If your amputee cat walks backwards after surgery and looks distressed while doing it, try not to panic. We’ve seen this happen with a few Tripawd cat members. Take a deep breath and read on. Here’s what you need to know to discuss this amputation side-effect with your veterinarian.
Is Your Amputee Cat Walking Backwards During Surgery Recovery?
Tripawd cats and dogs have similar recoveries. Most will get their sparkle back in about two weeks. But occasionally, a new Tripawds member will join us to ask why their amputee cat suddenly started walking backwards during recovery.
“ My concern is that just days after surgery Darwin would have these episodes of walking backwards. He’d lift his stump in the air, sometimes cry out and seemed disoriented for a moment or two. Then he’d recover and all was well. These episodes increased for a time then almost went away completely.” – Cat Post-Amputation Strange Behavior
The backwards walk is an unusual amputation side-effect that sets Tripawd cats apart from dogs. Suddenly from out of nowhere, a new Tripawd cat will literally start walking or scooching backwards. They often flop and squirm on the floor and appear distressed. This is what it looks like:
For some reason, we have only seen this amputation recovery problem happen with rear-leg amputee cats, and never with dogs. This behavior looks scary and can come on suddenly, but usually it starts right after coming home from surgery.
“I’m so thankful to have found this thread. I’m feeling so stressed and scared for my cat Marcel. I really hope some of you like Tracie121 are still here to offer advice.
My Marcel is having these same episodes! His can be very violent. He had a rear amputation 6 weeks ago. About 3 weeks ago after a second surgery to remove infection he started this backwards jolting, walking. He actually flips up, falls all over the place and looks like he could break his neck sometimes. The vets have nothing to offer me! Nothing! I’m so frustrated and feel so alone.” – Cat Displaying Strange Behavior After Amputation
What Causes Tripawd Cats to Walk Like This?
We wish we knew! Unfortunately, even vets are at a loss about what causes backward walking in amputee cats. Members have reported that their vet believed that the cat’s hind muscles are having spasms, but no clear causes have been pinpointed.
If this is happening to your new Tripawd, ask your vet to prescribe the nerve-calming drug Gabapentin to see if it helps. Usually it does, but you’ll need to take a ‘wait and see’ approach. All cats are different.
My kitty did the same and it does pass. It was like a panic attack for her and very scary for me. She’d flip and couldn’t seem to catch her balance. Be supportive and gentle words. Before you know it she will be back to herself. — Nylarose
Most Tripawds members report that their cat stops walking backwards after a week or two, but sometimes longer.
The waiting is hard, but do your best to keep calm. Remember, other cats and their humans have experienced the backward walking phenomena too.
No more backwards walking! It lasted for three months. We understood this to be severe nerve pain that requires time to heal. Every cat is different and some get severe nerve pain causing this odd walking backwards behavior. When I reached out to several other fur parents at that time to find out how long this might last one had said her cat had this backwards walking for three months and the other six. This at least gave us, first of all, hope and some point of reference how long it might last. Before we knew this, we didn’t know if it was going to last forever or there was hope there was a point it would go away. Reaching out to these two people was the greatest thing we could have done. During the three months, we gave her Gabapentin and as the episodes became less frequent we began reducing her dose and then completely got her off it.
Most of all, Harley got lots of LOVE, HUGS and KISSES
! — @Rosalie
Need More Tripawd Cat Recovery Help?
If you are not seeing progress and your vet doesn’t know what to do, get a second opinion from a good veterinary pain management expert.
The International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management Directory is a good place to locate a pain management expert. The website is clunky, but you should be able to locate a vet who can help.
We also recommend working with a Cat Friendly Practice®. These vets take a special interest in cats, and know to reduce vet visit stress for them, their caregivers and their veterinary team. To learn more about these special vets, download this brochure, “What to look for in a cat-friendly practice”
You can also look for an animal rehabilitation therapist to help assess your cat for the underlying issue. The Tripawds Foundation may even pay for your first rehab visit!
If your Tripawd cat had a similar experience, please tell us more in the comments below. Your story may bring peace of mind to a new member who is worried for their new kitty.
