SPECIALIST staff at a Shirley vet have been hailed as ‘miracle’ workers after helping a cat get back on all four paws with acupuncture following a car accident.
Jasper was left fighting for his life after being hit by a car last year and his owners, Ann and Jeff Davies, were told if he survived the accident, he may never be the same.
Solihull’s Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service staff cared for the four-year-old cat throughout months of reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation and, most recently, acupuncture, courtesy of the centre’s innovative chronic pain clinic.
Ann said: “It’s an incredible recovery, an incredible story. He’s a walking miracle and is even climbing trees again, which is amazing. We can’t thank the expert staff at Willows enough.
“It really was touch and go for the first week after the accident, we didn’t know if Jasper would come through.
“Thankfully, the specialist orthopaedic surgeon Alexis Bilmont did a fantastic job, stabilising him and completely reconstructing his badly fractured back leg.
“He did warn us, though, that there was damage to the nerves in Jasper’s front leg.”
In January, Jasper started to show signs of an issue with his front leg – Ann and Jeff said Jasper started to have episodes when he was clearly distressed, so we went back to Willows and they put Jasper on a course of pain relief but it had a limited effect.
So when acupuncture was offered they took up the chance to see if this would get their loving cat back to who he once was.
Ann said: “I was pretty sceptical at first but the results were absolutely amazing. Within two to three weeks the episodes had reduced dramatically and now we’ve got to the point where he’s pretty much back to normal.”
Jacques, a specialist in veterinary anaesthesia at Willows, runs the chronic pain clinic and said: “We’re all delighted we’ve helped Jasper make such a full recovery from his accident.
“The aim of our chronic pain management service is to improve the quality of life of each animal, allowing them and their owners to enjoy all the fun of daily living.”
