* HERNIA
Tabitha had been missing for 3 days and when her owners finally found her under the house she was not in a good way, refusing to eat anything.

Tabitha was very affectionate when being examined despite a large swelling under her tummy and some wounds on her left back leg. The swelling was painful to touch and the skin very bruised. We were concerned that Tabitha may have been hit by a car and she was admitted for further evaluation.

X-rays showed that her intestine had moved outside of the abdominal cavity and into the space under the skin. This is referred to as a hernia. Chest x-rays ruled out further trauma to her lungs and diaphragm. An ultrasound confirmed the displaced bowel loops and ruled out involvement of the bladder in the hernia.

From this point it was evident that she would be require surgery. Blood tests were performed to assess Tabitha’s organ function and electrolytes after her ordeal before starting her on intravenous fluid therapy. Within 24 hours she was in a stable condition and ready to be taken to surgery. At surgery we found a large 8cm tear in the abdominal muscle wall through which the abdominal contents had herniated. Because the injury was several days old adhesions had occurred between the different tissues that needed to be broken down before identifying the muscle layers and repairing the defect. There was a significant amount of tissue damage and bruising which had resulted in some fluid accumulation. Before closing the skin a drain was placed into the affected area to ensure that further fluid produced would not accumulate and prevent healing. Skin wounds around her hind paw were also sutured and bandaged. Tabitha was initially very sore after surgery and needed several different pain relievers to keep her comfortable. By the next day however, she was able to walk and use the litter tray allowing her to be discharged for strict cage rest at home.

Tabitha was very lucky to have not suffered any organ damage and has definitely used up several of her 9 lives.

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