When my vet saw Simba's x-rays, she considered that his leg could be pinned with a long pin down the centre of his femur, which was pricey (160-200HBD) but doable. The surgeon looked at the xrays and dashed our hopes and gave a quote of 2-2.5 times that amount. The other possibility was to take him to the community vets to amputate his leg, which would take days to organise and I felt it wasn't fair to make him wait in pain for that, I'd rather beg, borrow and sell and get it done. My vet also said that perhaps we'd get away with external fixation but the surgeon nixed that on consult and suggested that I apply to their charity program. Although I had to give a bank statement, they turned me down and offered a reduced rate, which was about the same as what I had in my account. That was fairly mindboggling but by this stage it was "please just operate on the poor guy, I can't bear it if he waits any longer" so I paid half of the fee and they went ahead. They actually did the surgery free of charge but the titanium plates and screws in the boy's leg cost fully half of the total bill. The rest was meds, 4 days in hospital and a consult fee and I got to spend around 475 HBD which isn't much for a vet bill for a femoral fracture but has flattened me financially.
About 15 stitches
The surgeon said that the bone was more badly damaged than the x-rays suggested and that he should be confined in an area roughly 2 x 1.5m and it needed to be ready before she'd release him. Of course we had a 3-day electrical blackout at the same time so it was a case of build with what there is, no power tools allowed. Luckily, I have tons of crap in my storeroom, dating back to my film industry props-making days.
The ingredients were: an old door, some old industrial fridge shelves, A shelving frame I used to store leather in, metal mesh squares, leftover canvas from a job where I had to sew military sandbags, connector wiring from a defunct alarm system, old bits of washing line and wire and some plastic garden mesh to keep Batman out, because the skinny little weasel fits through the squares. We got 2x1m but beggars can't be choosers.
I left the boy unattended for an hour or 2 while I was putting finishing touches on his coop and found that the little bugger had gotten out of his cone and been hard at work pulling on his stitches. Seems his whole family is like that.... Luckily I know from experience that if the wound hasn't opened, you just get that cone back on properly and make sure that it doesn't come off again. I'll also keep him stoned enough on gabapentin to ensure that he's less bothered by these thoughts of stitch-ripping. The stitches can come out in 10 days from now.
He's going to spend 6-8 weeks in his coop. My cats Wookie, Yoda and Peanuts are refusing to come in the house because he's there so it's going to be fun getting them to come to terms with this new reality.
No sympathy for Simba 🙁 except from @nikv 🙂
Yup. This poor cat feels universally despised by now
Thanks @ackhoo!
I see you have the resourcefulness of a good props person. Simba is a lucky cat indeed. Thanks for doing this work.
I'm very good at improvising and grateful that it's done. Now we just have to get through the next 2 months
Wow ! That's a lot !
I hope he cooperates enough to get him through it ok and without more costs to you.
He doesn't know how luck he is !
The enormity of the costs are still sinking in. At least he's a very placid and obliging little cat, he's taking his meds like a pro and trying to play a little
Oh! Poor cat! Hope he would behave and recover as soon as possible. You did a good job on the coop!
Thanks! He'll be ok if I manage it right
Good luck! All will be fine soon.
In time, yes. Thank you so much for the HBD!
Hopefully! Simba will be much stronger soon!
<3
!discovery 30
Thanks @phage93! 😻
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That is a lot of stitches!
Hope all goes well :)
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Yes and thank you!
Hope he recovers soon
Thanks! He's doing ok but bones just take time
Let the cat recover faster.🙂
😸
Let me take part and support you financially in this mission. Vet's prices are rediculously high here, in our office it is an often subject to discuss, and we joke that for Pets the price label is higher than for humans... Wish you and Simba have many better days! 🐈🐈🐈
Thank you so much! Every bit helps 😻 It will get better with time
😻 😻 😻
May Allah that your cat recover very soon and enjoy their life
Thank you
Always Welcome dear
Oh, it's a pity...
Get well soon! ❤️
It was a big mess! Nice to see you here ♥️
How is Simba doing?
Never a dull moment: the update is on its way!