mommatux said
Hi there and welcome.  

My cat Tuxedo had his rear leg and partial pelvis amputated over 4 years back.  Sorry about what maybe a late response but I am not on here often as he is doing his normal happy adorable/annoying cat things these days.  So if you wish to contact me, it is best to leave me a private message through the site.  I did want to chime in here.  Following Tuxedo's surgery he was never on gabapentin and other than a few isolated incidents, never seemed to show having any phantom limb pain like you described.  However, after stitches and all bandages were finally removed, he became a grooming fiend.  He would at times lick away his fur, leaving bald patches. That has continued until earlier this year, when his vet prescribed gabapentin for him.  The vets rationale was that it was possible that Tuxedo had been experiencing isolated phantom limb pain episodes all this time.  Well I do not know if that is right, but I do know that after a couple weeks on gabapentin, no more over grooming.  At his last checkup, I inquired about taking him off of the medication and the vet was hesitant to do so.  She said that if it is working and at a low dose, Tuxedo would likely be better on it that risk the episodes coming back.

Anyway, in my long winded manner, I am saying, if the gabapentin is working, I would not be in any rush to discontinue it.  Because it seems that some cats may experience phantom limb pain far longer than it might be anticipated, though perhaps on a lower level.  Obviously I am not a vet, but wanted to pass along some information I got from my vet as well as personal experience.

Hugs and best wishes

Dawna, Tuxedo, Lilly, and Angel Dazzle

  

Hi everyone - This is my first time posting but I did read the tripod book for cats prior to Monster's surgery, and it helped prepare me so much that I can't express my gratitude for you all. Monster is 16 and had rapid growing soft tissue sarcomas that took over his right back leg in a matter of months. He was a young 16 so we amputated a few months ago (Summer 2021) and he has done really well. He has had some constipation since surgery that I have taken care of with Miralax. I'm not sure if the amputation caused his internal bits to change positioning a bit. And not sure if others have had this experience? He is an IBD cat so food options are very limited. And coming out of surgery, he was slow to pee, very slow to poop, and even got syringe fed. But it seems like all of those memories disappear once you are past them.

A few weeks in, he got stressed, and completely forgot how to walk and started having a lot of phantom movement of his muscles on the right side. I gave one dose of gabapentin from his post surgery meds and he woke up normal.

Fast forward another month, he started having a little constipation so Miralax was reintroduced and then I replaced my HVAC and he got stressed again. This time the inability to walk and yowling lasted a little over 24 hours. He got another dose of gabapentin and no longer cared that he couldn't remember how to walk and still managed to use the litterbox and eat. He seemed unable to sleep that day, kept jerking awake. After he fell asleep and got a few hours of good sleep, he woke up able to walk again and normal. A week later, he's eating his regrowth of hair right over his hip joint. And he's never been an over-groomer.

As his name might indicate, Monster does not like the vet and most vets have rejected him over the years. His surgeon and the staff at Blue Pearl in Louisville have been great with him though. I have a little concern about him going on gabapentin long-term because he hates meds and it is messy giving him a liquid, but it does seem to work to shut off that phantom pain receptor in the brain. He's old and I'm always aware that kidney issues in old cats can pop up at any point. Any advice is appreciated.

thank you!

Kirsten and Monster 🙂