The story of “Twig” the wonder kid and how pet insurance meant she could get the best care and treatment!
Dr Jo immediately feel in love with Twig (named after a David Bowie song line). Her front two legs were bowed, this is known as varus. Even though there was hope they would straighten as she grew, Twig had a consultation with Dr Guy Yates at CARE, an orthopedic specialist.
By eight weeks of age when Twig was able to be insured with Petplan, her front legs had straightened out and the specialist surgeon was happy with her progress. The thought was to re-evaluate as she continued to grow with further x-rays or even a CT.
At the age of three months, the genetic wonder that is Twig developed yet another issue. She was seen to be lame on her left hind leg after a growth spurt so off again to Dr Guy she went for another assessment. More x-rays were taken and a diagnosis of a permanently luxated left patella (knee cap) was made. It was also discovered at that time that she also had a subluxated left hip and had mild hip dysplasia. A follow up CT was performed to assess all of her growth plates, but thankfully, these were all clear apart from her left hind leg.
Given the severity of her patella issue, it was decided that Twig would benefit from surgery sooner rather than later to try to ensure a functional knee for her as she continued to grow. So at the tender age of five months, she underwent specialist surgery with the wonderful Dr Guy.
The hardest part of the surgery was the minimum three weeks of confinement for Twig and being separated from her friend, eight month old Jellybean. A large cat enclosure was set up in the lounge room for Twig so that she could still be a part of the family but not be able to run free and compromise the surgery. Play dates were had with both Jelly and Dr Jo’s oldest (16y) feline fur kid Kutut so that Twig was never lonely.
After ten weeks, Twig had her post surgery check with Dr Guy and the great news is that she has healed beautifully! Even her left hip is improved since her knee is now functional and no more surgeries or anaethestics are needed. We wilkeep an eye on her hip over the coming months.