Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Update: Ziggy's surgery went wonderfully! The vet got the femur out just fine. She said there was some infected tissue under it that they cleaned up but everything looked great when they closed things up. She said this time she put plenty of sutures under the skin to hold things together since he had issues with that last time, and both sutures and staples on the surface just in case.

And it's a good thing, because overnight he already escaped his cone. 🤦 It didn't look like he went after the staples at all, I think he just has some moral obligation to remove any cone put on him. To keep him away from it, one of the techs got what I'm assuming must be a leg sleeve for a large dog or something and fashioned a shirt for him that covers his whole body including the incision. 

Isn't it stylish?

He's eating some, probably not as much because of the drugs again. We had to go out of town for a few days so they're keeping him in the boarding area now that he's out of the ICU. Looks like all is well for the moment... and at least keeping him away from his incision is their problem until Friday! LOL

LMAO... Ziggy pretty much always has that wide, vacant-eyed look on his face. He is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known but he is, uh... perhaps not the brightest. Turns out that the shirt was actually the one from last surgery, they just wanted to post a cute picture of him on Instagram. I was surprised and totally amused to see a picture of my own cat that I hadn't seen before when I was scrolling along. One of those "wow, that cat REALLY looks like Ziggy... and hey he's named Ziggy and that's our vet, that explains it" moments! Haha.

The tech was saying that he's one of their favorite patients ever. They've ALL been telling me how much they love him, but "his" tech has a nickname for him (it was either Ziggabot or Ziggabod, it was hard to tell which since she was sweet-talking him as she was walking away) and she finally explained why they all keep saying it. Apparently most cats who're in as many times as he's been in such a short amount of time start taking their frustrations out on the vets and especially the techs. Hissing, clawing, biting or generally making themselves very clear about how unhappy they are.

Apparently Ziggy's main trick is just to burrow under whatever bedding they put in there for him and hide, but when they coax him out all he does is purr and want love from whoever it is. Doesn't matter if they've just given him medicine or a shot, he just wants love and attention once he realizes he can get it from someone.

Also she did say that giving him cosequin now can't do anything to hurt him - I can't remember if I got that advice here or on Reddit. She said usually she recommends it as a supplement for cats about 5 years old and up, but being proactive and starting Ziggy on it now wouldn't hurt anything at all and might do something to keep his joints healthier longer than if we started it later in his life, so we're probably going to do that. 🙂 

Fingers crossed! Earlier I got sent a picture with a pirate hat added on... I'm definitely posting that one to my Instagram later on when I'm more awake. LOL

The vet's office is @ashford_620 (they're part of the VCA group of vet clinics) and they're also on Facebook @VCAAshfordAnimalHospital and they posted another shirt picture there. If anyone is ever looking for recommendations for a vet in Houston I would have no reservations about recommending them. I don't care if we end up moving somewhere across town in the future, we intend to bring our cats to them as long as those vets are working there. Dr. Betsy Garza is our primary vet, but over the course of things with Ziggy and with our angel cat Alex, we've either seen or spoken to all three of the other vets there and they're honestly all wonderful. 

And as I was writing this I got another text message from Ziggy's tech - apparently he was having snuggle time earlier and was startled by the picture. LOL

Ziggy's pirate hat

and

surprised during snuggle time!