In December 2024, tabby girl Wasabi was surrendered to CPW by her family as they’d been unable to find a pet-friendly rental. A loving, confident and active girl of 12 years, she’d always had outdoor time to explore and to chase mice and moths. But when she arrived, she had a major limp. An x-ray as part of her initial vet visit with CPW revealed a fine fracture on her back left patella.

Cage rest and increasing amounts of pain relief were not successful and as her patella had subsequently slipped sideways, we were left with the two options of surgical repair or amputation of the leg. Though the cost was not insignificant (around $4,500) we opted to go ahead with the first option as it was felt that Wasabi, young at heart, had a very good chance of a healthy recovery. As this was going to require complex and specialist surgery, she was referred to the Animal Orthopaedic Clinic in Kapiti and had her surgery in mid-February.

She’d been taken home to be fostered by one of our volunteers who had a small room, completely empty of furniture, that she was happy and generous enough to dedicate to Wasabi’s needs. This proved to be invaluable as six weeks of room confinement enabled her repair to heal, during which time she remained her sweet, snuggly self, wanting nothing more than a lap and someone to love her. This was so much easier with a fosterer who works largely from home.

Wasabi could put her weight on her knee again within days of the surgery, and she returned to the shelter at the beginning of April. She has had her final sign-off from the vet and can begin her full rehabilitation.

Though she still has another six weeks where we need to be very careful of her jumping down, we’re giving her opportunities to stretch and put more weight on her back legs to gently build up her muscle strength. We’ve put boxes at a gentle gradient in her room in the West Wing, along with a scratch post.

She may have been a bit of an expensive cat for us, but Wasabi is totally worth it and has won over all of the vet staff and caregivers with her forgiving, chatty and affectionate temperament. With supervision, she can now be allowed to explore more space and finally begin to get her old cat life back.