![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.paragonreferrals.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Kitten-shunt-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOnce diagnosed, Purdy was put on a special diet and given lactulose and antibiotics in a bid to reduce the toxins absorbed from the gut and stabilise her condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, delivering a permanent solution meant surgery was required to stop the blood bypassing the liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mickey added: \u201cFirst we injected dye into a blood vessel in Purdy\u2019s intestine and tracked its flow using fluoroscopy in a bid to properly identify the shunting vessel and assess the development of her liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt confirmed the presence of a portosystemic shunt, as expected, but also revealed that Purdy\u2019s liver was not very well developed, meaning she could not have the shunt fully closed straight away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe placed an ameroid constrictor around the shunt, a special device that slowly closes the shunt over a period of weeks, allowing the liver to gradually grow and develop so it can cope with the blood flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt worked well. Purdy made a good recovery from surgery and when she was re-examined approximately two months later, she was off her medication and all her clinical signs had resolved. She could see again, was more active and she had gained some weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFollow-up blood tests showed that her liver was working normally, with normal bile acids, suggesting that the surgery had been really successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Purdy\u2019s case was the latest success for our hospital which handles a large number of cats and dogs with shunts every year, as a result of Mickey\u2019s international reputation as an expert on the defect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We provides multi-disciplinary small animal care including anaesthesia and analgesia, cardiology, dermatology, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and soft tissue surgery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A tiny blind kitten has regained her sight after undergoing intricate surgery here at Paragon Referrals. But our expert vets did not operate on little Purdy\u2019s eyes, as our small animal specialist Mickey Tivers actually solved the problem by performing surgery on her liver. Mickey, our head of surgery, said: \u201cBlood tests and a CT…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n