UP vets’ partial knee replacement surgery on Theophylline the cat another first for South Africa

Abstract

Specialist veterinary surgeons at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH) in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science conducted South Africa’s first partial knee replacement on a cat. They used a custom-made artificial groove for the kneecap to glide in, saving the cat from having her right leg amputated. Performed by Dr Elge Bester and Dr Adriaan Kitshoff from the Faculty’s Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies, this procedure is not only a first for the 100-year-old-faculty and the hospital, but for the country as well. Their patient, Theophylline, a domestic shorthair cat, was rescued from a parking lot drain as a young kitten and quickly warmed the hearts of her rescuers. She was given the name “Theophylline”, which is the name of a drug (bronchodilator) that is used to relieve symptoms including wheezing, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath related to diseases such as asthma, for instance.