and talons whirling in an incensed torrent of rage and howling like a banshee........the retreat was sounded whilst a muzzle was located.
A muzzle ....a MUZZLE ...on my poor, sweet Princess Lilibet III.

Philip by now was bloodied and torn.  Dr Thomas and I, so far, had escaped unscathed .
Dr. Thomas produced bandaids  for Philip, reinforcements were called in and I left the room.
I was getting upset.
His assistant Lori, who is a very capable lady and not easily fazed, joined the fray.

I sat outside listening to the shrieks, screeches, thumps and bangs emanating from within that dark portal of hell known as Dr. Thomas's office.
Philip emerged at one point.  He had received more injuries and had been sent out to clean them up.

It suddenly went quiet.
Either Lily's examination was over or .........she had killed Dr. Thomas and his assistant.

Philip opened the door.  All was well.  Lily was back in her carrier with a look of absolute disgust on her face.
Dr. Thomas was all smiles and no blood.
Lori disappeared back to reception.
He knew exactly what was wrong with Lily's leg.  She has a torn ACL (called a CCL for some reason in cats).
There have been a few American footballers with this injury in the news lately.  I hadn't noticed Lily slipping out for a quick game of football with the lads, but apparently she could have come by it in many ways.
It is easy to do.
Dr. Thomas said he was 75% sure of this diagnosis, from our description,  before he examined her leg but as soon as he did it was all very clear.  100% positive.  He even tested the other leg to make sure.  That was perfect.
I can't help but remark that if I had been Dr. Thomas, he knows what she is like, I would have gone with the 75% and not bothered to be doubly sure.  Brave chap.
He even drew a little diagram to show us what had happened.
He also said that as this is a ligament x rays would not have shown it.
Apparently there are two ways we could go.  The quick fix would be surgery which would be very expensive, involves pinning the joint, but it would be instant.  Well, apart from getting over the surgery and Lily is 12 years old.
He did suggest the best course of action was to be patient and wait and see.  He said that small animals do often heal by themselves.  The ligament doesn't actually heal in surgery or in time...scar tissue forms and stabilizes the joint in both cases.
As she is already walking much better than she was initially he thinks waiting is best for her and that she has a good chance of making an excellent recovery.
Not necessarily a complete recovery, as he so rightly pointed out, we can't all expect to be in perfect condition as we age.  So, even if she has a very slight limp, as long as she hasn't got any discomfort, we should be happy with that.
I hope this vet never moves away or retires.  He could so easily have pushed us towards an expensive surgery but he has such a down to earth, common sense approach that it makes everyone love him.

Philip took her back to the car while I sorted out the bill with the receptionist.
She was so kind.  I was apologizing for Lily's 'episode' but she said it was no problem and that they understand that she is so frightened.  Fear makes her explode that way.
Then she said the best thing of all....
"We have some worse than her.".
Bless you Lori.

posted by Sue Banks @ 10:02 AM