Pepper's Big Misadventure

Do you know the nursery rhyme about Humpty-Dumpty sitting on a wall and having a great fall? Well Pepa-Wepa sat on the window sill and had her own great fall, down all three and a half floors to the concrete below :( :( :(

It happened on Thursday night and we didn't even notice until it was time for the bedtime roll call. We looked for her at her usual hidey-holes and she wasn't there. Something made me look downstairs but the first time I did so expecting to see a cat splayed on the ground below, I saw nothing in the darkness. I then went looking at her hidey-holes a second time but I knew something was wrong because she'd usually answer when we called for her. From our balcony, I scanned the grounds below a second time and that was when I saw a pair of pointy ears and eyes looking back at me from inside the drain than runs along the concrete perimeter of our apartment block.

We dashed downstairs and when Gravitas tried to lift her out from the drain, she hollered in pain. I tried calling the good vet but he didn't pick up, so I had to be contented with leaving a voice mail and a sms. It was nearly eleven at night. He later called back. He hadn't heard his phone as he was out and advised us to take Pepa to a 24-hour vet for x-rays and an assessment. (He doesn't have x-ray facilities at his own clinic.) By this time, we had Pepa as comfortable as we could make her in a carrier in our room. She didn't holler unless she moved or when we tried to move her.

Dr Tan tried to make a preliminary assessement of Pepa through the phone but we were of limited help. I thought of bringing Pepa to his clinic first thing in the morning but he insisted we try the 24-hour clinic in Cheras. We had tried calling that clinic but nobody answered, so we looked up the address in the internet. By the time we were ready to make the trip, it was past midnight.

We finally made it to the Cheras clinic and rang the doorbell and called the emergency hotline number displayed on an illuminated signboard. The kennel assistant let us in and we waited for him to contact the vet on call. After what seemed like a really long wait, the on-call vet arrived. How Pepa howled whenever they moved her! And when it was especially bad, she foamed at the mouth too. It was heart-wrenching, especially when they took her into the x-ray room where we couldn't follow but could hear her cries through the walls.

When they were ready, on-call vet showed us the x-rays. Although Pepa's internal organs seemed to be intact (their rupture being the primary concern), she had sustained multiple fractures to her pelvic girdle, the bone that connects her legs to her spine. On the right side, the bone had broken in three places and had come out of alignment. On the left side, there was a hairline fracture. Poor Pepa! No wonder she could move her legs but couldn't stand, and hollered so when they tried to make her!

On-call vet said that we had two choices - either let her heal on her own in which case the fusion of the broken-off bits of bone is left to chance with attendant potential complications, or surgery to attach the broken bits back together.

We wanted to wait untill Pepa is assessed by her regular vet before making a decision. On-call vet administered an analgesic and we went home, getting back at about 3 a.m.

Pepa was pretty much quiet throughout the night, although I can't say for sure whether she slept or not.

When Dr Tan finally assessed Pepa, he concluded that surgery will be necessary. "It looks bad" were his exact words. A broken-off segment of bone had twisted, and will not heal properly on its own. Orthopaedic surgery is a delicate matter in cats because of their tiny bones, and especially the pelvic girdle because it is thinner and more difficult to access than the average limb.

Having said that, Dr Tan said that he would like to observe Pepa for a few days first, to make sure that she is not bleeding internally because internal bleeding sometimes doesn't show until a few days later. Since her surgery will be a long and complicated one, taking 3 - 4 hours, he was concerned that she may not be able to take the anaesthetic load for such an operation if she does indeed have internal injuries. Further complicating the fact is that the x-ray seems to show a hairline fracture on the left side of the pelvic bone where it attatches to her spine..

We are heartbroken. Poor, poor Pepa.