Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello, I’m new to this and would love to get some advice, I hope you all don’t mind :).
I found a kitten (about 8 weeks old) in my neighbor’s storm drain. When I brought her home I could see that her front right leg was injured, so, I took her to the vet the next morning. After assessing the kitten, he concluded that her whole leg, up to the shoulder, was shattered. The only way to save the kitten was to amputate the leg.
Shes had the procedure and seems to be getting around well. She gets in and out of the litter box well, she’s drinking and wanting all the attention we can give her, she just doesn’t seem interested in eating. I’ve tried dry food and wet food but the only thing she has eaten was a little bit of cheese and she has had some chicken broth (plain broth with nothing else in it).
She doesn’t seem to be in pain. She is on antibiotics, I’m not sure if that could be upsetting her little stomach.
Has anyone dealt with this or have any ideas as to how to get her to eat? I will take her back to the vet if I can’t get her to eat but I’d rather not have to bring her back and cause her more stress.
Thanks!
Hi and welcome. You are wonderful for saving this kitty! She's so very, very fortunate to cross paths with you.
So yes, the antibiotics could definitely be causing her to lose her appetite. What pain medication is she on? That can also play a role. And if by some chance she is not on pain medication, she needs to be. Serious pain can also cause cats to avoid food. Please call your vet asap and get some pain relief if she wasn't sent home with any (sadly, we see that all the time here).
As for stimulating her appetite, here are some ideas for you. Stay tuned for input from others too OK?
This is a good discussion that relates to your situation:
http://tripawds.....-and-jeff/
and here is a blog post that has tips
Help Your Tripawd Cat Recover With Home Cooked Meals
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
jerry said
Hi and welcome. You are wonderful for saving this kitty! She's so very, very fortunate to cross paths with you.So yes, the antibiotics could definitely be causing her to lose her appetite. What pain medication is she on? That can also play a role. And if by some chance she is not on pain medication, she needs to be. Serious pain can also cause cats to avoid food. Please call your vet asap and get some pain relief if she wasn't sent home with any (sadly, we see that all the time here).
As for stimulating her appetite, here are some ideas for you. Stay tuned for input from others too OK?
This is a good discussion that relates to your situation:
http://tripawds.....-and-jeff/
and here is a blog post that has tips
Help Your Tripawd Cat Recover With Home Cooked Meals
Thank you for your reply! I wasn’t expecting one so quick!
The vet did not send any pain meds home with her so I’ll call first thing in the morning to ask about that. I had my three kids with me when I picked her up so any questions I had just left my brain...
In the mean time. I’ll try some homemade meals for her. I cooked extra chicken tonight and pulled it out before I seasoned it.
I’ll keep checking in to see if there are anymore tips or experiences that will be helpful!
Hi there!
What a wonderful thing you did, an amazing kind and selfless act. Your kitten is a girl? What is her name?
At least she's drinking for now, thank goodness. Even for a little baby, pain medicine is really important. See if her doctor can give her some pain medicine.
Right now whatever you can get her to eat, go for it. If she's not wanting canned kitten food you can try boiling a ground meat, be it hamburger, ground chicken, like that. I thinkt friskies makes a canned kitten food. You can also try the Gerber baby meats. If it were me (and it's not) she's young and this is a huge trauma. Just where and how you found her was traumatic for her. If there's a pet store close, you can try getting a can of liquid KMR kitten formula. Try it in a bowl by itself or mixed with the meat. Once you've refrigerated it make sure you warm it a little before you give it to her. If you bought dry kitten Chow, you can mix the formula with the dry to wet it a little.
Don't be surprised if she gets runny poop. If that happens you can boil long grain white rice, food process it or mash it with some of the water it was boiled in and mix a little bit of it with what you have gotten her to eat. I would keep it set aside in the fridge and add as needed. Did the hospital worm her? Did she have fleas? If so don't be surprised if she sheds them in her poop.
Bless you for helping her, I look forward to keeping up with her progress. I have nursed many a kitten, if I can be of any more assistance just ask!
Jackie and Huckleberry
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
paws120 said
Hi there!What a wonderful thing you did, an amazing kind and selfless act. Your kitten is a girl? What is her name?
At least she's drinking for now, thank goodness. Even for a little baby, pain medicine is really important. See if her doctor can give her some pain medicine.
