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Posted By: Greg - Vet

Pet of the Year Finalist: Car accident causes damage to cat’s jaw

With increasing numbers of cars on the road and high density cat populations in built up areas, road traffic accidents, or RTAs involving cats are unfortunately a common occurrence and seem to be on the rise. With the speed that cars travel, even at residential speed limits, a collision with a cat can cause a severe amount of damage, and is often fatal.

Cats often like to hide under parked cars and even just setting off from standstill can end up causing injuries to any cats that haven’t managed to move out of the way in time – so it can be very important to check under the car before a journey, and keep alert to these dangers when driving. Some RTA injuries can luckily be salvageable, as with Mittens when he suffered a head on collision.

Mittens appeared one morning with a very dramatic looking injury. His chin had taken on a very odd appearance and was covered with blood. Without being too graphic, skin was hanging loose and the bone of his jaw was exposed. Immediately his owner rushed him to the practice to see if he could be fixed. The injuries looked so severe at first glance that it wasn’t clear whether euthanasia would be the kindest option for Mittens. It appeared that he had had a run in with a car due to the nature of his injuries and having some scuffed claws.

Mittens was admitted for immediate pain relief, fluid therapy for shock, and assessment of his injuries whilst he received antibiotic cover. Once covered with strong relief, the type of injuries suffered in the car accident became clear. The odd appearance to his face was caused by a ‘degloving’ injury where skin had been pulled from the muscle and bone underneath due to a significant amount of traction, or a dragging force. In addition, Mittens had also suffered a broken jaw at the point of his chin – this is a common injury that cats suffer from an RTA.

Mittens’ owner was informed of the true extent of his injuries, and his family gave the go ahead to attempt treatment and repair, under a general anaesthetic. After a thorough cleaning of his chin wound by flushing out gritty contamination from the road surface with saline liquid, and an X-ray confirming the fracture damage, fixation of his injuries began. Before the jaw bone fracture repair, a fractured tooth caused by the accident needed to be extracted. Then, wire was needed to join the two ends of the jaw bone back together and keep everything in a fixed position to allow healing.

The wire was passed either side of his lower canine teeth, or fangs at the front of his jaw, and knotted together at the chin to keep the bone secure. This tying action of the wire also helped to repair the skin wound in part. The rest of the skin wound was joined to the gum with a strong suture material. Both the bone and the skin repair were vulnerable to break down though, so as Mittens recovered it was touch and go in the following days to see if the repair would be successful.

It was also concern as to whether Mittens would be able to eat following his procedure. Everyone was delighted when he began to take his first laps of energy dense broth food, and he was already ahead of schedule. Mittens was hospitalised that evening on strong pain relief, but responded well and was able to be discharged the following day, on a strict diet of soft food, that he ended up taking very well.

It was a delight to see Mittens bounce back from his injury so well, and he was such a lucky cat given the fact that he could have quite easily been killed on the day of the accident with a collision with such a large and powerful car. Now Mittens still wants to return outside to explore, and he is happiest this way, but he just has to learn not to sit underneath parked cars and stay so close to the middle of the road.

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