inkpot said

Did your little guys sometimes seem to slow right down? Harry is moving pretty slow a lot of the time, and sometimes I wonder if he's hurt himself.... he will take two small steps with his hind legs and then it seems like a bit of a pause before his foreleg step....but I'm assuming this is just tired new muscles. I have squeezed and tugged his forepaw to check for pain and he seems fine.   

I can only speak for Purrkins and what I have seen in him. He definitely tires easier. I also think they are still learning to realize that leg is no longer there.  Pause to figure how to do things. He will get that hop down! Just know that he will and again your heart will burst with Joy! Purrkins still tries using his missing limb. I dont know if that lasts forever?

I have noticed that he doesn't try using it as much , a lot less now then in the beginning, but still trying to use it. 

I have had two times where something has startled him and he doesn't have time to think and flopped trying to get away. Then he must get his wits about him and gets going on his 3 legs. 

Our holistic vet told me its normal ,the brain is still telling them the leg is still there. I don't know the science or anything to back that just sharing what he told me.

Hopefully other kitty members can share there experiences on that too, we are just at 3 months so I'm also interested to see what others say.

It's still very early days for Harry. You will see him develop and find new ways to move. I even noticed a year after Mona's amputation. Some of the stages I recall:

• going from flopping around to 30 km/hr racing along the hardwood floor, up the stairs to pee on the carpet in my loft area on day 2 after surgery.
• after stitches were out, slow hop/walk then a race with my other cat. They run just as fast as any other cat because the momentum propels them. The walking is harder because it is a hop.
• running backwards on a 4 inch ledge.
• about a month after surgery she was lying down in my driveway and when I drove up she tried to quickly get up and spun in circles before she ran to the porch. My massage therapist said spinning is not unusual to get the balance right. It was explained to me but I can't remember. Mona no longer spins and can get up quickly.
• she had a chiropractic treatment a month after her surgery and I was taught how to "massage" on either side of her spine. After her treatment I would see her stop walking and "adjust" her spine and see a ripple move down from neck to tail. It seemed as though she wasn't feeling quite right and she moved things back in place.
• over time she's found different ways to jump up and down. She tends not to jump up straight on but more from her side. When getting off the couch she slides her remaining front leg down the front of the couch to push off, twist and land first on her hind legs before putting her front leg down.
• Mona has had many near faceplants and tumbles. I don't see the face plants anymore. She has little roll tumbles still because if she rubs her left cheek on the floor she rolls down on to her side because there's no leg there. Maybe its planned, who knows.

You know how when about to jump up high a cat stops to look up at the height before they leap? I think you'll start to find Harry will stop to think about how he's going to proceed with the 3 remaining legs. I'm sure animal researchers would love to study this but cats are a pain to work with because they aren't particularly cooperative subjects in the lab.

It would be fun if you could document Harry's achievements time. Then we will all see how far he has come.

I love how he reaches for the door handle. The first night when Mona moved in here she explored the whole house, opened every closet door and then went to sleep on the middle of my bed. For weeks after that every time I came home, all closet doors were open. She finally quit doing that.

My rehab vet works with cats a lot. She gets on the underwater treadmill with them and I'll bet she uses balance disks too. She has a cat herself and is a proper cataholic (spellcheck tried to turn that into catholic, lol). Next time we see her, I can ask her, if you like, just a bit of info re what she recommends. 

All best,

Meg and Clare (and Elsie Pie) xxx