How lucky this kitty is to have you to help during recovery!

Mona is a front leg amputee. She easily leaps up to my bed (30" high).  I put a low box and a chair beside the bed to go up and down. The only time she uses the chair/box to go down is when she has used it to go up. When she jumps straight up on to the bed she tends to get down by sliding her front leg down, pushes off and then lands first on her hind legs then her front leg. Sometimes she just runs and dives off which makes me cringe. If I'm in bed and see her getting down I assist her so she goes down slower.

She also hangs out and walks hops back and forth along a half-wall (40" high and 5" wide and 12 feet above the staircase on one side). This makes me nervous mostly when she turns around. She jumps up on the the file cabinet beside the wall and then on to the wall ledge. To get down she uses the file cabinet and sometimes the box beside the cabinet and other times direct to the floor.

Stairs are no problem up and down. She bunny hops down and runs up very fast. In summary, Mona does what she chooses but I suspect this is based on confidence. I've also done core strengthening exercises with her and daily massage which the loves.

This will be fun! Looking forward to the photos.

Kerren and Mona

Yup, Mona does the meerkat pose. She never sat this way before her amputation but it's easier to sit and and back to hit my other cat with her only front paw. Actually it was part of her rehab - to develop her core. She's sporting a six-pack now! And so is Estaban 

Hi Smore's mom,

Sounds like our experiences are very similar. So much for our well thought out placement of boxes to come down, eh?

I don't have any massage videos of Mona but used the dog massage videos on this page http://tripawds.....?s=massage to find what would work for Mona. Where they might use the palm the hand on the hips I use only 3 fingers and Mona really pushes into them. I also go slow to keep her relaxed otherwise she becomes over stimulated and starts kicking and playing.

I also learned how to walk my fingers down either side of her spine from the chiro vet. If I ever find a video I will show you. Here's a photo of her vet doing it. Note one hand under and fingers along either side of spine. Mona fell asleep at the vet's for this. With me, Mona rolls on her side but I do it anyway. I'm not sure how effective I am.

The chiro vet said it's also important to keep a good range of motion in the front leg so one good way is to have the cat reach forward - like for a feather or food bowl. In this photo I was just trying to get Mona in her meerkat pose for a photo but she just grabbed the bowl. I hold the bowl high up so she does a good stretch with her front leg. I hope you will update us with Smore photos.

Oops, I tried to edit my posting about the massage videos. I doesn't look like they are on the page I referenced and I don't know how to find them. Perhaps an Admin person could direct us to where they are?

Thanks, Kerren

Smore!! Simply amazing. I'm going to show Mona, I think she could stretch up a bit higher like you do. She's somewhat rotund...

Smore is so beautiful and looks like a happy cat. He's so lucky to have found you. I hope you have a happy, healthy, playful year.

Kerren and Mona