Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I honestly don't know how I would get through this without you guys. Thank you so much for the info and support! I think the oncologist will probably interpret the results a little better than the surgeon. I wasn't really sure what he was saying about the margins, either. I guess the margins didn't show the sarcoma cells, but there was something weird. I don't really understand how a margin can be clean and have unusual cells at the same time, even if the cells are different.
I do hope that even some reimbursement is possible. We're not done getting Charlie his treatments, and even 50% would really help pay for whatever he will need to survive. All of this for a legally required rabies shot 
Today we have to go in and have Charlie's incision looked at because one spot started to have some pink colored discharge. Our poor kitty boy. 
I did forget to say that he did poop! Yesterday morning I went into my son's room before I left for work and I saw poop in the litter box. We did make some progress and I really hope the discharge doesn't mean that we're regressing. Healing has been hard work for Charlie.
Hooray for poop! One more step on the road to recovery. And excellent that the oncologist is going to look at the results. Surgeons are not the experts in cell interpretation - bless their hearts.
YAAAAAAAAAY FOR 
!! 🙂 🙂
Wouldn't be too concerned at all abput the little discharge, but good idea to have it checked for your reassurance!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
We just got back and there was some swelling and discharge in one small area of the incision. They took him back and did a quick ultrasound and didn't find any fluid pockets under the skin, so they believe that he has the beginning of an infection just along the incision. It's an area that has quite of bit of tissue overhang and likely catches on things as he adjusts himself. We also caught him licking his incision on Wednesday and the cone went on immediately. He will be wearing it for at least another week. He did have an elevated temp from Monday's checkup, was back to normal when he was rechecked Wednesday, and his temp was normal today, so they didn't think it was really bad yet. Charlie has antibiotics to take for the next 14 days. This development just happened so fast! He was there Wednesday afternoon and the surgeon said that his incision looked great! No fever, so discharge, no redness, no swelling on Wednesday. I came home from work Thursday and pulled him out of the crate to look him over and pink stuff just started running down from the incision. I know they have to clear this up before any cancer treatments for the injection site sarcoma can be administered. I really hope this clears up quickly.
In other news, this is how much Charlie appreciates his cone:
What a beautiful face! He isn't happy, but in a mellow, relaxed looking way!
I wanted to let you know that Charlie's recovery is not unusual for a cat. There is no predictable recovery for a cat because cats are cats, they all do their own thing. I haven't heard of anyone else having the same challenges I had with Mona - she would go from flopping around like a worm to escaping from the room and racing around the house. She even escaped from the house for over 24 hours a few days after her amputation! Your little Charlie was just fooling you into thinking he wouldn't touch his incision. He just couldn't resist!! Little did he know that he'd have to take another medication.
I believe healing and recovery for cancer-related amputation can be very different than an injury-amputation. With injuries, they aren't concerned with margins, chemo, radiation, trials, cancer returning, etc. Please know that Charlie's recovery is "normal" for Charlie. You'll find that there will be others here who've had some similar challenges and some very different concerns. Whether we have a cat, dog, or chicken, we all know the stress of going through an amputation.
If you (or anyone) is interested in understanding margins let me know so I can email you an article. It has a copyright so it can't be posted here.
Meanwhile, I'm sure you'll continue to see improvements in Charlie every day on his road to recovery.
Chin scratches for Charlie.
Kerren and Tripawd Kitty Mona
Hi Kerren,
I would love to get the article about margins too, so I can learn for Maceo -- whose surgery is coming up on August 31 now! Can you send it to me through my Tripawds account, or do you need an email address?
Thank you!!
Susanandjose, I tried sending the article through the tripawd messaging and it doesn't look like it worked.
For anyone who wants the article, please send me your email address through tripawd messaging.
