Ben Madilynn
CAT which was involved in a car accident had to have a leg amputated.
Stellar, a two-year-old, long-haired black cat, was involved in a suspected hit and run near her home in Boston Road, Henley.
Her owner Finn Pomeroy, 45, found her curled up next to his bin when he went to put the rubbish out.
Stellar was taken to the Henley Vets where she was found to have a compound fracture and dislocation of her rear right leg, which was amputated.
She also had degloving from the base of her paw to her knee on her remaining right leg and two more dislocated toes, which were also amputated.
Mr Pomeroy and his wife Suze believe the accident happened in the Reading Road as it is a much busier road than theirs.
Mr Pomeroy said he believed Stellar must have “dragged” herself the 100m or more back home but would not have been strong enough to make it over the garden fence.
He described going into “panic mode” after realising what had happened but praised the work of the vets.
Mr Pomeroy said: “Stellar got hit in the road and we think she dragged herself back to the house. The Henley Vets pretty much saved her life.
“I woke up one morning and when she was not here, I went down to the bins and found her laying there with a bone sticking out of her.
“At first I couldn’t really see anything wrong with her but then, as I went to pick her up, I saw that there was blood everywhere.
“It was kind of panic stations to get her into the vets straight away. Luckily, they are not that far from us and they were incredible.”
Mr Pomeroy said it was touch and go over the next few days whether or not Stellar would make it.
He said: “The vets took her straight in and they had to remove the leg which was not salvageable.” Mr Pomeroy added: “There was a very strong chance that we could have lost her over the next seven to 10 days.
“It wasn’t the amputated leg that was the issue, it was the remaining leg and whether or not she would get an infection. It was a very real concern along the way that we could lose her.”
Following the accident, Stellar was kept in cat intensive care for about a week so that she could have her dressings changed regularly, to keep out infection and for the doctors to monitor her condition.
She was then moved out of the intensive care unit and stayed in the vets for another two weeks.
Mr Pomeroy said: “Stellar was in intensive care for five to seven days with the nurses constantly changing her dressings and making sure there were no infections.
“The vets have been incredible, she has had to spend seven days in Maidenhead for when the Henley vets closed over the weekend.
“In all, she was in there with them for two weeks and, now she is back at home, she is still getting her dressings changed.” Mr Pomeroy says that Stella has got used to having three legs and that she has started “hopping” around the house.
He said: “Hopefully we are getting to the end of this. Since she has come back she has been hopping around the place with no problems at all.”
Stellar has still not been fully discharged however and has to wear a cone around her neck to stop her from licking her wound.
Mr Pomeroy said: “She is still progressing well but it will still be a couple of weeks before she is fully discharged as she has an open wound, which is still playing up and can’t be allowed to get worse.”
Despite the accident Mr Pomeroy said that Stellar would remain an outdoor cat, where he believed she was much happier.
He said: “She is very much an outdoors cat. She would go mad inside. I would rather she was outside and loving the life that she has.
“Sadly, there is a risk that she could be in another accident but that’s the risk of being so close to Reading Road. But it could happen on any road.”
Mr Pomeroy added: “Stellar is our first cat and she is great. She just loves people.”
