‘Astonished’ vet team save cat after horror injury

A veterinary team has saved the life of a cat found to have an entire foot-long garden stake inside its body.

Five-year-old Salvador was taken to Alfold Vets in Surrey after returning home dehydrated, moving uncomfortably, and with small wounds to her chest and stomach, having been missing for four days.

After vet Malwina Basinska discovered the seemingly superficial wounds were deeper than expected and felt something unusual under the cat’s skin, x-rays and an ultrasound revealed a 30cm-long stick-like object running the length of her body.

Miss Basinska performed emergency surgery on Salvador that evening, assisted by practice manager and RVN Beth Tyrrell, nurse manager Helen Gaines and SVN Ella Robertson.

‘Astonished’

Mrs Tyrrell said: “We were all completely astonished when we discovered that the stick was in fact a plastic plant support, which had gone in near her groin, then pushed up through her ribcage and into her chest.

“Miraculously, it had missed all of Salvador’s vital organs, including her heart, lungs and liver.

“The surgery took a couple of hours as Malwina needed to work very carefully to remove the stick and had to cut it in half because of the plastic caps on each end.

“While these could have helped save Salvador’s life when she had the accident by helping the cane glide through her body and past her organs, they were stopping us pulling the stick back out through the ribs.”

Full recovery

The vet removed half the stick via Salvador’s abdomen and the other through her armpit.

Due to the cat’s critical state after the completion of the operation, team members stayed on-site through the night to support her through her recovery.

Salvador was able to return home the next day and has since made a full recovery.

Mrs Tyrrell added: “It is definitely one of the most unusual injuries we’ve ever seen in a cat, and we can only think that she jumped from a height, such as a garden fence, and either fell or accidentally landed on the cane.”