Surgical versus conservative management of patella fractures in cats: a retrospective study

This study compared the clinical outcome in cats with patella fractures treated by surgery to those treated conservatively. Six cats with 9 patella fractures were treated. Six fractures were treated surgically and 3 were treated conservatively. Medical records of all 6 patients were reviewed for age, breed, gender, trauma, and fracture conformation. All patients had follow-up which consisted of a physical examination, radiographs, and an interview with the client between 1 and 4.5 y after surgery or diagnosis. All cats treated conservatively returned to normal activity with no gait abnormalities. In cats that had surgery, 4/6 had breakdown of the surgical repair but all cats went on to full recovery with normal activity and gait. The conclusions of this preliminary study are that surgical repair of cat patella fractures has a high rate of implant failure and that conservative management of cat patella fractures results in excellent clinical outcome.