Why Is This Cat Walking on Its Toes? The Vet’s Surprising Diagnosis Will Shock You!

Vet Candy – Veterinary Lifestyle, News & Learning

In this episode of 'Vet Mysteries with Dr. Courtney,' veterinary surgeon Dr. Rebecca Webb joins Dr. Courtney Campbell to unravel a puzzling

Key takeaways

• Unusual gait in cats can be a sign of underlying orthopedic or dental issues.

Main topics

• Feline gait abnormalities
• Orthopedic examination in cats

Notable quotes

When you're doing your ortho exam and you see pain in the knees, don't be afraid to do an oral exam as well.

Conclusion

The episode underscores the value of holistic veterinary care, demonstrating how seemingly

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:05) You're listening to Vet Candy. Speaker 1 (0:12) When you see bilateral patella fractures in a cat, what's the first thing that goes through your head at that point? Speaker 4 (0:18) It's uncommon for us to see, you know, fractures on both sides like this without, you know, some kind of, you know, high level of trauma. You know, for him, he had just been a, you know, stay-at-home cat, you know, who had never really had anything traumatic happen to him. Speaker 3 (0:35) Vet Candy makes learning fun with the most exciting experts on the planet. Become a Vet Candy member for exclusive access to our library of more than 100 studio qualities and race-approved videos taped in 4K. Say hello to streaming and goodbye to boring webinars with us. Plus, members can connect with specialists and licensed mental health care experts on our forums and get answers to your burning questions with our knowledge database. You can even create a custom learning plan, keep track of your progress, and track your CE credits all in one spot. Your personalized learning journey starts with us. What are you waiting for? Sign up today at MyVetCandy.com. Speaker 1 (1:21) Welcome to the Vet Mysteries podcast. My name is Dr. Courtney. I'm a board-certified veterinary surgeon and fiercely devoted to pet and animal health. This podcast is powered by Vet Candy, a multimedia platform offering diverse veterinary content produced by veterinary experts and key opinion leaders. In this podcast, we unravel some of the most baffling and fascinating cases in clinical veterinary medicine. Please let us know how you feel about these cases. You can find us on socials at DrCourtneyDVM and at MyVetCandy. Now, let's get started. Today, folks, we have a true guest, a true distinguished, illustrious, dynamic. There's so many words that come to my mind, but I got to be honest, you will discover all of that as soon as you get a chance to meet her, as soon as you hear her speak. She is absolutely one of the most thorough, I'm going to say thorough and incisive doctors that I have ever met in my entire life. unfortunate for her, she has to work right alongside me. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podcast, Dr. Rebecca Webb. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Webb. We'll Speaker 2 (2:37) be right back with more Vet Candy. Speaker 3 (2:46) Vet Candy makes learning fun with the most exciting experts on the planet. Become a Vet Candy member for exclusive access to our library of more than 100 studio qualities and race-approved videos taped in 4K. Say hello to streaming and goodbye to boring webinars with us. Plus, members can connect with specialists and licensed mental health care experts on our forums and get answers to your burning questions with our knowledge database. You can even create a custom learning plan, keep track of your progress, and track your CE credits all in one spot. Your personalized learning journey starts with us. What are you waiting for? Sign up today at MyVetCandy.com. Thank you for having me, Dr. Speaker 4 (3:27) Campbell. Speaker 1 (3:28) Yeah, this is a really exciting opportunity for me because there's a lot of firsts that are happening right now. A tremendous amount of firsts. First and foremost, it's one of the very first times I get to enjoy a podcast episode with a dear friend of mine. It's one of the very first times that I get to enjoy a podcast episode with someone who works right alongside me. And then finally, people will find out, but there's also an international element to this podcast too. So it all comes together. Let's just set the scene. We're here to talk a little bit about a mystery case, right? A case that we find intriguing and captivating. But before we get to that, if you wouldn't mind just setting the scene for us on two things. What was it like where you grew up and how did that inform your understanding about animals? Speaker 4 (4:14) So where I grew up, I grew up in Australia in a city called Melbourne. I kind of grew up around the city in the suburbs. I had a lot of my childhood there, but I also spent a good deal of my childhood over in the western coast of Australia, where, you know, my grandma and grandpa, they had a farm with lots of other animals and things like that. So lots of, you know, cows and sheep and things like that in my early childhood and also cats and dogs and things like that that I grew up with. Speaker 1 (4:51) So you spent time both in a farm, sort of bucolic, rustic environment, but then you also