The Story of Masara

Our newest cat up for adoption has had a tough road getting to us. She was an abandoned cat, that had stayed the obligatory 10 days at the Shire Shelter without her previous owners coming forward for her, and was then chosen by us to bring to the clinic for re-homing.

When we first examined her we were struck first by her sweetness, she purred and nuzzled us as if we were her long term owners, not strangers she had just met. She was a complete joy, so when deciding on a name for her we chose “Masara”, Swahili for “joy”.

As we do with all of our adoption cats, we let Masara settle into the clinic without too much interference, just a lovely warm bed, quality food and plenty of love and affection from the staff. When we did let her out for a run around the clinic however, we noticed she was limping and not using her front left leg properly. She wasn’t exhibiting any signs of pain or discomfort at the time, and nothing had been noted at the Shire, but being a vet clinic we were worried about what could be causing it, so did x-rays to investigate. We were shocked to discover she had a severely fractured elbow which was beyond repair. The full extent of her injured leg can be seen in the X-Ray (right) and her perseverance in getting to us, can truly be admired! Being a rescue cat we do not know exactly what caused it, but she was most likely scuttled by a car. Masara quickly went downhill in terms of pain; she hadn’t been able to run around whilst impounded at the Shire, so suddenly after being able to, it brought on the effects of her nasty injury. We also noticed one of her canine teeth had broken off, and she had lost a claw on one of her front feet, both of these probably due to her accident. We quickly x-rayed the rest of her body to check she had no other fractures, thankfully she didn’t.

Unfortunately however, the fracture of Masara’s leg was so severe that the only option we had was to amputate. To avoid prolonged pain, the decision was made to operate immediately, and was performed by Dr Barrie Hartley-Jackson. The surgery went very well, and Masara lived up to her name by being a very co-operative patient (unlike a lot of cats), not once struggling while the catheter was being inserted into her good leg for the administration of the anaesthetic. She also woke up afterwards purring!

It is now just over a week after her surgery, and Masara has adapted very well to her three-legged status. She is eating, drinking and using her litter box normally. She has become even more friendly and playful, and is now ready to find a forever home with a loving family.