Mittens' Broken Hip Needs Your Help
Mittens came into our life through her very powerful voice - which at a tender young age still managed to cut through the noise of traffic passing by and a university soccer game that was occurring a few blocks away. We heard her cries from inside of our house, and we went to investigate - thinking that a cat was stuck in something or was hurt.
We found her underneath some bushes near a neighbor's house. She was extremely skittish - but she continued crying very loudly. Our first thoughts were that she was hungry - so we rifled through our other cat's food supply to find some food that would be suitable for a kitten and prepared some food for her. In a matter of minutes, she had consumed and entire can, but she continued to cry out loudly. Our thoughts then turned to her safety, as the nearby road is subject to a lot of vehicle traffic - especially when classes at the university are in session. Thankfully, we have a Hav-a-Heart trap, and we used it to safely trap her so we could see if she was hurt. Once in the trap, we could get a good look at her, and we guessed that she was maybe 4 or 5 weeks old.
We prepared a medium sized dog crate for her to stay in for the night, and put her in our laundry room - well away from our two dogs and another adult cat.
The next morning, we let her roam around the laundry room while we were cleaning the crate, and we noticed that she was favoring one of her back legs and limping slightly. We also noticed a bump on her rear right hip, and we thought that maybe her hip was dislocated. How does that happen to a little kitten that is only 4 or 5 weeks old? Our own research, and confirmation by a vet, indicated that these injuries were likely not accidental.
We scheduled a vet appointment with our usual vet ,but the soonest they could see us was nearly a week away. As the days passed towards her vet visit, Mittens grew less skittish, and began to welcome our presence. Meanwhile, we became a little more impatient with our vet schedule, and more concerned with her rear right leg or hip.
We located another vet that could see her the next day, and we took her in. While she passed all of her major health checks, the x-ray proved that her right hip was not dislocated - instead, her right femur was broken right at the hip joint. The vet indicated that this type of injury is usually associated with severe trauma like a car accident or abuse.
Given that she had no other signs of injury that would be expected from a car accident, it is believed that this little kitten had been either abused or thrown from a moving vehicle. We are glad that we found her when we did, and we are going to see that Mittens gets the care that she needs in order to have a new shot at life - free from abuse in a caring home where pets are respected.
We are raising money to cover the costs of Mitten's surgery - which will be a femoral head ostectomy (FHO). This will remove the remaining head of the femur from the hip socket and trim the femoral bone to allow a "false joint" to develop. The surgeons feel that this is the best course of action to give Mittens nearly full use of her rear legs. This surgery will cost around $2500, and all proceeds will be used to cover the costs of the surgery. Any proceeds above the amount needed for the surgery will be donated to that ASPCA.
We need these funds as soon as possible. Like all young kittens, Mittens is growing and every day more and more scar tissue builds around her damaged femur. As this scar tissue builds, the complexity of the operation to repair her leg increases and so will the time to recover from the surgery and regain full mobility. Mittens has already suffered enough for a little 6 week old kitten.
While we wish we could identify and prosecute the person or people who were involved with the abuse of Mittens, we are more concerned for her well being at this point in time. We do not aim to understand all of the evil things that certain members of our society do, but that does not mean that we are powerless to help the innocent victims that they leave behind. Please do your part, and help Mittens get the surgery that she desperately needs to truly get "back on her feet."
We, and Mittens will be ever thankful for whatever contributions you can make to assist in this effort. All excess proceeds will be donated to the ASPCA to support educational efforts to combat animal cruelty.
We found her underneath some bushes near a neighbor's house. She was extremely skittish - but she continued crying very loudly. Our first thoughts were that she was hungry - so we rifled through our other cat's food supply to find some food that would be suitable for a kitten and prepared some food for her. In a matter of minutes, she had consumed and entire can, but she continued to cry out loudly. Our thoughts then turned to her safety, as the nearby road is subject to a lot of vehicle traffic - especially when classes at the university are in session. Thankfully, we have a Hav-a-Heart trap, and we used it to safely trap her so we could see if she was hurt. Once in the trap, we could get a good look at her, and we guessed that she was maybe 4 or 5 weeks old.
We prepared a medium sized dog crate for her to stay in for the night, and put her in our laundry room - well away from our two dogs and another adult cat.
The next morning, we let her roam around the laundry room while we were cleaning the crate, and we noticed that she was favoring one of her back legs and limping slightly. We also noticed a bump on her rear right hip, and we thought that maybe her hip was dislocated. How does that happen to a little kitten that is only 4 or 5 weeks old? Our own research, and confirmation by a vet, indicated that these injuries were likely not accidental.
We scheduled a vet appointment with our usual vet ,but the soonest they could see us was nearly a week away. As the days passed towards her vet visit, Mittens grew less skittish, and began to welcome our presence. Meanwhile, we became a little more impatient with our vet schedule, and more concerned with her rear right leg or hip.
We located another vet that could see her the next day, and we took her in. While she passed all of her major health checks, the x-ray proved that her right hip was not dislocated - instead, her right femur was broken right at the hip joint. The vet indicated that this type of injury is usually associated with severe trauma like a car accident or abuse.
Given that she had no other signs of injury that would be expected from a car accident, it is believed that this little kitten had been either abused or thrown from a moving vehicle. We are glad that we found her when we did, and we are going to see that Mittens gets the care that she needs in order to have a new shot at life - free from abuse in a caring home where pets are respected.
We are raising money to cover the costs of Mitten's surgery - which will be a femoral head ostectomy (FHO). This will remove the remaining head of the femur from the hip socket and trim the femoral bone to allow a "false joint" to develop. The surgeons feel that this is the best course of action to give Mittens nearly full use of her rear legs. This surgery will cost around $2500, and all proceeds will be used to cover the costs of the surgery. Any proceeds above the amount needed for the surgery will be donated to that ASPCA.
We need these funds as soon as possible. Like all young kittens, Mittens is growing and every day more and more scar tissue builds around her damaged femur. As this scar tissue builds, the complexity of the operation to repair her leg increases and so will the time to recover from the surgery and regain full mobility. Mittens has already suffered enough for a little 6 week old kitten.
While we wish we could identify and prosecute the person or people who were involved with the abuse of Mittens, we are more concerned for her well being at this point in time. We do not aim to understand all of the evil things that certain members of our society do, but that does not mean that we are powerless to help the innocent victims that they leave behind. Please do your part, and help Mittens get the surgery that she desperately needs to truly get "back on her feet."
We, and Mittens will be ever thankful for whatever contributions you can make to assist in this effort. All excess proceeds will be donated to the ASPCA to support educational efforts to combat animal cruelty.
Organizer
Bruce Kearns
Organizer
California, PA