were around companion animals. Of course, the natural inclination is people are going to ask you, well, what did you like more? Did you prefer companion animals or farm animals? Now, it may not be aligned with what you chose in your profession. So when you were growing up, what did you seem to gravitate towards more? I Speaker 4 (5:14) think I always have gravitated towards the companion animals. gravitated towards, you know, their care and things like that. Cause it's more what I experienced in my home life and more, you know, they were the animals that I had just a deeper connection with, I think. Speaker 1 (5:28) Yeah, absolutely. Now, when we hear about Australia, a lot of people are thinking, oh man, this is really exciting because we never have had a chance to talk to an Australian veterinarian or hear about Australia. For those who are uninitiated, could you, and this might be a little bit difficult of a question because of how encompassing it is, but could you contextualize the standard of veterinary care in Australia? Speaker 4 (5:50) Yeah, I think it's very similar to what we have over here in the States. It's growing quite quickly too. Even as I haven't been there now working for probably about five, six years now, and it's even changed in that period of time and it's growing much bigger and much more developed too than it was when I was there in vet school. Speaker 1 (6:15) Absolutely. Absolutely. So as we all go through this journey, You know, we talked a little bit about some of your favorite species of what you tend to gravitate towards more. But sometimes to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, I'd say it certainly takes more than just a love for animals. Could you let us know why veterinary medicine? Why did you start on this journey and ultimately become a veterinarian? Speaker 4 (6:39) I was really lucky when I was. a lot younger. I had, there was a family friend of my dad's who was a veterinarian, still is a veterinarian, and practiced small animal medicine. And I really looked up to him a lot. And so he was the one who got me really involved with it and interested in it. And, you know, the combination of him, you know, my grandma who, you know, worked with, you know, the cows and the sheep on her farm. you know, watching her, you know, help them, you know, give birth and do things like that when I was young really impacted me. And so I think those two people really were the people that kind of, you know, spurred me off into this career and, you know, off to the States eventually. Speaker 1 (7:25) It's incredible. You know, just ag folks, farm folks, some of the most hardworking people out there, man, just dealing with those elements. crazy. And I think you and I both along our veterinary career have spent a fair amount of time on farms and understanding just the large animal, production animal versus companion animal. So ultimately, as I was saying, ultimately, you've had the unfortunate pleasure of having to work right alongside me. We're both surgeons. Why veterinary surgery? I have had the pleasure of hearing you describe your journey and why you selected veterinary surgery. But for those who don't know, what... Why did you select veterinary surgery as your specialty? Speaker 4 (8:04) I think, you know, for me, I like problem solving and I like things that I can physically fix. You know, I like, I find that very rewarding. And, you know, the patients that I see that, you know, have a fracture, a broken leg, you know, things like that. And that I am able to fix and repair and then watch them walk and get that, you know, that. you know, immediate feedback of improvement, you know, to me, gives me a really good feel good factor. And it's lovely seeing, you know, how their owners then react and, you know, and see, you know, their joy and their happiness, you know, successful outcomes and things like that. So for me, that was the key that kind of, you know, led me down this path. Speaker 1 (8:51) Yeah, there's no doubt. There is a gratifying element to it, particularly... when you see them doing well. But conversely, you will get immediate feedback if the opposite is true, if they're not doing well. But Speaker 4 (9:04) you're Speaker 1 (9:05) absolutely right. It's that when you have a species different family member in the house who is uncomfortable or painful, it definitely disturbs that family dynamic and restoring that. them to normalcy or helping them heal, I think it really just keeps families together, right? It just unifies that family. And I just want to applaud you. I find what you do to be tremendously commendable. And this is somebody that gets to see what you do every single day and ask you for advice on a daily basis. So, okay. So this is a Vet Mysteries podcast. So we have to talk a little bit about any personal. Mysteries. Let me be clear. Anything you're comfortable sharing. Is there anything mysterious about you or that people wouldn't readily know? Speaker 4 (9:50) I mean, one of the things I think people wouldn't readily know when they meet me is very much enjoy gaming and playing PlayStation and things like that in my free time, which is not always a huge amount of free time. But when I do get it, I do like to kind