It was hard to watch but we started to realize certain things triggered them. A big stretch would almost always trigger it as he finished stretching. And anytime it would begin, we would repeat in a calm voice until it ended, “It’s ok, you’re ok, it’s, you’re ok” and then reassure and love on him after. We kept him in a bathroom most of the time so there was really nothing he could injury himself on during and episode. Today, he’s a totally different cat, no episodes, he runs, climbs to the top of a 6 foot cat tree, etc. — Lego’s Momma, Bryanna
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I am so glad that I have come across this web page. My 3yr old tabby girl somehow sustained a complex fracture in her rear left leg, on the 30th December. At the time, I had hoped it was just a strain, until x-rays revealed the damage a couple of days later. Unfortunately due to the time of year & the shortage of available surgeons that could manage the complexity of her fracture (plus the huge expense) we made the heart wrenching decision, along with our vet, to amputate a week later. Our girl Flopsy has made an amazingly quick recovery & is far too confident in thinking that she can do all the things she got up to on four legs – she can’t wait to go outdoors on her own again, but we plan to wait a little longer for that step! As I said, all is going so well just over 4 months post surgery. However, there have been at least three episodes of her randomly going into a panic, rapidly bouncing around the room backwards with her stump side elevated, sometimes crashing into objects & other times losing her balance & flipping to the floor – it does not last more than a minute, but it’s quite distressing for her & for me! I have found the picking her up & cradling her carefully, & reassuringly stroking & gently scratching her checks & ears, helps to distract her from what feels like muscle spasms in her wound site. So, I think what she is possibly still experiencing is random nerve pain &/or muscle spasms. After reading the information on here, I think I’ll make a request to our vet for some more Gabapentin & see is that does help for another month of healing or so.
Thank you all for sharing!
Welcome and best wishes for your girl! You’ll get much more support from cat members by posting in the three legged cat forum. Find many more tri-kitty tips here.
You are so welcome KiwiK! I hope you and your kitty has better healing and pain-free days ahead. Join us in our Discussion Forums and let us know how things are going!
My cat had his right hind leg amputated 44 days ago. If your cat is doing the weird backwards walking, try lifting their chin up. It makes the stump go down and helps my cat right himself immediately.
My best tip is never freak out, as advised above. Just be calm. Your cat can walk and you need to watch the stump and tail to figure out how to help them. My cat is missing his back right leg, so the stump flails upwards towards the right and the tail sometimes overcompensates too much to the left. Touching the stump and tail was not helpful for us in regaining balance during these little episodes. Guiding back into a straight walk with a bowl of food also helped us. This only happens a few times a day now for a few steps, 1.5 months post amputation.
Our sweet 3 1/2 year old kitty, Gray, recently had her rear leg amputated due to an Injection Site Sarcoma. 10-days post surgery, we were getting ready to take her to have her sutures removed and we noticed that she started walking backyards and vocalizing. We mentioned it to her surgeon and he had never heard of this issue. As soon as we brought her home, we noticed that the backward movement, falling along with hissing and growling at the removed leg continued and became a lot more frequent and aggressive. After a week of researching, I found this website and shared with her surgeon. She is now on Buprenorphine for 7 days. It does not seem to be helping with the issue. This is so very scary for us and for her.
Ann Marie, please ask your vet for Gabapentin, which is a nerve pain reducer. Also, please join us in our three-legged cats discussion forum topic so we can help you better. Many vets don’t see this because they just don’t do that many amputations. Unfortunately it’s quite common among amputee cats, as you’ll see in the latest example posted in our Forums.
I’ve been worried sick about my tripawd cat and his episodes of flip flopping around (even a backflip off the wall) as if his stump was causing it all. The vet said it was probably him just being “goofy” but it really seems to wear him out because he will just lay down and not bother to get up afterwards sometimes. Hard to believe he would just be “goofy” and fall off my bed when it happens. I’m so glad to see this thread as he is the only cat the rescue only vet has seen this happen to.
SJ, we are sorry this is happening. Sounds like your cat has some unaddressed pain. Please hop over to our Three Legged Cat Forums so we can help you better.
Hello,
My 9yr old cat has her back left amputated on 12/21/22 due to FISS (she got clean margins though, yay!!), and just a few days ago I saw that it seemed her stump and other back leg were spasming/convulsing randomly for a moment then she’d be ok. Its still happening, though not every time she tries to move around), but now I’ve noticed swelling above the incision line. It’s not hot to touch or hard (but not super soft either). I sent her vet a video of the spasming and he said he thinks she has muscle strain causing the spasms and to keep an eye on the swelling.
I know she had gotten up on the kitchen table earlier this week and jumped down onto the hard floor (about 3ft). I wasn’t there but heard the thud of her landing and when I rushed in, it did look like she landed hard.
I’m wondering if maybe that fall has caused the swelling and could maybe explain the spasms..? did anyone’s baby get too frisky too soon after surgery and experience anything like this? I’m kinda freaking out.
That might have been the cause of the swelling, hard to say. But it makes sense if she took a fall like that. It’s good you got in touch with your vet. I encourage you to post in our Discussion Forums so you can get feedback from the greater community.
Our Sam had his back left leg amputated on 29 November 2022 and has recuperated very well.
About 2 weeks ago, he started walking backwards – sometimes through my legs, when I’ve been feeding him, then a does a turn and backs through my legs again.
He’s done this on his own about twice. They’ve lasted for about a minute.
