A Second Chance for Curious Kovu

Curious Cats Like Kovu

Published on: Aug 24, 2023

Having a young cat is entertaining.  In their early years they are often quite adventurous and inquisitive about life, which can be great fun to observe but can certainly get them into trouble at times. This was likely the case for Kovu, the 2-year-old Savannah, who was discovered to have got himself into more than a spot of bother.

Kovu was presented to the surgery by a member of the public early one Saturday morning having been found cold and collapsed.  This immediately aroused suspicion that he’d been involved in some sort of trauma, and he was quickly admitted for intravenous fluids, pain relief, oxygen therapy and warming to address the shock that he was in.

Thankfully, Kovu was microchipped, so we were able to identify him and reach his owners. We had to let Kovu’s worried owners know that he had clearly suffered a trauma, most likely having been hit by a car, and that he was in a critical condition. At this point it was fair to say that Kovu’s life very much was in the balance.

As Kovu’s treatment continued, he started to show a positive response in some ways, but he continued to cause us some concern in others. Whilst his heart rate and blood pressure stabilised, he was still very unresponsive, suggesting he may have been suffering possible head and brain injuries.  Added to this it also became apparent that Kovu’s back right leg was unstable, and a fracture was likely.  However, with his other conditions being more life threatening it meant that we could only provide pain relief for his fracture whilst we battled to control his shock.

As the hours progressed Kovu’s shock stabilised, and his responsiveness showed subtle signs of improvement.  This allowed the opportunity to X-ray Kovu which not only confirmed the fracture to his right femur but also allowed us to start planning and measuring for a possible repair of the fracture once Kovu’s condition, hopefully, improved. Until then, all we could do was continue his fluid therapy, pain relief and anti-inflammatory medications, and nurse him to try and support his recovery.

Day and night Kovu’s condition was monitored and after a further 48 hours he became very much more responsive.  The progress was positive and gave us confidence that he was now strong enough to undergo surgery to repair his fractured limb.

During his surgery, we were able to locate his fracture before inserting a metal pin in the centre of the bone to align the fractured ends of bone. A metal plate was then fixed to the bone to stabilise the repair and hold everything in place. After closing his muscles and surgical wound X-rays showed that the positioning of the bone and his metal implants was good.

Kovu recovered incredibly well and was soon back home with his owners with a plan of rest and structured exercise to allow his femur to heal.  Week by week he wanted to do more and after a couple of months he came in to have the x-rays repeated.  The news was good – the fracture was healing, and this meant that his recovery could be staged up and the end was in site for his doting owners who had managed him so well through his recovery.

Kovu has continued to progress well. So well that he has been back outside, and whilst we’d love to say that he’d learnt his lesson, the last time we spoke to his owners he’d caused yet more stress by going missing for a few days, thankfully to return safely this time.

Vet Martin