Can you help us raise money to save Skittle?

Hi I am Zoe and I am raising money to save an RTA cat called Skittle who came to us in November. Skittle is a healthy 3-4 yr old stray cat that was involved in a serious RTA, which left him with a broken Femur on one leg and broken Tibia on the other. He was handed in at a vets and treated under the care of a charity. He had a pin in his femur and a plate on his Tibia.

Skittle then came to me from the charity to live out his life at our specially adapted cat home where we have a mini hospital ward, access to excellent vets and safe outdoor catio conversions where he can enjoy his best life being a cat, but without the fear of being run over due to his ongoing disability with his healing legs.

Skittle visited our vets when he arrived here from the charity and the vet was concerned about the pin telescoping (protruding from the Femur). Usually pins would be stabilised in place but this had not been done for this boy so the pin started to telescope out of the bone. Poor Skittle did not have a good leg to stand on and chose to put all of his weight onto the injured plated Tibia leg whilst the Femur injury on the other leg was healing. This resulted in the plate that was used buckling under his weight and twisting. The vets have advised he should have had two plates for stability. Skittle was on crate rest and was immobile as much as possible, but it was inevitable he would be standing at certain times.

Fast forward a few weeks, the vets who had been monitoring his progress over a number of weeks decided the pin had to come out of the Femur before it came through the skin. That was completed successfully and we covered the £450 surgery. However due to the lack of stabilisation on the pin it has meant his leg has healed shorter as the telescoping saw the bone drop down and heal lower.

At this point there were grave concerns over Skittles Tibia plated leg as it was twisted. The decision was made to assess Skittle once he was using the Femur damaged leg to see the impact of this twist on his movement. Very quickly it was apparent this was not acceptable and not a quality of life any cat should endure. Assessments were being made to decide what next, when Skittle fell ill with a mystery illness, which was diagnosed as Pancreatitis. Skittle was hospitalised and we covered another vets bill in excess of £400. He is recovered from this now and doing well apart from his Tibia being twisted and his femur on the other leg being shorter.

After consulting with Vets and Orthopaedic surgeons Skittle now needs a life saving operation to cut into his Tibia – remove the unstable plate and reset with 2 new plates that will stop the bending and rotation he experienced with the first plate. This is not a decision we have taken lightly and have thought long and hard about what is right for him. The cost of this surgery and rehab is £2.5-£3k and we just don’t have that kind of money laying around for what we thought was a cat that had had his injuries resolved before we took him on. We have discussed amputation but sadly this although cheaper is not a better option because his Femur repaired leg is compromised by being shorter.

Anyone that knows me, and seen the animals I have taken in over the years will have never seen me ask for help. Myself and my husband have self funded the care and vets bills for all the troubled dogs and special needs cats we have ever taken in. We have to date taken in and cared for 137 cats, 41 dogs, 53 rabbits, 56 guinea pigs, 37 hamsters, 46 birds and 1 tortoise but now we need help to save this boys life.

I hate asking but my friends and family have urged me to do this so we can continue to help and give amazing lives to amazing animals.

Thankyou for reading

update- surgery has been booked Thursday 9th February. We are trying our hardest to raise the funds for this to go ahead. Thankyou for supporting Skittle