|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
- By Dr Linda Sharp BVSc, Veterinarian, Pukekohe
Fraggle is a five-month-old kitten, full of exuberance and mischief, so a red, glittery, feathery, fishy-smelling thing must have been irresistible to him.
Unfortunately for Fraggle, the fishy-smelling thing was a fishhook and lure, and he was
found with it stuck in his front leg. After cutting the lure off, Fraggle’s owner brought him to
a vet for examination, since he was resistant to her attempts to remove the hook.
It is not uncommon to have dogs or cats brought into the clinic with fishhooks stuck in them, usually in their mouth or feet. If the hook doesn’t go too far into the flesh, it can usually be removed by just pulling it back out. This wasn’t going to work for Fraggle, though, as the hook had gone almost right through his leg, so the barb on the hook was firmly anchored in the flesh.
Fraggle was sedated, and the hook was pushed through the leg, so we were able to cut the
barb off, then easily extract the hook. Fraggle was discharged with lots of pain relief,
hopefully having learned his lesson that not all red, glittery, feathery, fishy-smelling things
are to be trusted.