Since his operation and strongly suggested by his Vet, we’ve kept in indoors until we felt his balance and jumping etc was good. I was going to wait another week but he seemed to have a stronger backwards walk. (I’ve been worried about this since it started)
I then thought that maybe he’s really upset that he can’t go outside, so I let him out today and he seems very happy indeed. He was in and out his Catflap all afternoon and even had a friend over! a beautiful ginger Persian who’s been visiting him most nights and they sit and look at each other through the glass door!
Please may I have your opinion.
Thank you.
Hi Lyn! Sounds like you might have solved his backward walking condition. Let us know in the Tripawd Cat Discussion Forums if it worked!
So pleased to have found this thread!
Our cat Monkey (5.5years) was hit by a car 3weeks ago and had to have his rear left leg amputated. He seemed to recover really well and had his stitches out 10days post op. We were told to let him get on as usually so let him out. He had a bit of a snoop around the garden then down the drive, into a ditch and disappeared down a storm water tunnel for 5.5hours. Needless to say I was quite hysterical! Thankfully he came out and was unharmed and oblivious to my concerns. Two days later, he randomly stared hissing, yowling and running backwards until he hit something and fell over. That first day he did 6times, all very scary. Like others on here I talked calmly to him and stroked him to calm him down. The next day he had 4 episodes. On day three we called the vet and she suggested it may be phantom limb issues and prescribed Gabapentin (pill = 25mg twice a day) and said it was a low dosage and could take three of little effect. Today is day four, he had a pill this morning and then two episodes, not as bad as before, gave him another pill at lunch and he settled down to rest.
Before and after episodes he’s totally normal, walking jumping up on low rise things like seats. We haven’t noticed any triggers. Our big worry is they never stop as it’s so distressing to see him like this.
Question to the community on here is:
1.did your cat recover and if so how long did it take.
2.what is the dosage they were on?
I hope our story has a silver lining and we have some positive news in the weeks/months to come.
Hi Chloe, welcome. Sorry you guys have been through quite the ordeal! Ugh! Please post your questions in our Three Legged Cats Discussion Forum topic so the community can chime in OK? It sounds like your vet is good with pain management, but if you aren’t seeing the painful episodes go away, let them know and ask for a referral to a physiotherapist. Tripawds Foundation even pays for the first visit.
Thanks Jerry will do. Unfortunately we are in the UK but will ha e a look into physio.
Chloe’s people, we will reimburse people in the UK too as long as they go to a “CCRT” or “CCRP” physiotherapist 🙂 Keep us posted.
Hi, my bengal had a vaccine induced sarcoma and ultimately had to have his rear leg amputated in January 2021. He seemed to be adjusting well and then about a month after, he started circling backward (usually with his stump in the air). He completely loses balance and falls. He’s constantly bumping into things. His vet suggested he see a neurologist to rule out anything with his brain which we have. She put him on steroids to reduce any possible inflammation which did nothing for him. As I started to wean him off the prednisone, I started him on Gabapentin. She started to think maybe it was phantom limb pain. The only time he has been free of this behavior was while I was weaving him off the steroid simultaneously adding the Gabapentin. Once I stopped the prednisone entirely, he was right back to where he started. The vet is puzzled by this saying the 2 medications should not work like that. Ive increased the Gabapentin and started the prednisone again but he is now on that once every other day. He actually seems worse now. He is 10 months post op and still cannot maintain his balance. Anyone who has experienced this, please help. It’s heartbreaking.
Hi Kellie, thanks for posting. Please consider asking the community in our Discussion Forums where you will get MUCH more help from folks. Our biggest recommendation in a situation like this is to get another opinion from a veterinary rehabilitation therapist. These experts are masters at diagnosing pain and treating it, and the best part is the Tripawds Foundation can pay for your first rehab visit. Hope to see you in the Forums.
I just want to say thank you for this site. My cat got feline injection site sarcoma at just 4 years old and I had to get her leg amputated. It was very devastating for me, especially with the potential of recurrence. I’m happy to say that she had clean margins and should be cancer free for good! But it’s hard to watch her struggle to adjust. She started walking backwards and whining about 2 weeks after surgery and I’ve been so worried it will be a chronic issue. This site gives me hope and has helped me to navigate caring for her the best I can. Thank you to everyone who posts in the forum and to the people that created this site!
Thanks for the comment and best wishes for your cat! Find many more helpful tri-kitty tips here.
I adopted my tripawd at 12 weeks old and was told by the rescue that he was most likely born with his 3 legged condition. He is now about 6 months old and has started doing the backwards walk/wobble. It looks very similar to the video posted. I guess I’m just curious if anyone else has had a kitty BORN with 3 legs as opposed to amputated that display this behavior?
