Medical advances that come too late
The walking problems suffered by an elderly cat due to a broken limb as a kitten could have been avoided with a little extra care
How far medical science for pets has advanced in the last few years! In Thailand, apart from advanced medications that were unavailable at one time, we now have chemotherapy, dialysis, even blood transfusions, ultrasound and MRI for our four-legged family members, just depending on what your finances are.
With vaccinations, improved quality of petfood and vets with much more experience, we can expect our pets today to live much longer than pets of, say, 20 years ago.
Sometimes, though, the past can come back and bite you.
I’m thinking of my old lady Susu. Today, this cat, nearly 20 years old now, is completely healthy - except for one terrible condition.
Susu came to me as a three-month-old kitten with one of her back legs broken in two places. After studying her X-rays, the vet at that time commented that one of the breaks was already healing, and the other one was just beginning to.
“Just let the breaks heal on their own,” he said. “Give her lots of calcium, and she’ll be all right.”
After a few months, I thought she was all right. That leg was still weak, but she was using it, even though one hip was lower than the other.
At 15, though, Susu began to walk stiffly, and two years later, as her hind legs grew more painful, she began twisting her front legs around to take more of her weight.
The surgeon I took her to told me that nothing could be done for her. He did observe that the vet all those years ago should have re-broken the bones in her hind leg and set them properly. Left untouched, the bones, when they healed, didn’t come together in a natural position. As a result, the leg has never been able to function satisfactorily.
“If he had done that surgery, your cat wouldn’t have these problems today,” he said.
I suppose at that time, a cat who reached 10 or 11 years old was considered close to the end of her life. Perhaps the vet simply assumed that within 10 years, Susu would have died of old age before such problems could appear.
Today, a cat, taken care of properly, can live to 15 or 20 years. Thai cats can live even longer than Western cats, up to 25 year or even more.
So here Susu is today, among the healthiest of my cats, but with this one terrible problem, all because the vet 20 years ago didn’t know or didn’t care what he was doing.
Sometimes knowledge comes too late, doesn’t it.
