JANUARY – CASH
Cash presented to us in early January after being run over whilst his family were out camping. On physical examination Cash was non-weight-bearing on his left hind leg and it was suspected that his hip was dislocated. Cash was then sedated to have radiographs taken of his injured leg where it was confirmed that he had a cranial dislocation of his hip, meaning that the top of his femur was sitting out of his hip joint and upwards. Cash was then anaesthetised to try and reduce his hip dislocation. Unfortunately, his hip could be put back where it belonged but it would not stay in at all, popping in and out far too easily. It was then discovered that Cash had a luxating patella on the same leg, a condition that can be from birth however, as Cash has never had issues using his leg, it was likely that he had sustained this injury in his accident also. This changed the surgery plans for Cash, who was initially to have his femoral head removed to manage his untreatable hip dislocation. He now had a knee issue as well, meaning that he would have to have two major surgical procedures to fix his leg, and would then have to endure a long recovery time. All the options were presented and Cash’s owners decided to amputate his leg, to save him the hassles of future complications with his injured joints and to cut his recovery time down to 10 days instead of six weeks.
Cash underwent an extensive surgery to amputate his leg through his hip joint. Usually, a hind leg is amputated halfway up the femur, making it a shorter and less demanding surgery. However, as Cash’s hip was affected, his whole hind leg had to be taken. Cash stayed in overnight on constant rate infusions of pain relief and recovered from his anaesthetic very nicely. The next day he was being taken on walks outside and adapting well to his new configuration very well. In less than 24 hours after his surgery Cash was walking out the door with his owner – and pulling on the lead!
Throughout his say with us Cash was dealing with a painful condition and underwent a very big surgery. He remained friendly, tolerant and brave throughout all his procedures and is back to being his usual cheeky self at home. We all thoroughly enjoyed treating Cash and are excited that he has a long, active and happy life ahead of him.