Total hip replacement is a relatively new procedure in cats, despite the procedure having been successfully performed in dogs for decades.

Recently, the Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon (VRCCO) shared a case of a particularly complex feline total hip replacement from September 2024 in a small patient that only had 1 back leg.

Veterinary surgeons have only been able to replace smaller hips, such as those in cats, in the most recent years.1 Yet, there is still little research on long-term follow up on these felines.

To date, few surgeons have obtained the specialized training required to perform the procedure on small breeds, according to VRCCO.

 Unlike traditional canine hip replacements, the nano and micro hip implant systems are distinct and require their own set of specialized instruments.

The patient brought to VRCCO, Moira, a domestic shorthair cat, had sustained a severe fracture to her right hind leg prior to her visit to the center, that led to its amputation. Following the amputation, it was found that Moira had also experienced an injury to her pelvis, including a chronic luxation, or dislocation, of her left hip.

Moira. (Image courtesy of Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon)

“She was using [her leg], but not well and [was] just kind of swinging it out to the side and didn’t want to walk around a lot,” said Moira’s owner in a video by Veterinary Referral Center.

 “...I knew priority one was bringing her in and seeing what kind of surgery could be done for it to help her be more comfortable.”

At the Bone, Joint and Spine Center of VRCCO, Moira’s owner met with Mauricio Dujowich, DVM, DACVS, CCRT, who examined Moira and suggested a total hip replacement surgery. According to VRCCO, Moira’s small size and her only having one back leg made the case an especially challenging one as her new hip would have to carry a substantial amount of weight immediately following surgery.

“Being such a small patient, we basically only had one chance at it—we really needed to get this right the first time” said Dujowich in the video.

 According to Dujowich, the team performed a computed tomography (CT) scan and utilized 3D printing technology to create a replica of Moira’s hip and femur. The team then practiced on the 3D model prior to performing the procedure.

“Given how small her bones were, precision was critical. Understanding her specific anatomy and practicing on the 3D models of the hip and femur allowed the team to refine their approach, ensuring everything went well on surgery day,” said Dujowich in a news release.

“I don’t think I would have felt comfortable doing her surgery had I not had a dry run at it. Having that technology available to us really made a big difference in making sure that we’re doing what’s right,” he said in a video.

When it comes to hip replacement, efficiency is important, according to Dujowich.

 “The more time we’re in surgery, the higher the chance that we can develop an infection,” he said.

 “If we can have a team that’s not fast, but a team that’s efficient, it makes a huge, huge difference so that we can get in and out as quick as possible.”

According to VRCCO, the surgery was successful, and Moira is now thriving.

VRCCO also commended Moira’s owner for seeking treatment for Moira to determine the best treatment option for her.

Surgeon performs life-changing total hip replacement for three-legged cat. News release. Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon. April 16, 2025. Accessed April 18, 2025. 

https://www.newswire.com/news/surgeons-perform-life-changing-total-hip-replacement-for-three-legged-22550075

Warren R. Young cat back to full activity after total hip replacement. UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. March 29, 2024. Accessed April 18, 2025. 

https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/young-cat-back-full-activity-after-total-hip-replacement

Veterinary Referral Center Youtube page. Accessed April 18, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gPVIdwWKkM

Articles

Veterinary surgeons have only been able to replace feline hips in recent years 

3-legged cat undergoes complex total hip replacement procedure

Feline diabetes mellitus (DM) is currently understood to have strong similarities to human type 2 diabetes. Veterinarians have traditionally relied upon insulin therapy to treat feline DM. However, responses to insulin vary, and cats may remain significantly hyperglycemic.

The FDA recently approved 2 sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, bexagliflozin and velagliflozin, for the treatment of uncomplicated feline DM. SGLT2 inhibitors decrease renal glucose reabsorption. This increases glucose excretion and, in patients with DM, may normalize blood glucose concentration. SGLT2 inhibitors are routinely used in the management of human type 2 diabetes and have been shown to mitigate hyperglycemia effectively and reduce the risks of cardiovascular and renal compromise.

Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics

 has published a study that shows SGLT2 inhibitors, such as bexagliflozin and velagliflozin, may offer a safe and effective oral treatment option for cats with uncomplicated DM.

Exploring the FDA-approved SGLT2 inhibitors for cats

These oral hypoglycemic agents are a suitable option for many newly diagnosed cats, with rapid improvements in glycemic control and clinical signs. Suitable candidates must have some residual β-cell function, as some endogenous insulin production is required to prevent ketosis. Appropriate patient selection and monitoring are necessary, and practitioners should be aware of serious complications such as 

The SGLT2 inhibitors are seen as an exciting new addition to current treatment options for uncomplicated feline DM. For many owners, a once-daily oral medication is highly preferable to twice daily insulin injections, and this simplified approach is likely to improve outcomes for a substantial number of cats. SGLT2 inhibitors’ additional advantages include improvements in blood pressure, body weight, and fat distribution, along with a low propensity for clinical hypoglycemia. 

This study recommends that prescribers consider SGLT2 inhibitors as an alternative to insulin therapy for cats with stable, uncomplicated DM. The authors advise ongoing monitoring for adverse effects such as dehydration, ketonuria, and changes in renal function. When used appropriately, SGLT2 inhibitors can offer improved convenience and potentially better quality of life for both feline patients and their owners.

Adverse effects of SGLT2 inhibitors in cats

 is a 2025 PharmD candidate studying veterinary pharmacy at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

Cook AK, Behrend E. SGLT2 inhibitor use in the management of feline diabetes mellitus. 

. 2025;48 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):19-30. doi:10.1111/jvp.13466

The FDA recently approved 2 oral SGLT2 inhibitors that are a suitable option for many newly diagnosed cats. 

From needles to pills: transforming feline diabetes care 

Dr. Broadwater talks about an alternative for senior dogs

Joshua Broadwater canine eyelide tumors

Nonhealing corneal ulcers can turn even routine cases into weeks‑long frustrations for practitioners and pet owners alike. In this brief preview of his Fetch Charlotte lecture, Joshua Broadwater, DVM, DACVO, explains why some ulcers refuse to heal and how targeted procedures can finally get them back on track.

: Non‑healing ulcers are a huge part of what we do. That’s part of our bread and butter, because those cases come to us. I’m sure it’s very frustrating for a lot of general practitioners, because these dogs walk in your door and you diagnose a very simple, superficial ulcer. You start on these drops and, for all intents and purposes, it should be healed in a week—but it’s not.

You change medications and they come back, and it’s still not healed. These cases are frustrating for the general vet and for the owner as well, because they see their pet in pain 2 or 3 weeks beyond when healing should have occurred. My goal in this talk is to shed some light on why these ulcers don’t heal. What exactly is the process? Why are they developing in the first place, and why aren’t they resolving with standard therapy? Then, what can we do—or what can general vets do procedurally—to get these ulcers to close?

It also involves proper case selection. A superficial, non‑healing ulcer—what we would term an “indolent” or “refractory” ulcer—is very different from a deep, stromal, infected corneal ulcer. Those have different causes and require different treatments. We need to make sure we select the right cases before considering any procedures designed to stimulate superficial ulcers to heal.

There’s always a lot of controversy around true indolent ulcers—sometimes called “Boxer ulcers” or “refractory ulcers.” Which is the correct way to get these things to heal? A grid keratotomy has long been the gold standard, and I still perform it frequently. My goal with this lecture is to offer more insight on how to perform the procedure correctly.

But there are alternatives. Many clinicians have begun using a diamond burr keratotomy, and we’ll cover that as well. We’ll also talk about feline patients, because cats aren’t just small dogs—they’re practically aliens in how they heal or fail to heal. We’ll discuss which procedures used for dogs are appropriate for cats—and which aren’t—so you can choose the best approach for every patient.

 delivers expert-led veterinary continuing education on your schedule. With 

, you can access top-tier sessions anytime, anywhere—whether at home, in the clinic, or on the go. Ready to earn CE credits? Watch this session and more on 

Videos

Joshua Broadwater, DVM, DACVO, explains why some ulcers stubbornly persist and his approach to dealing with them

When corneal ulcers won't heal

In this video interview with dvm360, shares the clinical signs that could indicate cannabis exposure in patients, plus how to treat these patients

Video interview with Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT

Ahead of 4/20 day, Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, sat down with 

 to discuss the clinical signs that pets exposed to cannabis or THC will present with in the clinic, how to treat these patients, and if any secondary concerns are needed if the pet ingested an edible or gummy form of cannabis, such as xyitol or chocolate. As marijuana continues to rise on the list of top yearly toxins at Pet Poison Helpline, recognizing these signs can be crucial, especially if the clients do not want to admit what their pets got into. 

