Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Clive Ansell — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:59:35 GMT

I once saw 2 cases in related British Blue cats, both unilateral, and both did very well following excision arthroplasty.

I have heard it said that castrating males too young can lead to this, but 2 charity clinics I work in have been castrating cats from 4 months of age for some years and don't have endless dodgy hip cats on their books ??

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Alice Courtney — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:02:14 GMT

Are British Blue cats known to be pre-disposed to this? I have seen at least one British Blue that was treated by a colleague with this bilateral femoral neck necrosis. That makes 3 on this Post thread alone...

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Malcolm Ness — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:05:34 GMT

[quote user="James Laidlaw"]Referral put in teensy new hip, cat doing brilliantly[/quote]

We do a lot of joint replacement surgery.

The hardware for THR in smaller dogs and cats has been about for a few years and we have done a couple of cats and several small dogs - usually Legge-Calve-Perthes disease.

While most of these smaller patients will do acceptably well with a well executed femoral head and neck excision, with a THR we can expect profound pain control and apparently normal function albeit at a considerable financial cost. The surgery is rather more difficult than a "full size" THR and should really only be undertaken by properly trained surgeons who already have considerable experience in joint replacement surgery.

Malcolm N

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Kate Richardson — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:56:51 GMT

[quote user="Frances Barr"]

I think this is likely to be femoral neck metaphyseal osteopathy. See Queen et al, Vet Record 142, 159-162 (1998). http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/142/7/159.abstract

Frances

[/quote]

Really good article on this in one of the recent Journal of feline Medicine & Surgery- I can fax you a copy if you message me with number.

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

James Laidlaw — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:46:58 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

One of our referral centres are dying to do total hip replacements on a cat. They have shown me an artificial hip for a cat. It looks like a toy!! Apparently will give much better range of movement than femoral head resection but comes with a Germaine Greer type bill!!!!

Perthes and looks bilateral to my uneducated eyes!

[/quote]I had one done at a referral clinic recently after trauma injury. Referral put in teensy new hip, cat doing brilliantly, client happy. It's a nice work memory for a change!!!

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Rob Davis — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:05:53 GMT

[quote user="Frances Barr"]

I think this is likely to be femoral neck metaphyseal osteopathy. See Queen et al, Vet Record 142, 159-162 (1998). http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/142/7/159.abstract

[/quote]

Many thanks for that, I will look up the paper.

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Bob Russell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:41:54 GMT

Perthes and looks bilateral to my uneducated eyes!

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Rob Reid — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:31:11 GMT

I have just finished treating a similar case, 18mo male neutered British Blue, no history of trauma presented with LH lameness and general lethargy. He has done very well follwing bilateral femoral head and neck excision, I did the more painful left hip first then the other one 6 weeks later.

With regards to aetiology, in the absence of trauma of suspected osteomyelitis an avascular necrosis similar to Legg-Perthes would seem the most likely cause to me.

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Frances Barr — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:12:36 GMT

I think this is likely to be femoral neck metaphyseal osteopathy. See Queen et al, Vet Record 142, 159-162 (1998). http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/142/7/159.abstract

Frances

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Rob Davis — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:25:21 GMT

[quote user="Utlendigur"]Could be Legge- Calve- Perthes/Avascular necrosis of femoral head??[/quote]

This is what I thought, but I couldn't find any referrence to it in cats.

[quote user="Catherine Coen"]I heard something recently about this type of presentation in male cats that have been neutered very early... not sure of many other details but think it's usually bilateral.[/quote]

He was castrated at 9 months old.

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Catherine Coen — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:18:22 GMT

I heard something recently about this type of presentation in male cats that have been neutered very early... not sure of many other details but think it's usually bilateral.

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Jillian Hall — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:09:30 GMT

I believe cats can suffer from a condition not dissimilar to Legg-Calves-Perthes.

I have had a case in a British Blue of the same age that as I remember looked similar. There was some suggestion at the time of it being genetic as it is more common in larger short-haired breeds such as these. Separation of the caput femoris occurs early on either with or without an inciting trauma, and the femoral neck becomes progressively weaker with an apple-core appearance. The other side definietly has the potential to deteriorate, but my case had its FHNE on the left side about 2 years ago and hasn't had symptoms on the other leg yet.

Re: Cat hips - any thoughts on aetiology?

Utlendigur — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:00:45 GMT

Could be Legge- Calve- Perthes/Avascular necrosis of femoral head??. It can occur in cats. I've seen a couple of similar cases - one bilateral, the other unilateral which may have been a previous femoral neck fracture