On life, and how it never stops

I'm sure you are all sick of hearing about visits to the veterinarian - well, believe me, we're even more sick of making them! So here comes another...

While I was home for Chanie's wedding, the pet sitter called Saturday to say that when she went over to feed the cats that day Sabrina was favoring one of her front legs, and did I want her to take her into the vet. Of course, the regular vet isn't open till Monday morning at this point, and the emergency clinic is one heck of a drive to East Tulsa and, while I have found it reasonable for an emergency clinic, it is more expensive. So I called back to find out how much it seemed to be bothering her and whether she was eating, etc. She was eating, didn't seem to be in much pain at all, and was voluntarily being fairly active, so I figured it could wait unless things started looking worse.

Monday night I got home (late, I might add - don't fly through Minneapolis this time of year) and found her pretty much as reported - she ran to greet me, ate fine, didn't seem to be in any pain at all that I could tell, but she wasn't putting any weight at all on one front leg. (She's still dang quick on 3 legs!) I called the vet Tuesday morning, but the girls already had an appointment to be spayed Wednesday morning and the vet thought they could just check her leg then since it had been several days anyway and she didn't seem too distressed. (Bodie had an appointment for his vaccinations at the same time I was dropping off the girls, so I had to get out of the house with the whole menagerie in tow!)

Well, it turns out that my little toughie actually had a bad break - a slightly displaced, angled fracture of her humerus. The vet was shocked, too - Sabrina barely flinched when she physically examined her leg. So Aubrey had her surgery as scheduled and did fine, while Sabrina instead got antibiotics and scheduled for a double surgery this morning when the vet who specializes in orthopedic surgery would be in. They thought she'd need the break wired or pinned to keep it in place, since they can't put a cast on a break above the elbow. Poor Beans seemed pretty confused when I picked Aubrey up yesterday and left her there. :(

Then the other vet called this morning after she'd started the surgery to say that there was already quite a bit of calcification from the bone starting to heal, which would mean to line it up properly and wire it she would have to re-break the bone, and that the healing process sometimes doesn't work as well when it is interrupted. Her recommendation was to not do that and let it heal as is, with the risk that it doesn't heal properly alined. She thought that was the lesser risk, though, because it doens't involve as intrusive a surgery (she would just put in some sutures around the break to help strengthen it and close up the incision) and leaves the almost week's worth of healing in tact. Over time, she would expect the bone to smooth out and just be a bit thicker at the location of the break but otherwise normal. I'm not positive I completely understood the whole medical explanation of competing risks, but I figure that if the vet says she would choose the less invasive (and consequently less expensive) option if it were her cat, that's good enough for me. Even if it leaves Sabrina with a bit of a limp, she thinks it will be just a cosmetic thing and not have any quality of life impact or leave Sabrina with ongoing pain.

So I feel like a horrible kitty mother now - it's kind of ironic that the time I panic and rush her in with a leg injury it's just a mild sprain, and the time I don't it's broken. Good thing my kids are cats and don't realize how vulnerable I'd be to emotional manipulation right now!

Oh, and half my ward thinks I'm crazy that I would pay for surgery on a kitten - to quote "they're a dime a dozen." Apparently the distinction between "a" kitten and "my" Sabrina means more to me than most people. I suppose that's to be expected when you're in a ward with a bunch of ranchers. But I'm just horrified at the thought that anyone would consider putting this adorable and sweet kitten down when she has a correctable injury - to me that's part of the bargain when I decided to adopt them!