With a little help from our friends…
The Rainier Animal Fund (RAF) is quite proud of its core program; our “In-Service” advanced care and surgical veterinary clinics. This program, through the support of our sisters hospitals and dedicated volunteers, has helped many pets get the care they so desperately need.
Occasionally though, there are those special cases that come through these clinics that need more advanced, specialized care than our team can offer onsite. This is where our partnerships kick-in. Kiwi is just one of those special cases.
Kiwi, a then 13-week-old kitten, was brought in to the Rainier Animal Fund surgical clinic on Saturday, September 17, 2022 unable to walk after being hit by a car. Kiwi’s owners were not able to afford the cost of taking Kiwi to her much-needed emergency care, so the RAF clinic was, at that moment, was their only option.
Of course, our team braced themselves for every potential worst-case scenario. Only advanced diagnostics and the skilled hands of our volunteer doctors would be able to get to the heart of the care Kiwi needed. The whole team was hoping that Kiwi could be saved.
In the end, Kiwi’s issue was more of the good news/bad news scenario. Kiwi’s diagnosis was that a full recovery was definitely possible, but the bad news is she needed an orthopedic procedure from a veterinary surgical specialist. Well, we had taken Kiwi this far…let’s get her all the way home!
Kiwi needed what is commonly known as a FHO, or an femoral head ostectomy. (This is a surgical procedure that aims to restore pain-free mobility to a diseased or damaged hip by removing the head and neck of the femur.) Once this procedure was completed, it was expected that Kiwi would be able to return to a full life with their family; pain free and ready to play.
This is where a giant thank you to our friends at Summit Veterinary Referral Center and veterinary surgeon Mike Weh, DVM-DACVS comes in. Their team stepped up to find room in an already booked surgical calendar to help get Kiwi the care they so desperately needed.
Now Kiwi is back home and doing well. We look forward to hearing more from Kiwi in the future has she grows into the beautiful little housecat she was always meant to be.
For more information on the Rainier Animal Fund, their upcoming clinics and to make a donation, please visit rainieranimalfund.org.