Hi Corina, welcome. Please consider posting in our Three Legged Cats Forum so you can get more feedback. If the rescue isn’t sure about how he lost his leg, anything is possible as far as how it will affect him now. Regardless he still sounds like he has some pain going on that needs to be addressed. For many young amputees who are just learning motor skills and coordination, the body takes a real beating as they figure things out. Please let your vet know as soon as possible so you can help him feel better.
I adopted a young (6-9 month-old?) cat about 5 weeks post surgery for hind leg amputation due to trauma (cause of trauma unknown-she was a stray). The foster family said she had some “episodes” but they gave her Gabapentin “about half the dose the vet prescribed, and only when she needs it”. When I picked her up, they said she hadn’t had any episodes for a couple days.
Got her home, and she started to have multiple episodes of scooting backwards, crying, thrashing and flipping/rolling around. It was scary and heartbreaking to watch. My previous cat had had a seizure towards the end of his life, about six months before I adopted the new kitty, so it was extra tough to watch because it reminded me of watching him and being unable to do anything. She didn’t have the wide open, strained jaw or hugely dilated pupils (although her eyes did dilate some during an episode) or loss of bladder control like my kitty who had the seizure.
I worked with the adoption agency vet to get more Gabapentin and figure out dosage, and also took her in for daytime observation (nothing happened while she was there, of course!) because these episodes were happening several times per day and had been going on for a couple weeks, even after doing the Gabapentin. The vet just kept saying, “I’m not sure why it’s still happening. I think it’s phantom limb. She should be recovered from the surgery by 6-8 weeks.” We thought there might be brain damage from whatever caused the injury to her leg, or maybe it was psychosomatic by that point.
It was stressful for us humans and for her, just like everyone else has said. I would talk in a calm voice, sometimes offer a treat to try and distract her, and make sure she didn’t bump into anything. Once I discovered she would eat her wet food with the Gabapentin in the food, it was much easier to get her dosage in her instead of struggling to do liquid medicine orally. She still wasn’t trusting and didn’t want to be wrangled into position to take medicine.
Eventually, I think the Gabapentin helped her relax enough that the episodes decreased. I veeery slowly decreased her Gabapentin over the course of about two months. Altogether, she was on meds for about 4 months.
I did search the internet for similar instances, and didn’t find much. I’m not sure how I missed this page. It would have been really helpful at the time.
She doesn’t have the episodes like I described above anymore, but she still will move very stiffly after getting up from a longer nap, and she doesn’t like to be held or have the amputation site touched.
I’m grateful she got through those times, and for anyone else who is going through this, my heart goes out to you. If the vet says, “This shouldn’t be happening so long after surgery” get a second opinion.
Natalie, THANK YOU for sharing your cat’s story. We are thrilled that she is better now, you are pawesome for not giving up! Yes, her story will indeed help others. Please consider contacting us with some photos and we will be glad to spotlight her in our Tripawds News blog.
Hello all – I took my cat to the vets as stated in my pervious post re appointment made from reading others experiences and videos that matched my Jimmy behaviour of walking backwards and going backwards up the walls crying. The vet prescribed Gabapentin x2 a day to which I’ve now got down to x1 a day but noticed he’s started to show the abnormal behaviour again. I will talk to the vet about increasing it again, but my question is, his back left leg was removed early December 2020 now going into April 2021, is this normal for him to still be walking backwards and without taking the Gabapentin x2 a day ? I’ve read nerve healing can take up to x3 months but I’m almost into x4 since his operation and getting worried he maybe on meds for Life. Feeling sad I’ve had to put my boy through all of this. I know cancer of leg unavoidable but sad none the less to watch him in pain
Max, please get Jimmy to a pain management specialist for a second opinion. There so much more than Gabapentin that you can use to help him. A specialist can get him on the road to recovery faster. Please keep us posted in the Tripawds Discussion Forums.
Thank you so much for your own experiences and advice. My cat started to walk backwards and flip after a back leg removal December 2020. Feel so help less when it happens. I’ve booked an appointment with the vet and have a video of the events but less panicked now read others experiences. THANK YOU
You are so welcome Max. Good luck and feel free to keep us posted in our Three Legged Cats Forum Topic!
I have a 8 months cat that was amputated at 5 months old. Recently he started randomly walking backwards. I don’t know if this is normal..
Hi Renata. He could have residual phantom pain from the amputation. Let your vet know as soon as possible so this can be addressed and keep us posted in the Tripawds Cat Discussion Forums OK?
My cat just had back leg amputation 3 days ago, and this started happening today. I really hope it will go away soon. Anyone else had this? How long did it last? any tips?
Yes! Please visit the forum topics linked to above for much more feedback and better help from tri-kitty members!
Cat Post-Amputation Strange Behavior
Cat Displaying Strange Behavior After Amputation