Age: 14
Breed: Domestic Shorthair
Two years ago Alana Shoars was able to rescue Gillian, a 14 year old domestic shorthair kitty, from an area in San Jose where 16 cats had been poisoned by a property management company. Since the incident Gillian has remained with Alana (because she is older and has IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) she has been consistently overlooked for adoption). After returning home one night Alana was startled to find that Gillian could not use her back legs. Alana immediately took her to the local ER, concerned that she may have a clot blocking the blood flow to her back legs (feline arterial thrombus embolus). Instead, radiographs showed that Gillian had fractured her right hind leg. Given the appearance of the fracture, the most logical cause for it is that she likely got her foot caught while trying to jump off the top of her kitty condo.
Seeing as Alana has rescued a fair number of cats and over the years, she has dealt with many medical issues, including leg fractures, and Bishop Ranch has been there to help Alana and all of her kitties through and through.
The recommended surgery to fix Gillian's leg was approximately $6000 with the specialty hospital and Alana turned to us to see if we felt we could handle the fracture, and hopefully at a lesser cost. Despite her old age and her history of IBD, Gillian is an otherwise healthy pet and with the right help, will have the ability to heal well from this relatively straight forward fracture. She was admitted 3 short days after she fractured her leg and soon I performed the appropriate procedure, placing an intramedullary pin and 4 cerclage wires around the fractured bone. Gillian recovered well and is now on forced cage rest at home. In 8 weeks, she will return for recheck radiographs of the leg and fracture repair to make sure that she has fully healed before she returns to her normal function and movement.
**Gillian is currently resident in FCR's geriatric cottage (which has its own catio and lots of kitty furniture), along with a couple of other senior kitties that are considered unadoptable. Sadly
one is blind and another has kidney disease. These are all good cats who deserve love, but unfortunately they are unable compete with all the cute kittens during adoption season. Forsaken Cats Rescue is very grateful to FVC and Bishop Ranch for all the expert care they have given to rescue kitties over the years. They have helped save many cats who otherwise would not have had a chance at life.