December 2008 - Socks Gaudion
Socks Gaudion's winter woes
Socks, a 1 year old black and white domestic short haired cat is December’s Braveheart and with good reason.
Socks returned home one afternoon in December after being missing for about twenty four hours. She was very quiet, lethargic and just not her normal bright self. Her owners rushed her to the Chagford surgery that evening.
On examination Socks appeared to be very anaemic with diarrhoea around her hind limbs. Although she had not lost weight, she appeared a lot thinner and was hunched with a tense abdomen. Bloods were taken to investigate the anaemia, no external wounds were detected. The result revealed that the red blood cells circulating the blood system were at the low end of the normal range apart from this the blood results were normal. The vet administered antibiotics and sent Socks home to return the following day.
The following day, Socks seemed slightly brighter in her self. Her temperature was now slightly raised at 39’C and her abdomen was now sore. Bloods were repeated and a test was carried out for FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus), all tests were normal. A decision was made to examine and radiograph Socks under a general anaesthetic.
Under anaesthetic, a mass was felt in the abdomen which corresponded with the x-rays. Socks was taken through to surgery for an exploratory laporotomy. Once inside the abdomen the cause of the anaemia and pain was revealed. It was found that the mesentery of the small intestine had been torn and had become necrotic (the cells had began to die) There were also large haematomas and a very bruised and inflamed bladder. Due to the severity of the damage to the small intestines a large section had to be removed, suturing the remaining intestines end to end (anastomosis).
Her road to recovery was long and arduous. She needed close monitoring over the next twenty four hours. Over the week Socks gradually improved and her appetite slowly returned over the week.
The bruising and swelling began to decrease and socks was finally allowed home. She is continuing, despite all odds to make a great recovery thanks to her determination and the nursing care provided by the staff.
