Beloved Pretoria cheetah Njozi undergoes operation
The beloved and well-known five-year-old female cheetah is a resident of Rietvlei Nature Reserve.
Pretoria residents' hearts opened wholeheartedly when, in a few days, the Friends of Rietvlei's appeal for R50 000 for her operation, hospitalisation and rehabilitation was answered.
She was found and captured with the assistance of Jeanri Weideman, a game ranger from Rietvlei.
Njozi wears a very high-frequency collar.
After she was found, she was darted and radiographed in the field by veterinary wildlife specialist, Prof Katja Koeppel.
Chris van Blerk, faculty spokesperson, said radiographs revealed that she had previously fractured two bones in her right forelimb (the radius and ulna), which had healed in the wrong position (a malunion) and fused (sinostosis).
'This deformity limited the movement of her paw and likely caused abnormal stress on the limb. Sadly, this led to a new fracture just above the old injury site,' said Van Blerk.
She went into the operating theatre on July 22. Small animal specialist surgeon, Dr Adriaan Kitshoff and a team from the faculty's Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH), performed the surgery.
'In theatre, we corrected both the previous malunion and the recent fracture by removing a wedge of bone and carefully realigning the limb,' said Kitshoff.
The bones were then stabilised with two metal plates, and a small bone graft from her shoulder was used to help speed up healing.
According to Prof Koeppel, her bandage was changed on July 23. She will be managed and monitored by the team of wildlife veterinarians and students at the Faculty of Veterinary Science's wildlife clinic.
Peter Ruddle, chairperson of the Friends of Rietvlei, a NPO supporting the reserve, said the 'public has been fantastic with their response'.
He pointed out that they are very glad that all went well with the operation and thanked the team at Onderstepoort.
ALSO READ: Rietvlei cheetah found safely
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