New life for 'drunk' cat
2010-09-03 10:28
Johannesburg – A five-month-old stray cat who had no balance as a result of a rare genetic defect, is recuperating well at her new home in Roodepoort after undergoing a special operation to partially restore her balance.
Mitzi was taken in by the organisation Friends of Rescued Animals (Fora) after motorists saw her clinging to a bakkie on a highway.
"When we found her, her balance was completely disturbed. She walked around like a drunk little cat," said Annetjie van Niekerk, a Fora volunteer, on Thursday.
Full of beans
"Now she is much better and full of beans."
According to Van Niekerk, the operation involved draining cerebrospinal fluid from Mitzi's brain and implanting a special tube. She said it was the first operation of its kind to be done on a cat in South Africa.
"Motorists saw how the poor little cat clung doggedly to the hook on the back of a bakkie on the highway and motioned to the driver of the bakkie to stop," said Van Niekerk.
The driver didn't know where the cat had come from. Mitzi was given to Fora.
Several vets were consulted but none could help Mitzi.
Fora has a policy of not putting down any animal, so Van Niekerk approached the vets at Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital in Pretoria.
Rare disease
"Mitzi was sent for an after hours MRI scan at the Wilgers hospital in Pretoria and there it was established that she suffered from a rare disease called Dandy-Walker Syndrome," she said.
It involves a build-up of the cerebrospinal fluid, which caused pressure on the part of the brain that affects balance.
Vets from Onderstepoort cut open Mitzi's skull to drain the fluid and to insert a tube with a valve under the skin from her brain to her stomach.
"The tube ensures that further built-up fluid flows into the stomach."
Mitzi's balance will never be completely restored, but further damage is unlikely thanks to the operation.
A friend of Van Niekerk's, Dalene Jordaan from Ruimsig in Roodepoort, decided to adopt Mitzi.