28 May 2021
Soft tissue team at Langford Vets successfully perform intricate procedure and save the life of four-year-old domestic shorthair after becoming impaled on a stick following windowsill fall.
James Westgate
Job Title
Bella, with the 10cm piece of wood protruding from her chest.
The team at Langford Vets in Bristol has saved the life of a cat that presented with a 20cm long piece of wood embedded in its chest.
Bella, a four-year-old domestic shorthair, was referred to Langford Vets after falling from a first-floor windowsill.
While she managed to land on all four feet, she also landed on a large sturdy plant, part of which penetrated her chest.
Bella was promptly referred from her owner’s out-of-hours service provider to the Langford Vets soft tissue surgery service, where, despite her injuries, the team described her as being surprisingly bright and alert, without respiratory distress.
A 10cm piece of wood was visible sticking out of her chest and a second penetrating injury was found to her abdomen.
Small animal surgery resident Mariette Pilot and EBVS specialist in small animal surgery Alex Belch performed a CT scan to assess the severity of the injury prior to surgery.
Anaesthesia resident Martina Cambruzzi administered a general anaesthetic and made sure Bella remained stable during the procedure, while imaging resident Dawn Sutton interpreted the CT scan to obtain vital information before taking Bella to theatre.
The scan showed a 10cm large piece of stick passing through the left side of the chest, narrowly missing the aorta, passing through a lung lobe and into the surrounding chest muscles. Luckily, the abdominal wound did not penetrate the abdominal cavity.
Bella was taken to theatre, where a sternotomy and intercostal thoracotomy were performed. The stick was removed, and a partial left-sided lung lobectomy was performed.
Bella recovered well from her procedure and was discharged three days later, and rested at home for four weeks while her wounds healed, keeping clear of windowsills.
