A plea for Willow

A Plea for Willow.

In June 2016, one year old Willow fell from the 11th floor of her home. Miraculously she survived but she had dislocated her hip bone and broken her palate in half. Unfortunately, her palate never healed and eventually collapsed leaving Willow with a big hole on the roof of her mouth making her unable to eat and having to be fed through a feeding tube. A silicon plug was made to measure with the hope that this would help with feeding but this was unsuccessful and the hole became bigger with the risk of infection becoming a big problem. Fortunately for Willow, one of Save Gibraltar Street Cats vets has personally taken on her care and has arranged for specialist treatment and surgery in Valencia.

Willow underwent a two hour operation where she has had four layers inserted into her palate. First is a mesh, followed by a membrane which is harvested from a pigs heart.Thirdly is a layer of artificial bone and finally a layer of tissue from her own pharynx. Though initially it looked as though it was successful, unfortunately three days post op part of the prosthetic palate has failed with sections of the hole re appearing. She will now be needing two further operations to try and close the hole.

This has come at a great expense. The initial surgery has cost 1800 euros. We, Save Gibraltar Street Cats have decided to assist our vet in treating Willow in any way we can. She is a Gibraltar cat that has the biggest zest for life and enjoys it to the fullest. She is very happy and much loved and after surviving a fall like this has earned and deserves the right to carry on living. Let's all make this possible.

On behalf of Save Gibraltar Street Cats

Registered Charity No.269