
07/02/2025
Finally - an update about everyone's favorite kitten, Hal. As I write this, he is sound asleep on my lap, waking only to purr and give little kitten kisses before he goes back to sleep.
Our little boy is a medical mystery. Typically, the types of injuries he sustained are caused by 1 of 2 things: horrific abuse or some kind of car accident. Both were definitively ruled out. So how does a kitten get injuries so severe our only option was amputation?
We honestly don't know.
We are working with our vet plus two different specialists who have run tests, and done additional x-rays and exams. His xrays showed additional bones that were broken and healed over - we don't know how or when those occurred - but it means there is a history of bones breaking inexplicably.
There are a couple of possibilities - one is called osteogenesis imperfecta, which is a rare genetic disorder that makes bones fragile and prone to breaking, often with minimal or no apparent cause. However, other than multiple broken bones, he doesn't present with any other indicators - thus the medical mystery.
His broken leg was amputated yesterday and he is in recovery. As soon as he woke up, he started trying to run around like nothing ever happened, so we know he's feeling better and is in less pain, although WE keep having minor heart attacks watching him!
We have sent samples to pathology and we hope we get some answers back so we can make good decisions for his long-term welfare. Lots of thanks and apprecation to Drs Wasserman (Hal's primary surgeon