Cat with degloving injury finds new home

Beautiful cat Angel is safe and sound in a loving home after needing emergency veterinary treatment for a painful injury.

Her owners returned home to find their cat with a nasty wound, they rushed her straight to Blue Cross animal A&E.

The two-year-old skin was coming away from her front left leg – an injury known as ‘degloving’.
 

Tracy Nicholson, a Veterinary Nurse at our Grimsby animal hospital, said: “A degloving injury is where the skin comes away from the limb, like a glove. We’re not sure exactly what caused her wound, but it’s likely it was a road traffic accident or from an attack by another animal.”

Our vets gave the two-year-old puss a full examination and found her injury began above her wrist and ran all the way down to her toes. 

She was brought to us at 8.00pm, but our hospital’s doors are open all hours for pets in need, so we were able to admit her immediately and give her painkillers and antibiotics to try and prevent the spread of infection. We also dressed the wound to keep it covered.

The next day, Angel had an X-ray to allow us to further assess her, and unfortunately we found she had also damaged the bone in her foot.

Tracy added: “Angel's degloving injury had stopped the blood supply and had caused the surrounding tissue to die off, and we had to amputate her leg. Thankfully, she is recovering really well.”

To help the sweet moggy learn to walk of three legs, our team devised a physiotherapy plan, building up her strength bit by bit and using lots of encouragement to support her. She managed brilliantly.

Unfortunately, Angel's owner decided they could no longer give her the care she needed, and asked us to find the cat a new home once she was better and she stayed with us at our Grimsby Institute College fostering network over Christmas.

We were there every step of the way throughout her recovery, and Angel found her perfect new home in January.