A Big Day Out for Peppa – 12 September

by Bob Cumming · 10/10/2023

Tuesday morning started like many others, with Peppa lying on Antigone’s chest. This is the view I often wake up to living in our caravan.

Ying invited Antigone and Peppa to join her for coffee at Little Local, a lovely garden restaurant.

Ying and Antigone had a lovely time, although a loud domestic dispute in the house next door made it less tranquil than usual.

Peppa didn’t have such a good time. She found a dark space under the stage, the kind of place she loves to hang out. But she had trouble breathing. Her mouth was open and she seemed to be panting like a dog – not typical cat behaviour. Ying and Antigone rang me concerned and I dropped what I was doing to come and assist.

I took a video to show the vet if needed. I rang the vet and described the behaviour. It sounded like an emergency to them, so they said to bring her straight over, which I did.

I wondered if the stress of the conflict next door may have been upsetting for Peppa. The vet dismissed this idea.

The vet was concerned about her trouble breathing, so took an xray.

The highlighted area appears to show part of her intestines within her chest cavity. This is not normal and could be pressing on her lungs causing difficulty breathing. He said it looked like a hernia (hole) in her diaphragm and that it was probably caused by the trauma in the accident ten years ago when she lost her tail, broke her hip and was degloved. He recommended surgery to try and sew up the hole, with an estimated 80% chance of success (and 20% chance of Peppa dying!). Chances of success would have been better with a younger cat. (Peppa is 12.) They could do it the next day. They would keep her for observation.

He recommended a calm life for at least a week following the operation so we would need to postpone our departure from Broome.

This was big.

Antigone and Ying had arrived at the vet by this time. After saying good-bye to Peppa, Antigone and I went away for a big serious talk. We would do what had to be done for Peppa.

Later that day, the vet rang. He had contacted Advanced Vetcare in Kensington who had looked after Peppa following her accident ten years ago. They had seen a similar xray and had thought the same thing. They had opened her up to try to repair the hole and discovered it was something quite different. It was a congenital pericardial hernia which she had had from birth, with adhesion around the heart. Operating on that was a much bigger deal than sewing up a hole. Advanced Vetcare had decided against doing it then, and the Broome Vet now decided the same thing. Peppa had lived with this all her life, and she could continue to do so. Or we could consult with a specialist if we wanted it fixed.

What a relief! No surgery for Peppa just now. No new risks. And no big vet bills.