Tonkington Clarke
Tonkington is a cat who has endured his fair share of troubles! He is a 20 year old pussy cat who lives happily with his feline friends & human friends, but 3 years ago he had an accident with a car which resulted in him having to see one of our Vets.
His leg was painful, he couldn’t put any weight on it and so the Vets at Summerhill decided that this required a thorough investigation. First and foremost, a fast acting painkiller was given to help him settle prior to his blood tests and X-rays.
Any examination of an animal can be stressful, especially after being involved in a car accident, so the first priority was to take a blood sample to assess his general health before inducing an anaesthetic which allowed us to take X-rays & perform a full examination. Subtle changes can occur to Liver & Kidney function without showing obvious symptoms.
His blood sample was taken & run in our in-house Laboratory, we had results within the hour. Luckily for Tonkington, his blood tests showed no abnormalities, so with this taken into account the Vet gave him an anaesthetic to investigate further. At 17 years of age, it was quite comforting to know that things on the inside were working as they should!
So, Tonkington had his X-rays taken. They showed no obvious bony injuries resulting from his accident, but they did highlight some arthritis in his elbow & spondylosis in his spine. These are both quite painful & debilitating conditions & sadly can appear with age.
The Vet decided to treat the trauma from his accident with a painkiller/anti-inflammatory drug. He was very sore, understandably, but would make a full recovery. As for the arthritis, his Vet decided that he could stay on the medication long term to help with the symptoms.
After a very short period of time, Tonkington’s owners reported that he was playing, running around like a kitten & very happy!!!
Tonkington is a regular visitor to Summerhill & is used to his check ups! He comes back periodically for blood samples which monitor any changes in the status quo. This allows his Vet to adjust his medication if needed.
Sadly since writing this story, Tonkington succumbed to his old age and passed away.