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

 For cannabis or THC exposures, the biggest things to look at are really clinical signs. There aren't necessarily a lot of diagnostics that are going to be helpful. We're not really a big fan of the urine drug screening either, because those are validated on human urine. And so there's different metabolites. The body breaks it down a little bit differently in humans versus animals. And so a lot of times, if you do a urine drug screen on an animal, you may get a false negative or you may get a false positive. So I really encourage veterinarians to treat based on their clinical signs. And so a lot of the common clinical signs are that kind of lethargy or sluggishness, maybe some ataxia and weakness. They can also have bradycardia. We can see hypotension and hypothermia developing. A very kind of tell-all sign is when they're dribbling urine and so often, if that patient walks in the door and they look a little bit out of it, and they're dribbling urine, but the owner isn't really wanting to say what they got into, or admit to anything, it's probably THC, so probably would want to be treating it in that way. 

Yeah, so for THC and other cannabis products, typically, we want to do a lot of great nursing care, symptomatic and supportive care. So if it's caught early enough, we might be able to induce vomiting and give one dose of activated charcoal, sorbitol. Otherwise, IV fluids might be necessary. Maybe sub q fluids, if they're mildly affected. The really mildly affected cases, might be able to just be monitored at home. I always like to have them be examined by a veterinarian first to help make that determination, because pet owners are not going to be able to tell if they're hypotensive or hypothermic, or, you know, if they're what their heart rate necessarily might be and what their kind of pulse quality is like. So I always like to have an examination there at the veterinary clinic first, and then treating as necessary. If they need some warming, that measure is done because they're hypothermic, if they need anything to help with any potential bradycardia or hypotension, done with them. Fortunately, most cases usually resolve within around 12 to 24 hours. Some might linger for 48 or a little bit longer, depending on how affected they are

Veterinary toxicologist Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, explains clinical signs of cannabis exposure in pets, and how to treat these patients

Managing cannabis exposures in pets

Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS talks about making space for life outside the clinic

Managing work-related stress

Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, host of the podcast Healthspan Digest, talks about ways veterinary professionals can manage work-related stress. Shaw explains that although work is an important part of life, it should not consume all of it, and encourages professionals to pursue hobbies and interests outside of work.

Below is the video transcript, lightly edited for clarity:

So a couple things that somebody on the vet team could do to help manage stress: I think first and foremost, it is really being in charge of your own body—really taking ownership of yourself in a way. And that is really going to be focusing on how you eat, how you sleep, how often you move your body, what kind of social support you have...in the clinic certainly, but definitely outside of the clinic.

I think that people who are the most successful in navigating stressful work environments are the ones who can recognize that work is a piece of their life, but it's not all of their life. And you know, people can step out of the work environment and realize there are more things to do, there are hobbies and activities that they're interested in—it becomes easier to kind of put work in a bucket. And I think that for those of us that are professionals, it’s pretty easy to feel like work, if you're passionate about what you do, is always on our brain to some degree.

But...if work is on our brain to some degree and it's also almost like a weight on us, then we need to have something we can pivot away from, and that is where I want to say real life comes in. I mean, certainly work is real life, but I think a big part of real life is having a hobby and an interest and something you really look forward to once you're done with that stressful day, and really taking the time and energy to engage in that when you do leave the office.

And that can be hard because most of us, when we leave work, we can be pretty tired or feeling kind of beat down. But by saying, you know, ‘It's been a tough day. I'm kind of tired. I'm kind of worn out, but I know that...one of my hobbies is going for a bike ride’ and saying, ‘Yeah, I'm tired, but I have to rally. I'm going to go do this thing.’

