Pet of the Month! Oscar!

As a cat owner, one of main worries is them being outside and crossing roads with traffic.

This was certainly the case for our Pet of the month Oscar (a 6 year old black and white domestic short hair) who came back from being out all night with major injuries. His owner did not know how these injuries had occurred and did not see or hear anything overnight. Oscar came back to the family home with a prolapsed eye and significant bleeding from his mouth. Oscar’s face was very swollen and was unable to close his mouth.  On further examination the vet had noticed Oscar had scuffed nails, which is a sign that Oscar had possibly been involved in a road traffic accident.

Oscar’s owner gave us consent to give Oscar a general anaesthetic to perform x-rays to diagnose any internal injuries and an operation to remove his eye that was very damaged.

The x-rays confirmed that Oscar did not have any internal injuries, but he did have a fractured bottom jaw. The Vet had to stabilise his jaw by using suture material. As Oscars jaw was fractured it would then be very difficult for him to eat his food and it is so important that he was getting the appropriate amount of nutrients. A feeding tube was placed into his oesophagus through his neck, this was then sutured and bandaged into place. Oscar was transferred into theatre to then remove his eye.

We then worked out of much food Oscar would require each day and then split these into four feeds with water for hydration and to flush the food through the tube.

Oscar was prescribed a numerous amount of medication to include pain relief and anti-biotics, and instructions were given to the owner on how to give these at home as well as how to administer food through his feeding tube.

Oscar came back for daily checks where we changed the neck bandage and cleaned the wound around the feeding tube.

Oscar was presenting with a really bad infection as his nose had a lot of discharge at this point, we did further testing (Culture and Sensitivity) the results of this test was that Oscar was resistant to the anti-biotics that we prescribed, so we changed over the medication and seem to clear the infection very quickly and the discharge cleared which made Oscar a lot more comfortable.

Update on Oscar’s condition:
He no longer needs the feeding tube, which has now been removed, as he is eating very well on his own. We are also pleased to see his infection has now cleared.

We asked Oscar’s owners a few questions about him!

1.    What do you enjoy the most about Oscar?

The thing I enjoy most about Oscar is that no matter what he is always there to make my family and his extended family smile and give us cuddles 😺

2.    Does Oscar have any nick names?

To me his nickname name is OSkie to others it’s handsome boy.

3.     What is Oscar's favourite thing to do at home?

Before his accident his favourite thing to do was to be outside often he would go out in the morning and be back at tea time, now it’s spending sleepy days with those he loves.

4. Have you researched further into his condition/diagnosis?

I learnt that cats have a good full life with only one eye and I hope for this with Oscar the whole team has been behind Oscar and us with care and useful suggestions.

5. How has the wellness subscription helped you?

His wellness subscription has been in place for a number of years and helped with some of the costs towards his ongoing care.