Amy & I were heading to Becky and Jere Ozment's home for a church get together. Another car was following behind us, since they didn't know the way. As we were passing through an intersection I could see a dead Calico cat that had been run over and as we drove by, she raised her head up.... I missed THAT diagnosis.
I pulled over and picked up the little girl and put her in the car and continued on to the Ozments, where I dropped off my wife and headed to the clinic. With the examination, I could tell the Right Humerus (upper arm) was fractured, so I gave her an injection of Pain medication and put a bandage on to support her arm by securing it to her body wall, and headed back to dinner. Everything else seemed to be in good shape. She was a cute little 4 & 1/2 pound cat and a very good patient. I called her SPLAT, but for some reason Amy didn't like that name.
Afterwards, I went back and took X-rays... her arm was really busted up. The bandage would keep it stabile temporarily, but she needed surgery. We noticed that she was a Polydactyl. That means that she had extra toes on her front feet. Amy was into the history of Key West and knew that most of the cats there had extra toes. Since Key West was a shipping point, a long time ago, there were lots of ships in and out and sailors felt that these extra toed cats made better mousers (or ratters if that's an actual word) to protect the cargo. Many people call these Hemingway cats, as he was a famous writer that made Key West his home and a majority of cats had this genetic trait.. Amy informed me that Ernest Hemingway's nurse girlfriend's name was Agnes von Kurowsky.... & that's how she got her name. Names are important in my family and we don't take the task of choosing one lightly. It might take an entire BLOG to go over all of my family pets and their names.
I scheduled a surgery. It took a pin and 3 circlage wires to piece it back together. Surgery and recovery went well. We let her convalesce at the hospital for a few days and then Amy decided that she wanted her to come home...... At that point Amy had not been a cat person. She loved Agnes and they really connected. Within 2 or 3 weeks, she was running around and it was difficult to tell which leg had surgery, except that the hair hadn't grown back. Now Amy liked this cat, but this had increased our flock of cats to 3. We didn't need anymore, so a month after her orthopedic surgery I spayed her. Of course during the course of all of this she got her vaccines, etc. etc. and was a part of the family.
Agnes was a great cat. If I had a camera rolling I could have made some money when she leaped up 3 feet of more after a bug and landed in the pool. She swam to the side, I plucked her out, she shook off and continued her hunt for bugs. One day she went missing. This was before FaceBook, that has been so helpful in finding lost pets for us. We put signs up, put ads in the paper, searched the neighborhood and the park, but no Agnes. I just hope that someone found this cute little cat and is still giving her a great home. She would be a little over 7 years old now.
I pulled over and picked up the little girl and put her in the car and continued on to the Ozments, where I dropped off my wife and headed to the clinic. With the examination, I could tell the Right Humerus (upper arm) was fractured, so I gave her an injection of Pain medication and put a bandage on to support her arm by securing it to her body wall, and headed back to dinner. Everything else seemed to be in good shape. She was a cute little 4 & 1/2 pound cat and a very good patient. I called her SPLAT, but for some reason Amy didn't like that name.
Afterwards, I went back and took X-rays... her arm was really busted up. The bandage would keep it stabile temporarily, but she needed surgery. We noticed that she was a Polydactyl. That means that she had extra toes on her front feet. Amy was into the history of Key West and knew that most of the cats there had extra toes. Since Key West was a shipping point, a long time ago, there were lots of ships in and out and sailors felt that these extra toed cats made better mousers (or ratters if that's an actual word) to protect the cargo. Many people call these Hemingway cats, as he was a famous writer that made Key West his home and a majority of cats had this genetic trait.. Amy informed me that Ernest Hemingway's nurse girlfriend's name was Agnes von Kurowsky.... & that's how she got her name. Names are important in my family and we don't take the task of choosing one lightly. It might take an entire BLOG to go over all of my family pets and their names.
I scheduled a surgery. It took a pin and 3 circlage wires to piece it back together. Surgery and recovery went well. We let her convalesce at the hospital for a few days and then Amy decided that she wanted her to come home...... At that point Amy had not been a cat person. She loved Agnes and they really connected. Within 2 or 3 weeks, she was running around and it was difficult to tell which leg had surgery, except that the hair hadn't grown back. Now Amy liked this cat, but this had increased our flock of cats to 3. We didn't need anymore, so a month after her orthopedic surgery I spayed her. Of course during the course of all of this she got her vaccines, etc. etc. and was a part of the family.
Agnes was a great cat. If I had a camera rolling I could have made some money when she leaped up 3 feet of more after a bug and landed in the pool. She swam to the side, I plucked her out, she shook off and continued her hunt for bugs. One day she went missing. This was before FaceBook, that has been so helpful in finding lost pets for us. We put signs up, put ads in the paper, searched the neighborhood and the park, but no Agnes. I just hope that someone found this cute little cat and is still giving her a great home. She would be a little over 7 years old now.
The only picute I could find of Agnes. Can barely see that her Right Front has some hair shaved. It looks like she has Big Thumbs (Dewclaws). This is because she has extra claws there.
Right Humeral fracture. 2 views.
Post-op X-rays of Humeral fracture repair. Intermedullary pin and 3 circlage wires. After this Post-op X-ray the pin was screwed in a little farther and cut off near the top of the Humerus.
The label I used for her X-ray. I know.........it wasn't very professional.
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