We've had our fair share of mishaps with the animals here in Italy. I think the most bizarre was lab Zsa Zsa getting a hollow round section of marrow bone wedged napkin-ring style round her lower jaw. This entailed a visit to an incredulous vet, a tranquilizer (for the dog, although I could have done with some myself) and some box cutters.
Two days ago I discovered one of our cats lying motionless at the bottom of the drive. At first I thought the small black and white shape I could see in the distance was a magpie, but closer inspection revealed it to be a distressed Jimmy with his mouth hanging open.
An emergency trip to the vet followed and it turned out Jimmy had broken his lower jaw right up the middle vertically. I was horrified, but our great vet Massimiliano seemed totally unfazed and showed me how he would mend the fracture using wire and pliers. Shades of ZsaZsa all over again!
Yesterday Jimmy had the operation and when I went to pick him up, Massimilano lifted the little cat's tongue to show me a shiny piece of wire through the lower palate and secured in a twist through the skin on the other side. It was beautifully aligned too. Great job! He showed me the x-rays and it seems Jimmy has also broken two ribs, the ones right at the end of the rib cage. Poor thing!
So Jimmy is now home, suffering from severe concussion and I'm feeding him Recovery cat food using a syringe and injecting him with antibiotics and painkillers. It's very common for vets here in Italy to ask owners to give jabs, administer drips and so on. The poor little cat has slept almost all the time (make that 99.9% of the time) and each time I check on him he seems to be improving. His pupils are even sizes and he seems to be more relaxed although one front leg is still a bit rigid.
Googling 'jaw fractures in cats' it appears these are quite common and caused by a fall or, more liklely in Jimmy's case, a run-in with a car. The concussion can last several days, so I am hoping that he will improve and be able to move about again soon.
Talk about jaw-dropping – especially the bill!