Thanks,
Kerren
Charlie has figured out that he can FOLD HIS SOFT CONE, and that will allow him to chew and lick his incision. And, as a result, a completely different area than the one we went in for yesterday ripped open and started oozing. Charlie's vets at the hospital said they've never met a cat that folded their cones before. My son saw him holding the cone back and chewing. Charlie is also famous at the hospital for getting out of every mesh sweater they tried to put on him. So, Charlie is currently in MSU vet hospital getting the edges of the tissue in that area cut back, the area cleaned out, a culture swab, and a bandage sewed onto his skin. The area that opened was behind the stitches, and there is no way to fix it. They just have to let it heal. The culture will let us know whether the broad spectrum antibiotic he has is the best choice. We also have to go in for the next several days to have them change the bandages. This is the first time I felt angry with the cat instead of sad for him. I wish he was a little less smart. This is the same cat that will stand at a door and use his paws to try to turn the knob. He would be a danger to society if he had thumbs. This fiasco will also add several hundreds of dollars to our ever growing vet bills. I tried to tell Charlie that he has to get a job to help pay for this, but he just stared at me an purred.
oh dear! What a brilliant and clever cat! I agree, Charlie needs to get at least a part time job. Perhaps as an escape artist in Las Vegas?
CHARLIE!!!!! YOU ARE A WILD AND CRAZY CAT WITH A WHOLE LOT OF SMARTS!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 You define TOO SMART FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!!! 🙂
A d thst ohoto of you with the cone on....a cat version of KUJO!! You tried to warn yiur mpMom through thst ohoto that you were NOT happy with that cone!! 🙂
Geez,sorry you are having to go through this! We call the recovery period a roller coaster ride full of ups and downs. And Charlie certainly lives up to that description!!
Just continue to eat CHOCOLATE! That's really all you can do at this point!
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Tuxedo did the exact same thing with the soft cone collar. He constantly would flip it backwards making it like a cape over his shoulders. My vet told me it was a rather common occurrence in the more active cats. We also went through an extended healing period due to infection. For us that period was around six weeks of special sewn on bandage changes, etc. In my case, the healing of the infection ended up costing more than the actual amputation. So unfortunately I know only too well how quickly that sort of thing can add up. I hope that you got one of the old rigid plastic cone of shame type collars instead of the soft donut ring ones. Tuxedo also managed to easily escape from that type too.
Good luck to you and Charlie. Though based on how active and smart he is, I am sure he is well on the way!
- Dawna, Tuxedo, & Dazzle
Charlie.... You did so well ignoring the incision and now?
As we all know when a cut or incision heals it starts getting itchy. Although Mona didn't wear a collar when I'd see her little tongue start heading toward the incision I would clean around the incision with a damp, cool facecloth or put an ice pack wrapped in a towel on the site. She really enjoyed this and did not bother with the incision. I'd do this a few times a day. I'm not sure if it took the itchiness away but it seemed to distract her.
If you think Charlie is getting bored you might want to sit outside in the sun with him on your lap or just take him to a window so he can see what's happening. I work from home a few days a week so Mona would lounge in front of the monitors and press the buttons.
It's great that UC Davis is taking a culture so they give the correct antibiotics. There was one cat here with an incision that would not heal and, after 6 weeks and lots of money, a holistic vet found it was a yeast infection.
It's obvious Charlie is getting good care and Charlie is being Charlie. 
You will get through this...
Kerren and Tripawd Kitty Mona
Oh man... It sounds like Charlie and Tuxedo are all too similar. Charlie does have a hard plastic cone, and because he kept taking it off, even for the vets, they gave us a harness to put on him and we tie the cone to the harness. It's amazing what we have to go through just to keep this cat in a cone. They had to use a harness to keep the drain on him when we brought him home because he pulled off every mesh sweater the hospital put on him (even the ones with leg holes). They gave him another round of pain meds as well. We did notice that he was more interested in his incision once he ran out of the opioid. I thought it was because he was more lucid and not so doped up. They said the opioid could have helped with the feeling of itchiness. Not to mention the procedure they did was painful. I'm really hoping that we can get this infection under control. He will need radiation because of the type of cancer he has and this infection will keep him from getting treatment. I really hope that this doesn't take an extra 6 weeks They are going to look at him today to see how it's looking. If it's not looking better, he'll have to see his surgeons tomorrow to possibly do another procedure. I guess the fat layer under some of the dead tissue also had some infection and had to be cut away. They said that is an additional complication. The ER vets can only do so much, but they are hoping they did enough to control this. If not, Charlie's soft tissue surgeons will handle it tomorrow.
Another bummer - we were heading to southern Illinois to see the full solar eclipse. We were just going to take Charlie with us to make sure he had his meds, but now we either have to stay home or board Charlie at MSU vet hospital. I'm leaning toward the vet hospital, even though that will cost more.
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