Ruby’s Crucial Brain Surgery

Ruby, a lovely Domestic Longhair Cat who at the grand age of 13, was referred as an emergency to our Neurology team at Anderson Moores as she had suddenly appeared off balance, vacant and not quite herself.

Edward Ives, our Head of Neurology and Neurosurgery alongside Alice Prodger, our Intern in Neurology undertook a neurological assessment, and this revealed that there was a problem with her brain.

They talked to her owners who agreed for her to have an MRI scan to identify the cause of the problem. The scan revealed a large mass on the left side of her brain that was severely compressing her surrounding brain tissue.

A type of benign brain tumour called a meningioma was suspected by our Diagnostic Imaging team, which is the most common brain tumour seen in older cats. As the long-term outlook can be good in such cases following surgical removal, Ruby returned to see us for brain surgery the following week.

Her anaesthetic was carefully planned by our Specialist Anaesthetists and surgery was performed by Ed. He managed to completely remove the tumour and Ruby was up and about just one day after surgery and is back to her normal self only a few weeks later!  Her owners were delighted that she has recovered so quickly.

The gorgeous Ruby is recovering every week and now her fur has started to grow back and the scar on her head is hardly visible now! Her owners are so happy and say she is back to her affectionate self since the surgery. She said “What Ed did for Ruby is Phenomenal. Ruby was very, very sick when he met her, we had no idea she had such a serious brain tumour until we had the MRI scan. I feel very fortunate to have met Ed and his team and can’t thank them enough for saving her life.”