Dr Sam Long and Buddy the cat.
A cat with a tumor that had overtaken 70 per cent of its brain has had life-saving surgery in Werribee.
Veterinary neurologist Sam Long, of the Melbourne University Vet Hospital, led a team of three surgeons which spent four hours removing the massive tumor.
Buddy the cat was flown to Melbourne from Perth for the emergency surgery on July 22.
Dr Long said the 14-year-old cat would have died within two months if the benign tumor had not been removed.
“He was suffering from what we call compulsive walking, so he was constantly walking around in circles,” Dr Long said.
Buddy had also lost vision in one of his eyes and was unable to meow.
“The tumor was about three centimetres by three centimetres and was taking up around 70 per cent of his brain,” Dr Long said.
“This is certainly the largest tumor we’ve ever removed and possibly the largest one we’ve ever seen.”
Dr Long and his team removed the top of Buddy’s skull before extracting the tumor, which was attached to a major vein.
“We said it was a risky surgery before we started. I thought we had a 50 per cent chance of Buddy surviving,’’ he said.
“It either could have gone very well or he could potentially not have woken up.”
But Buddy started to walk in straight lines the very next day, and vision is returning to his eye. He’s even started meowing again.
Dr Long said the top of Buddy’s skull had been replaced with bone cement. He estimated the cat would live happily for another three to four years.
