He’s a plucky little fella – but there’s no doubting that Spratt needs a new front leg. He wants to keep up and run around so much but he knows his limitations. If his back legs were alright, it wouldn’t be so bad. Sometimes the vet will recommend amputating the whole leg at the shoulder but this wasn’t possible in Spratt’s case. At the time of his injury he had too many broken bones and was too ill and traumatised to survive. He occasionally uses his half leg for balance and has developed a callused pad on the end. It would obviously be too sore to rest on all the time.
Spratt knows when he’s had enough but what if we could get him an artificial leg? He has enough limb and shoulder to have a little harness fitted and with a prosthetic attached? Wouldn’t that be great. We’ve discovered a company in the U.S. who make artificial limbs for small animals, cats with missing legs and dogs who are paralysed. The harness and splints and supports they make are amazing. The pets soon get used to them and run around like new. We’re going to contact them and see if they can help. Normally they see the animal and do plaster casts to make sure the fit is right. We’re wondering if we could get someone here to do that side of it and send the measurements. If Spratt had a leg he could put down to the floor it would transform his life, there’d be no stopping him.
His injury is putting a strain on his other limbs so we have to try something. We’re going to contact the orthopaedics for pets specialists and see what they say. Of course, if you know anyone in the U.K. who does this sort of work, please let us know. We’ve already heard about the vet who implants steel artificial limbs into pets but don’t think that would be for Spratt – he’s a total wimp! The best thing about an limb attached to a harness is that we could take it off at night and know that there wouldn’t be any discomfort. With an implant, if it’s aching, how would you know? Watch this space…..
Please help us with Jack Spratt’s care and treatment if you can, it would be much appreciated [donate]