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10/18/03
Update! After several months in our care, Angel
was adopted.
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Angel and Her
Kittens
When I first saw
her, Angel wasn't much
more than six or seven months old. Her owner found her as
a stray kitten, kept her, but didn't bother to have her spayed
let alone any shots. When Angel had kittens, it was
obvious they weren't normal. As you can see in the photos
below, their front legs are bent at
an odd angle and practically useless. Now the owner didn't
want to be bothered with Angel at all or her deformed
kittens. If nobody would take them, the owner threatened
to dump them somewhere in the country. A fine example of irresponsible
pet ownership, don't you think?
I took them and
made an appointment with my vet immediately. Angel
tested negative for feline leukemia and had her first set of
shots. As soon as her kittens were weaned, she was spayed. Unfortunately, x-rays revealed the kittens were born without a
radius bone in their front legs. It is a genetic defect
known as Radial Agenesis. Since the radius is a
weight bearing bone, they are unable to use their front
legs.
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| My vet, Dr. Kelley Young consulted with several veterinary orthopedic surgeons
to get their opinion on her proposed treatment which would be to
put walking casts or splints on their front legs to stabilize
them and to get the kittens accustomed to walking in an upright
condition. The kittens legs would remain stabilized
until they reach about six or seven
months of age. At that time another series of x-rays could
be done to determine if bone grafts could be done and pins put in place
enabling them to walk almost normally.
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In both
photographs the male kitten, Chase is on the right and the
female, Serena on the left. My vet is a bit
concerned by the flattened ribcage of the male
kitten. As he grows, his chest needs to expand
to allow for his heart and lungs to develop
properly. We are doing gentle chest massage on him
to encourage his ribcage to grow in a more rounded
shape. His flattened ribcage isn't really noticeable
in these photos. However, it's easy to see the
condition of their front legs.
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On July 21, 2003 both kittens received their first set of leg
splints. Creating them was just a bit of a challenge
for Dr. Young. The splints needed to hold
their legs straight and give them the support they needed
to walk. Since the splints would need to be replaced
as the kittens grew, they also needed to be easy to
remove. In the photograph on the left a technician
has cut the ends off of an appropriately sized plastic syringe and
is filing the edges smooth. The ends of these modified
syringes were padded then slid onto the legs and held in
place with vet wrap. As the kittens grow,
larger syringes will be modified and used. I thought
it was an ingenious idea. The kittens
were walking and playing the same day their legs were
set in splints. The splints
extend from their elbows to their feet. With the pads of
their toes exposed, they have excellent traction even on
tile flooring. It was more difficult to get a good
photo because they were always on the move! |
Over
the next several months both kittens were closely
monitored by our vet and had their splints replaced as
they continued to grow. By September, another
set of x-rays revealed that Chase had enough of a
radius bone in his left leg to allow him to use it
normally. Unfortunately, the same x-rays also
showed that he was not only missing a radius in his
right leg but several wrist bones as well.
Serena was also missing several wrist bones as well as
a radius in both front legs. So surgery is not
an option now.
Although
both of Serena's front legs and Chase's front right leg is a little crooked,
both are getting around
great without splints. Apparently, wearing
splints for all those months actually made their front
legs stronger and much straighter.
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