Avascular Necrosis

It snowed a lot on Friday. The consistency of this particular snowfall was powdery and fine, and because it's been so cold, the snow has stayed that way instead of condensing into a manageable viscous mass on the ground. The wind has been blowing this snow (about two feet of it) all around the valley and we have been forced to re-shovel little paths in our back yard for the dogs about two or three times a day for like four days now, even though it hasn't snowed since Friday. We shovel, and the wind continues to blow and an hour later the paths are filled in with this vindictive powdery snow.

Anyway.


We had a jam party on Saturday night. Not jam as in preserves, but an unrehearsed rock concert staged for a smattering of friends. Mark played guitar and a bit of bass until the wee hours of the night, and Captain D. set up his fancy high-tech drum set and kept an enthusiastic beat the entire time.


Me? I hung out near the fire for the most part.


We got home late that night to discover that Minerva, our miracle kitten, was dragging her back leg and in pain. Crap! We examined her with concern, and went to bed in the hopes that the boo-boo would correct itself by morning. After all, kittens do stupid things all the time. On Sunday she still seemed hurt, but occasionally walked using the leg. We made a vet appointment anyway for Monday morning and took her in.


The funny thing is, she's had leg trouble before. When she was a tiny kitten and just learning to walk, one leg and then another suddenly went lame and veeery slooowly improved over time. She'd been to the vet numerous times at that stage, and even had x-rays done, but as her bones had not yet fully formed, the x-rays showed nothing but a blur of cartilage.

We had thought nothing more of her early leg issues until now. She's almost six months old, so when the vet took x-rays this week, we were able to see what the problem was. The ethereal images of bone and flesh showed that her femur - the upper leg bone - ended strangely with no ball on the end of the bone - it was as if the bone just petered out. This is actually exactly what happened. Likely due to her traumatic start in life, Minerva's leg bone in that leg does not join up to her hip bone in any sort of sensible fashion. As the leg bone was developing, the blood vessels simply did not provide an adequate supply of blood, and the bone died off on the end. She now has a sharply ended bone and some loose fragments where a ball joint should sit in the pelvic socket. Those pieces are currently rubbing painfully against her pelvic bone.

It's called Avascular Necrosis.

She's too delicate to do a hip replacement surgery. In fact, the vet says she is currently about the size of a three-month-old kitten, and is not likely to get larger because her growth plates have already fused. She won't lose her leg, but they may have to perform surgery on her to remove the bone fragments and grind down the sharp end of her femur to create a false joint. She's getting spayed in two weeks, and if her leg is not working properly by then, they'll operate on her leg at that time.

I feel so bad. This poor little girl has had to fight all her life, and now this. It's manageable and she'll be okay, but this poor kitty deserves a break.