Right now whatever you can get her to eat, go for it. If she's not wanting canned kitten food you can try boiling a ground meat, be it hamburger, ground chicken, like that. I thinkt friskies makes a canned kitten food. You can also try the Gerber baby meats. If it were me (and it's not) she's young and this is a huge trauma. Just where and how you found her was traumatic for her. If there's a pet store close, you can try getting a can of liquid KMR kitten formula. Try it in a bowl by itself or mixed with the meat. Once you've refrigerated it make sure you warm it a little before you give it to her. If you bought dry kitten Chow, you can mix the formula with the dry to wet it a little.
Don't be surprised if she gets runny poop. If that happens you can boil long grain white rice, food process it or mash it with some of the water it was boiled in and mix a little bit of it with what you have gotten her to eat. I would keep it set aside in the fridge and add as needed. Did the hospital worm her? Did she have fleas? If so don't be surprised if she sheds them in her poop.
Bless you for helping her, I look forward to keeping up with her progress. I have nursed many a kitten, if I can be of any more assistance just ask!
Jackie and Huckleberry
She is a girl and her name is Butters ❤️.
I offered her some chicken but she didn’t seem interested in it. I’ll have to stick to cheese for tonight and see if our local pet store has kitten formula. I’ll keep the rice in mind in case the meds or food gives her diarrhea. I’m going to call in the morning to ask about getting her some pain meds. I’m hoping that will get her to eat something.
She didn’t have many fleas and I’m fairly certain they did not worm her at the vet. They kept me pretty informed about everything that was going on with her during her stay (I called several times to check on her).
I’ve nursed quite a few fur babies but they were mostly puppies and never one who needed an amputation so this part is new to me. This has definitely been a learning experience.
Thank you for all your advice. It was very helpful! I’ll be sure to ask if I have any more questions.
No problem 🙂 listen, not many fleas means she probably has tape worms along with rounds. I only say this because they will take from her. You may have to wait a bit but ask the doc when they would recommend worming for each. There's usually a different med for tapes. I can't wait to see pictures of Butters!
Jackie and Huckleberry ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Welcome! We currently are fostering a kitten that was found in a storm drain (no amputation, just very sick). Gerber baby meats worked really well for us once she was able to eat on her own, but I did have to syringe feed food for several weeks. I mixed a pate food, Hill's A/D because she was underweight, with water and slowly syringed some into the side of her mouth several times a day. Youtube videos were super helpful to get the right technique. If she doesn't start eating once her pain is controlled, you could try that. It's not too difficult and getting adequate calories into her it will help her heal faster.
Good luck!
Oh yes, if you can get some A/D it is a wonderful food! The vet should be able to provide you with that and a hook shaped oral syringe too. I did my blend mixed also in some instances depending on how old the little one was, or how debilitated. If you can get it to about a pancake batter consistency or a little thinner it should work well.
I hope you both did well last night and are continuing to do ok 
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Hello and Welcome to you and Butters,
Any chance kitty was given a long-lasting injection you're not aware of?
That would likely last three days, and she will still need further pain management
.
I think us the humans need to be looking at amputation surgery the same as in humans. If we took our arm or leg off with no management? We wouldn't be moving. We would be in shock! We surely would not want to eat. Once the pain is managed, she will likely eat for you. She probably will not eat her normal amount of food, and that is ok as long as she is eating. I would be calling ASAP for pain management ! Please insist! Pain being addressed and managed will make all the difference in recovery.
Wet food is best if she will eat it for you, try stronger smelling foods, for example, I got Purrkins Tuna & Salmon, Chicken & Herring all fishy foods that I do not regularly feed Purrkins. I also agree AD food is an excellent food for recovery add a little water to make it easy to syringe! If you have not syringed a cat before we have a video on how to. The Easy Way to Syringe Feed Tripawd Cats
The Vet can also show you how. You have to be careful not to aspirate them.
I always recommend baby food Meat and Gravy only. Gerber baby food is the preferred taste and texture, Turkey and Gravy, Chicken and Gravy, Ham & Gravy, it is not a balanced food, but when kitty isn't eating sometimes, they will lick the baby food. It is high in calories and can get kitty eating again. It can also be syringed.
The link Jerry gave you above on home cooked meals I have made the tuna cakes and turkey meatloaf both of our cats loved them!
