Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello and thanks for having me
Next wednesday my 10 year old cat lufus will have his back right leg amputated. He has developes some bad ulcers lately that won't heal.
Do anyone have experience with a ckd cats( I dont know his stage atm, he had an acute crisis last january and was hospitalized for 4 days, since then doing great)
I'm very worried about paind meds and anethesia being too hard on the kidneys, so any advice would be great.
p. s I live in Italy son pain meds coul vary from US ones 🙁
Hi Clar and Lufus, welcome. Your posts won't need to wait for approval now, so please post away.
I don't have any experience with CKD cats but I know others here have dealt with it so I hope they will chime in soon. Are the ulcers causing the amputation related to the CKD?
Meanwhile have you seen our e-book for cats, Cool Tips for Tripawd Cats ? It's all about coping with amputation recovery and care for felines. Also, check out our What to Expect series of articles for other tips.
As for pain medications, we generally have the same ones you do but they are given different names in the U.S. Your vet will be able to tell you which pain medications are best for her and won't make her CKD any worse.
Oh a couple of other articles for you:
What to Expect: Post-Amputation Pain in Cats
Tripawd Cat Pain Management Tips and Tricks
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Sorry to hear Lufus requires an amputation. My cat Mona had her leg amputated 6 years ago. After her amputation she was prescribed an opioid Buprenorphine for pain and Metacam for Felines (Meloxicam) for inflammation and pain. Both of these drugs are available in Europe and you can discuss your vet's preference. It's important to get a both a pain killer and something for inflammation. Some cats go home with Tramadol but that's more effective when paired with Gabapentin.
Now, about the kidney disease:
- Buprenorphine is not known to affect the kidneys and is used very short-term after the amputation (less than a week)
- Metacam is widely used in Canada, Australia, and Europe and its use is controversial in the US where they do not offer a Metacam formula specifically for cats. In the US the concern is that it does affect the kidneys. Yet, in other countries it's often used for short-term use and sometimes for long-term use. There have been studies coming out of Australia indicating it does not have adverse effects on kidney function even when there is existing kidney disease.
Mona got a bladder and kidney infection in June 2019 and it took a month to clear up. She went on kidney disease food at that time and I was told she had Stage 3 kidney disease. Because Mona had a lot of fur balls I changed her diet to fibre response. Her kidney function was tested in January 2020 and had improved. She was tested again in July 2020 and everything is in the normal range. The only problem was that she lost some weight since January so I'm changing her diet to fibre response kibble and kidney disease canned food.
Mona is 14 years old, has been a front-leg amputee for 6 years and we now believe she has arthritis in her lower spine and pelvic area. I asked to put her on the Metacam for the inflammation and pain and the vet agreed we'll try it by having her on the lowest dosage and administering it every 2 days. We just started and she seems more active. She'll have kidney function tests run again in 1 month.
I hope you are able to get some good advice from the vet. After a couple of weeks Lufus probably will not require further medication to control pain.
Kerren and Tripawd Kitty Mona
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