Thursday, September 06, 2007

New shoes for Trevor

Trevor the turkey chick could well be forgiven for being a little confused, with webbed feet that make him walk more like a duck.

But his `shoes' have been specially made to cure a problem of severely curled-up toes and have saved his fluffy little life.



Now the latest treatment at the Animal Medical Centre, in Chorlton, Manchester, could become standard with vets across the country.

Trevor, just three days old, was born with `scrunched-up' toes, which made it difficult to walk - and without help, he wouldn't have had much of a future.Vet Pip Boydell, a partner in the treatment centre, said: "The traditional method of dealing with a problem like this is to apply a small wooden splint to straighten the toes.



"We tried that with Trevor, but it wasn't effective, so we had to come up with something else. In the end, it turned out to be creating false webbed feet by using board and surgical tape."

"It might cause temporary confusion, but we have effectively given him a life, because he can get to his food and compete with his fellow chicks in the normal way."

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