Hello everyone,

I'm glad to have found this group. We have a beautiful 3-year-old Siamese cat named April and the vet just told us her hind left leg needs to be amputated due to an injury. I'm concerned about what her life will be like after the surgery.

The injury occurred last week after April didn't come in one night. The next night, she finally came in, but she was limping around and not putting any weight on her injured leg. The bottom of her leg was flopping around, which really concerned me. She seemed to be in some pain and discomfort but by the time we took her to the vet yesterday, she was starting to briefly put some weight on her leg, just to catch her balance, and was acting like it didn't really bother her anymore, although she still couldn't walk on it. The vet did an X-ray and told me she had totally dislocated her foot and the ligaments were so destroyed that there was nothing they could do. She consulted with another vet and they both agreed that a cast would be unlikely to resolve the problem, so they're recommending amputation.

We have no idea how she hurt herself, but the vet speculated she might have gotten her leg caught in something since there was no outward sign of trauma. She used to like to walk along the top of our fence and I wonder if she might have tripped and dislocated her leg as she was falling down.

Fortunately, we found a low-cost veterinary surgery clinic nearby that will do the surgery for a third the regular cost, but it's still a big expense so we need to figure out how we're going to pay for it. In the meantime, the vet thought April must be losing feeling in the leg because she didn't seem bothered at all by the vet touching it, so at least she doesn't seem to be in pain anymore.

We have another cat that is indoor-only and that was originally what we wanted April to be, but we found her as a stray kitten and she insisted on going outside as much as possible. Ever since her injury we've been keeping her inside and she spends a lot of time meowing to go out. The vet said to keep her in until the surgery but she thinks April will adjust well to 3 legs and can even go back outside eventually. We're thinking we'll try to make her indoor-only since there are a lot of other cats and dogs in the neighborhood, although the vet thinks she'll still be able to defend herself okay. I'm also concerned that a 3-legged Siamese cat could attract unwanted attention from a bully or something. But being outside was such a big part of her life before her injury and I'm worried she'll be depressed being confined to the house. Is it better to let her back outside eventually if she's happier that way?

What can I expect her quality of life to be like after the surgery? My only consolation is that since she hasn't been using her injured leg for several days now, it might not be as much of an adjustment to have the leg taken off. Still, she occasionally uses it for balance. How long is it likely to take her to completely adjust to the amputation? Will she still be able to jump up on chairs, window ledges, beds, etc. easily?

Thanks for any advice!