Brave Cat of the Month
Walnut is a beautiful Sphynx cat, who came into see us as because the owners really wanted her neutered but were concerned because she had underlying airway disease (asthma) and very mild changes to the muscle in her heart. Queens have multiple ‘heat’ periods during their breeding cycle which is determined by the daylight hours and runs from January to October in the UK. Each ’heat’ generally lasts 6-7 days but it can be as short as 1 day or as long as 19 days. If the queen is not mated during this period, she will "go out of heat" for a short period of time, usually 7 days but this can also be anywhere from 2 to 19 days!
With any anaesthetic there are risks, but we anticipate these risks and cater for each individual, always having a plan A, B (and often C) before these types of procedures are started. In Walnut’s case, we performed echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound) to determine what changes had occurred to her heart muscle since her previous ultrasound, I was all good news and there were no significant changes so she was determined to be a suitable candidate for the anaesthetic and surgery. The asthma was already well controlled by her wonderful carers using a Feline-specific inhaler (Aerokat) and we used our oxygen tent pre and post-surgery to ensure that her lungs were filled with pure oxygen to give her lungs a helping hand.
Her surgery went smoothly and she recovered quickly. Instead of a buster collar we used a medi-shirt she loved this top.
She was such a delight to have in with us, full of cuddles and kisses.
Well done Walnut