On the opening night of the Rugby World Cup Vanessa's (our vet nurse) 10 month old cat Russel got scared of the fireworks and disappeared for 2 days.  When she found him on Sunday night he seemed very quiet and had gravel embedded in his face but otherwise seemed ok.  She thought he might have been clipped by a car. Little did she know how lucky Russel was to make it home that night!

When he was x-rayed at VetCare on Monday we found he had been hit right through the middle of his body and the enormous pressure had ruptured his diaphragm (the muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen and helps with breathing) and his stomach and liver were in his chest cavity. (on the left of this picture) This was causing his lungs to collapse and making it difficult for him to breathe.  This condition is life threatening enough by itself but to top it off he had also ruptured his abdomen where it attaches to the pelvis and his bladder and small intestine had come out through the hole and were sitting under his skin.  Luckily there were no broken bones or major bleeds although his bladder had been leaking into his abdomen.

He was referred to the Veterinary Specialist Group where he spent 3 hours in surgery being put back together again and drains inserted in his abdomen and chest and a urinary catheter.  He tried to rip out his tubes and i/v drip a few times while he was hospitalised and really made looking after him a challenge.

Vanessa was greeted by both specialists as she is very familiar with the vets down at VSG having spent many hours there with Rommel.  They were surprised by Russel's visual appearance and behaviour as under the anaesthetic they had found such serious injuries.  He was still trying to play with the pen around Richard Jerram's neck before he went under anaesthetic.

He had to stay at VSG for a week before he was well enough to be moved to Vetcare where he was hospitalised for a month with no racing around and wrestling with his brother Bruiser while all his insides healed up.

Vanessa was very glad that she had taken out insurance with Petplan when Russel was young as her total bill for the World Cup Carnage was around $6500 and Vanessa only had to pay the $100 excess.

Russel is now almost back to his normal cheeky self and is expected to make a full recovery.  He is one very lucky cat!