Mulan was first seen at PAWS on the 17th of January. Her owner’s brought her to the
surgery as they were very concerned and upset. Mulan had returned home with a
severe facial injury.
On examination the Veterinary Surgeon suspected that Mulan had been involved in a
road traffic accident. Her nails were frayed and her paws were stained with dirt. She
had suffered an injury to her lower jaw where the skin had been torn away exposing a
large area of jaw bone. The Veterinary Surgeon made the decision that Mulan needed
to be admitted to further assess her injuries under General Anaesthetic and her
owners agreed to leave her here with us at PAWS.
Once admitted Mulan was given pain relief, intravenous antibiotics and placed on
to an intravenous drip. This would help keep her stable under the anaesthetic. As
Mulan had been in a possible road traffic accident her anaesthetic would be of
higher risk due to possible shock and loss of blood from her wounds. The Veterinary
Surgeon assessed her fully to ensure she was stable and then anaesthetised her to
further assess her injuries. She was monitored closely by one of our nursing team
whilst the veterinary surgeon flushed and cleaned her wounds and surgically
removed any unhealthy areas of skin that were unlikely to heal. Luckily for Mulan
there were no obvious fractures to her jaw so the veterinary surgeon proceeded to
reattach the healthy skin back in to place along Mulan’s jaw line. As Mulan’s
injuries had been so severe the Veterinary surgeon opted to place a feeding tube in
to Mulan’s oesophagus. This was done for two main reasons: the veterinary
surgeon was worried Mulan might struggle to eat comfortably with her injuries and
also she wanted to stop any food getting in to Mulan's wound as this could
potentially cause infection. An x-ray was then taken to ensure the feeding tube was
in the correct position and the tube was then sutured and bandaged in to place.
Mulan was then taken to recovery where she was placed in an incubator to keep her warm and monitored closely whilst
she recovered. Mulan recovered well from her anaesthetic and was kept on intravenous antibiotics, intravenous pain
relief and intravenous fluids for the first 24 hours to keep her stable and comfortable.
The next morning Mulan appeared bright. We continued with her intravenous fluids and intravenous antibiotics but we
were able to reduce her intravenous pain relief. We gradually began to introduce liquid food through Mulan's feeding
tube and she took this well.
Over the next 5 days Mulan gradually improved. She was bright and purring and loved coming out of her kennel to
either sit on the nurse’s shoulder or be brushed. Mulan accepted feeding through the feeding tube really well and this
was done 5 times a day. Mulan was doing so well after 24 hours she was able to come off her intravenous medication
and intravenous fluids. Her antibiotics and pain relief were now given via her feeding tube. Mulan’s wounds also began
to heal really well. The swelling began to reduce and she had good movement in her jaw.
During morning ward rounds on the 23rd January the veterinary surgeon decided Mulan was well enough to have her
feeding tube removed, her wounds had healed really well and she was happy that Mulan would feel comfortable eating
again. The veterinary surgeon also decided that if Mulan ate once her tube was removed she would be able to go home.
Mulan was offered very soft food that afternoon and she ate very well. An appointment was made for her to go home.
Her owners were so happy to have her back. They had visited Mulan regularly during her stay and were happy to see
Mulan looking more like her old self again. Mulan’s owners brought her back on the 30th January for her final check up
and we were all really pleased with her recovery.
Mulan was a very lucky cat and she had become such a permanent fixture in our cat ward that she was very much
missed when she went home.