Epidemiology of severe trauma in cats: An ACVECC VetCOT registry study

Abstract

Objectives: To identify demographic information, epidemiological factors, and clinical abnormalities that differentiate cats with severe trauma, defined as an Animal Trauma Triage Score (ATTS) ≥3 from those with mild injury (ATTS 0-2).Design: Multicenter observational study utilizing data from the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC) Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT) registry.

Potential Factors Influencing Complete Functional Recovery in Traumatized Unowned Cats with Orthopedic Lesions—A Cohort Study

“…The overall mortality in this study was 17%, but no patient died from injuries directly related to the trauma, in contrast with other studies [ 9 , 36 ], even if in our peculiar sample of unowned cats, the most severe cases might be hypothesized to die before referral. Comorbidities, which showed a subtle association with the lack of functional recovery only at the univariate analysis considering the 2-CFR, were detected in 31% of the patients in our sample and determined the death of three of them.…”

“…This finding might be justified by the behavioral habits of these cats; indeed, compared to the other sex categories, intact males are less likely to settle down in a defined territory and tend to roam in search of resources or females for mating [ 25 ]. These movements expose them to the possibility of being traumatized by road traffic accidents or to bite wounds injuries [ 6 , 9 , 26 ].…”

“…Lesions of the spine were recorded in 15% of the patients, similar to what was previously reported [ 8 ]. Spine involvement has been shown as a negative prognostic factor on survival after trauma [ 9 , 36 ]. Spine involvement did not reach significance at the post hoc statistical evaluation.…”

“…First, due to its retrospective nature, we could not apply previously validated scales, such as the animal trauma triage score (ATTs) or the modified Glasgow coma scale (mGCS) [ 43 , 44 ], since data records did not always include all the variables requested for their computation. Few studies calculated the ATTs from retrospectively collected data [ 10 , 26 ], and it resulted with an association with the need for transfusion and hospital discharge in cats with pelvic injury [ 10 ], whereas most research evaluated retrospectively previously recorded ATTs [ 9 , 27 , 43 , 45 ]. On the other hand, the mGCS had been only evaluated retrospectively from data collected on arrival [ 27 , 36 , 45 , 46 ].…”

“…Nevertheless, little is known about the clinical characteristics and outcome of traumatic orthopedic injuries in the unowned feline population, in contrast to owned cats [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The presence of pre-existing pathologies or comorbidities, generally undiagnosed and hence untreated, in addition to concomitant traumatic soft tissue injuries, might influence the response to treatment and the outcome of orthopedic lesions in traumatized unowned cats.…”