Page 9 - Paws and Hooves - Autumn 2020

STORIES FROM
Pad graft procedure saves cat’s paw
H ermione visited the RVC Small Animal Referrals Hospital to manage a wound on her right hindfoot that left her without any toes. Amputation of the limb was
offered but Hermione’s owners were keen to save the limb if possible so a plan to try novel pad grafting alongside traditional skin grafting was formed.
The skin graft was formed by taking mass from Hermione’s chest and creating a ‘weight-bearing stump’ by grafting it to the remaining toe pads
to cover the full circumference of her foot. After surgery, Hermione was given negative pressure wound therapy to aid healing of the free skin graft and pad grafts.
Hermione lost a portion of her grafts due to infection, but a good amount of skin and pad graft take was achieved which allowed full healing of her wounds. Hermione uses her right hindlimb normally to walk around the house at three months post- surgery and her owners are very pleased that she has kept her leg.
RVC HOSPITALS
Pint and Half-Pint arrive at the farm
to benefit bovine teaching and learning
The RVC Animal Care Trust awarded a grant of almost £31,000 to fund a bovine calving simulator which comprises a life-sized calf and mother with a functional udder
A ffectionately named Pint and Half-Pint by an RVC Animal Care Trust supporter, the calving simulator has found a home at RVC’s Boltons Park Farm where it will
offer improved learning opportunities to veterinary students before working with live animals.
Using the simulator, veterinary students can learn calving in a hands-on manner before working on
a live animal. The simulator also has a functional udder, allowing for the teaching of mastitis investigation and milk sampling, and various uterine inserts that can be used to practise artificial insemination and pregnancy diagnosis.
The RVC Animal Care Trust is grateful to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund for supporting the funding of the bovine calving simulator.
Paws & Hooves Autumn 2020 9