Fender presented to our surgery in October 2011 because he had suddenly become weak and was unable to weight-bear on his left hind limb. It was thought he may have been involved in a road traffic accident.

He was pale and in shock! Screening blood tests and X-rays were done immediately and it was discovered that he had a dislocated left hip and a ruptured abdominal wall.

He was placed on an intravenous drip, treated for shock and then transferred to the emergency clinic overnight because it was felt his condition was serious and he needed close monitoring throughout the night.

During his stay there his breathing became laboured and chest X-rays revealed that he had developed a pneumothorax (this is where air gets trapped between the lungs and the chest wall causing the lung lobes to collapse) this was caused by a fractured rib and his condition became acutely life threatening!!

He had an emergency chest drain placed to remove the air and thankfully he improved significantly. He also had a urinary catheter placed to ensure he was able to pass urine. Fender was not considered stable enough yet to be operated on.

A few days later he developed a severe swelling of his left hind leg and his foot started to become discoloured. It seemed that the blood supply to this leg was being compromised by the abdominal wall trauma. In addition he was very anaemic.

It was decided that he had to have the surgery done as soon as possible to protect his leg from further damage and so five days after his accident he had his abdominal wall repaired and an excision arthroplasty performed on his hip. This procedure cuts off the top of the thigh bone (femur) and although this left him without a hip joint he is now able to get around fine and pain free.

While he was under anaesthetic, an oesophageal feeding tube was placed because he was not eating very well and post operatively he was fed through this with a liquid diet.

He recovered very well and gradually became stronger, after a further 5 days in hospital he was discharged and is now happily at home again eating normally and running about!