In June 2022 my wife and I noticed our sweet old kitty Meeka was looking a bit wobbly on her back legs. After some investigations with our regular vet, they said it was best for us to take Meeka to SASH for some more in depth scans. After an MRI and consultation with Dr Stacey Brady, Neurologist, she had intervertebral disc extrusion (slipped disc) at L1-L2.
We had been through this journey with our dog Rocco only 2yrs earlier so we knew the tough journey we had ahead of us to save Meeka. We were also told it was very rare for cats to have this condition which was worrying as we know recovery from this is never guaranteed, even more so for a nearly 14yr old girl like her
After a successful surgery and short stay in hospital (the staff said meeka was lovely and were surprised to see such a sweet torti lol), the long journey of care and recovery began at home. Post surgery she was now paralysed in her back legs. It was very long and tiring for all but we were determined to get here there.
Every day was resting, cleaning, many medications, manually toileting, rehab exercises and lots of massaging. I was a full time nurse for our special girl. There were good days and bad days but through it all she had that same funny personality she always has, meowing and squawking at us for attention, even playing with toys while she was out of her cage on a big comfy bed and her back end was of no use.
Ever so slowly we saw glimmers of light, a kick of the leg, a bit of reaction when she felt her massaging.over many weeks she started to show more and more improvement, she could stand on her own to eat dinner, walk bit by bit further to her bed and for her exercises. Through it all we had vet checks with Dr Stacy and zoom calls and support from the amazing Allana in the rehab team. She even got to have some laser therapy and wear those hilarious goggles (we of course got many photos of that)
Fast forward to now and she is about to turn 15yrs old and is as sweet and funny as ever. We couldnt be more grateful for the very special care and support we got from everyone at SASH ryde, they saved our gorgeous girl and we could never say thank you enough for that.
P.s. I have lots of videos available through her recovery and rehab work if that helps :)
