Stray Cat Ginger Loses a Leg but Finds a new Lease of Life Thanks to Mayhew Vets

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Please find below another amazing rescue story from our friends at Mayhew.

When seven-year-old stray Ginger came to us with a fractured hind leg, our vets had a tough decision on their hands in terms of potential treatment. They considered surgery to attempt to fix and set the bone and amputation, and although the latter may appear to be more risky and dramatic, it was eventually agreed that in Ginger’s case the removal of the full limb was the best and safest course of action.

• It was unclear how Ginger came to injure his leg or indeed when exactly it had happened, but upon x-ray the fracture was revealed to be incredibly complex and delicate, and had clearly caused him a lot of pain whilst he was out on the streets.
• Unlike amputation, which cats can actually adapt to fairly quickly, surgical intervention to try and mend the leg would have invited a lengthy recovery period and required multiple additional procedures such as frequent x-rays and tests to check it was healing properly.
• There was also no guarantee that an attempt to mend the fracture would be successful, and because Ginger is FIV positive, there was also a concern over how well his body would have tolerated surgical implants and possible repeat procedures over the years. 

Ginger was therefore admitted to our Vet Clinic for a full hind leg amputation, which our vets and vet nurses handled expertly with no complications. As we are still running at a limited capacity because of the pandemic, we then transferred Ginger to the closest RSPCA branch overnight so that he could receive around the clock aftercare and additional pain relief. 

Once he’d come round and it was clear that Ginger would make a full and straightforward recovery, he came back to Mayhew to get used to life on three legs. Apart from some localised bruising around his stump, he adapted extremely well straight away and proved himself to be an energetic and friendly addition to our Cattery.

Justin Ainsworth, our Head Vet, said shortly after checking up on Ginger the following day that “He really was super bright, and the happiest I’d seen him since he was admitted. He was moving around with ease and seemed very comfortable.” 

Although he’d arrived as a stray and had clearly been out on his own for some time, Ginger had a microchip through which we were able to trace his original owner. Sadly, they were not able to take Ginger back into their care, and so signed him over to us so we could find him a new forever family.

After just a few short weeks, we were thrilled to see that Ginger was almost healed and was making the most of his fresh start. As soon as he was ready we placed him up for adoption, and it wasn’t long before someone fell in love with his cheeky face and met all of his needs – proving that an amputation and a positive FIV status doesn’t necessarily make a cat any harder to rehome!

To find out more about our Vet Clinic and see which animals we currently have available for adoption, please visit our website at themayhew.org.

The post Stray Cat Ginger Loses a Leg but Finds a new Lease of Life Thanks to Mayhew Vets appeared first on Katzenworld.

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