Cats are masters at disguising pain! Purrkins was on buprenorphine and gabapentin after his amp.
14 days Gabapentin 100 mg capsule one capsule by mouth every 8 hours
12 days Buprenorphine 0.3 mg every 8-12 hours .Please let us know how you make out today with your vet.
Hugs
Holly & Purrkins
This article has more ideas in it, but I still believe the underlying issue is pain related.
Not Eating Well? How to Boost Your Cat's Appetite
Some of the pain medications can mess with the appetite too if you get the pain medication any of the above tips still apply and more in this article.
We hope to hear you got ahold of the Vet today.
Holly & Purrkins
Thank you y’all for the advice. Unfortunately, I will not be needing it. I did get a hold of the vet and was able to get some pain meds but she passed away before I got home with them.
I am absolutely heart broken and can’t stop thinking about what I could have done differently. Maybe if I could have gotten her the meds she needed or maybe if I could have gotten some food in her...I just don’t know. Maybe her body just went through too much...
Anyway, thanks again.
OH no we are so sorry to read this!
Please do not blame yourself you did not do anything wrong.
These things can happen for so many reasons we may never know the why's and not always meant to!
What you have to KNOW and BELEIVE you did try to save the dear soul you gave her the best shot at life you could by taking her in and taking the arm. You cared and got on here searching for answers to help her all of that speaks volumes!
The rest is out of our hands sometimes! Of course, you are heartbroken we are reading this!
Sending you a huge hug!
Holly & Purrkins❤️
I'm so sorry. This is just heartbreaking. As Holly says, PLEASE do NOT blame yourself. You did everything you could. I hope that in time you can come to see what a blessing it was that this little kitty experienced love and compassion and care in her life, thanks to YOU, thanks to what you did. Instead of dying alone and in pain in a storm drain, she knew what it was to be cared for and loved. I wish, of course, that you could have had more time together, but I know she was blessed to have had you in her life.
Sending love,
Meg, Clare and Angel Pie
Ruby, Staffy, born June 2022, became a Tripawd, November 2023, adopted January 2024.
Also Angel Tripawd Meg (aka The Megastar), who died in April 2023, aged 14, after seven glorious years on three, and Angel Staffies Elsie Pie and Bille. In the pawprints of giants...
Oh sweetie I am so sorry! Please know you did nothing wrong, and it just may have been her time. I have totally been in your shoes. I had a baby that was failing to thrive. The other kittens were just taking more and she grew weak. I took her home and did everything I could. She died on my chest and I cried my eyes out. Some things are just meant to be. You gave this little girl love and warmth. She did not die cold and wet. She could have had a ton of other things that you could never have known about, but she knew love before she crossed over. Don't ever forget that. I am crying with you, but you have a heart of gold and are an angel on earth for at least giving that little baby a chance.
Sending lots of love and hugs,
Jackie and Huck
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
This is soooo heartbreaking to hear. So very, very sorry.
I hadn't yet posted, mostly because the advice you had from our kitty experts was so rich with information and tips and far more helpfuI than anything I could offer. I did want to come on tonight and welcome you and cheer for sweet littletle Butters. And then I seet this devastating news.
I know it's so jard to stop the "what ifs" and "if only". We ALL do it. We see it with every single transition of one of our family members. And it's such a waste of energy and NOT what Butters would want for you-
Butters came home with hospital pain meds still in his system. The fact that Butters was actually getting arpund and drinking and enjoying your attention is a good indicator he was not in pain. And it's not unusual at all for cats and dogs not to eat for a few days.
There were a lot of things about Butters health and history you'll just never know that I'm sure were the underlying cause of his assi b.
What you DO know is Butters would have lingered without mercy in that drain, cold, afraid, alone jad you not come along.
What we do know is BUTTERS FELT LOVE AND COMFORT AND JOY because of you. He was able to exit his earth clothes without fear and without being scared and alone in a dark cold place. Instead he was surrounded by the warmth of your care and the light of your love. He was able to head to the Bridge surrounded by YOUR mercy, healthy and with all four legs, purring and bragging about meeting the best human who was ever born! He was pleased to have been loved by you and knew he could exit in peace.
Shhh........listen........shhhh..... think I hear Butters saying "thank you". Yes, definitely.
With love
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!
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