Georgia and her two kitten siblings were transferred to Lort Smith from another vet clinic at just three months old, to find new homes.
At her admission check, our vets noted that Georgia had difficulty breathing and reduced heart sounds, unlike her littermates, who showed no abnormalities. Georgia was sent for X-rays that same day, and the vets were astonished by what they saw! Georgia had a diaphragmatic hernia. This means her intestines were where her heart should be!
This injury can be seen after car accidents, but it's pretty uncommon in the congenital form. It occurs in 0.06–0.6% of cats, and Lort Smith sees about three cases in five years.
Surgery
Georgia went to surgery straight away to move her intestines back to where they should be. The procedure involved going in through the abdomen and pulling out the intestines, stomach and liver. Essentially, Georgia's entire gastrointestinal tract was wrongly tucked into this cavity. Our vets were able to see her heart, and fortunately it was beating perfectly.
Being so young, it was a tight fit to get all of Georgia's intestines back into her little abdomen where they belonged. But an X-ray confirmed everything was now as it should be, and Georgia moved to ICU to recover.
Recovery is the period of highest risk, but we had nothing to fear. Georgia was a little champ, and was up, purring and eating within hours. She was definitely a lot happier and more settled after the procedure. She left ICU within 24 hours and went into foster care with Nurse Claudia.
A foster home, and maybe a forever one
Despite caring for animals all day as part of their job, many of our staff are also foster carers. They volunteer their time outside work to keep giving these animals the best care possible.
Nurse Claudia says Georgia quickly became comfortable in her home and with her family. Described as loving and gentle, Georgia loves to zoom around the kitchen in the mornings, and has claimed a pink toy mouse as her favourite.
Georgia still needs to be desexed and vaccinated, but Claudia's family have fallen in love, and will be applying to adopt this sweet girl when she's ready.