And I think when we have hobbies that we're interested in, then once we start doing that, we kind of forget about some of the stresses that may have been preoccupying us and really weighing us down throughout the day and so having a little bit of a mental break from the stress of our job day to day gives our brain a break, gives our body a break. Again, you get all the physiological benefits of exercise, and the mental break, the mental time out from the stress of work.

On April 20 each year, those who enjoy recreational marijuana or take it for its medical benefits celebrate the unofficial cannabis holiday 4/20 day. However, because Pet Poison Helpline receives thousands of calls a year related to cannabis, the team highlighted the case of Gertie the Goose in its most recent installment of 

an unusual cannabis-related call the toxicologists received.

“Although dogs are far more likely to have an accidental marijuana exposure, according to our case data, there was one recent call that gave us goose bumps,” joked Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, a senior veterinary toxicologist and director of Veterinary Medicine at Pet Poison Helpline, in an organizational release.

Carola Schubbel/stock.adobe.com (Not an actual image of Gertie) 

“Earlier this year we received a call from a woman whose pet goose Gertie had quickly gobbled up a joint that accidentally dropped on the floor. The pet owner called us, and after analyzing the situation, we recommended she take Gertie into the veterinary hospital for monitoring and treatment.”

Gertie was then taken to the local animal hospital where the veterinary staff performed a crop lavage with saline. According to the release, a crop is a thin-walled pouch at the base of the esophagus where birds store food before it goes all the way down to its stomach. The Pet Poison Helpline relied on avian data from other birds to develop their recommendations since their the data for geese with this type of exposure is limited. In a scenario where a dog or cat ingests marijuana, they can begin to show clinical signs within minutes to hours depending on the exposure, such as inhalation versus ingestion.

Risks of THC and cannabis products for patients

If a pet is exposed to marijuana, they will present with a dazed expression, lethargy, dribbling urine, incoordination, and slow response signs. Pet Poison Helpline also shared that vomiting and drooling are also common signs, and pets could potentially experience heart rate changes, vocalization, neurological stimulation, hyperactivity or coma. For avian patients specifically, they can have similar neurologic and cardiovascular signs, which Gertie did.

“Even if you don’t use marijuana personally, it can still impact your pets,” Schmid warned.

 “There are currently only 4 states in the country that don’t allow some form of [delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)] usage, so the chances of your pet encountering THC are very real. A friend or family member could bring some into your home without your knowledge or your pet could come in contact with THC in a public area such as a park. We also had a case where a dog wandered into a neighbor’s yard and ate a batch of marijuana brownies.”

As more states continue to legalize marijuana either medically or recreationally, there was also more calls to Pet Poison Helpline relating to THC exposures. Pet Poison Helpline saw a 430% increase in marijuana calls from 2019 to 2023, and marijuana made its first appearance on the company’s Top 10 List of Poisons for 2021 coming in at 8

 as of the Top 10 List of Poisons in 2024.

 Schmid and the Pet Poison Helpline team is urging pet parents to be diligent and keep these products out of reach from pets and children. Schmid also warns pet owners and veterinary professionals that currently marijuana products have “significantly more THC as compared to those in decades past.”

Each month, Pet Poison Helpline releases a new installment of 

 to educate pet owners and the veterinary community on the types of poisonings that are out there impacting pets inside and out of their homes. Each pet selected to be featured in the installments has been successfully treated and fully recovered from the poisoning.

Pet Goose Accidentally Ingests Marijuana Joint. News release. Pet Poison Helpline. April 16, 2025. Accessed April 18, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pet-goose-accidentally-ingests-marijuana-joint-302429343.html#:~:text=%22Earlier%20this%20year%20we%20received,hospital%20for%20monitoring%20and%20treatment.%22

Top 10 Pet Poisons of 2024. News release. Pet Poison Helpline. January 8, 2025. Accessed April 18, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-10-pet-poisons-of-2024-302339363.html

As 4/20 day approaches, Pet Poison Helpline used its most recent Toxin Tail to warn veterinary professionals and pet parents ahead of the unofficial cannabis holiday 