Hi, I am newly a tripaw mom!  

First the quick question - almost 1 week post-op and he seems very sleepy.  Even when we skip the pain meds (which are about done anyways).  Is this reasonable?

Full story if anyone is interested.

I have 3 human kids (2 grown, 1 still at home, and one 13).  I have a 14 yo dog, 13 yo littermate black cats, and an orange fluffy cat who is maybe 10.  All the cats are indoor/outdoor.  We tried to make the black boys indoors, and even declawed them, but they kept sneaking out when my husband was carrying a sleeping baby, and we gave up.  The orange cat was found as an outdoor stray by a friend and after a few weeks we let him come and go at will as well.

All cats have gone missing at times, and we are fairly sure they've gotten shut in peoples sheds - one cat we actually found in someone's crawlspace and the long-hair showed up dry after he'd been missing over a week, and there'd been torrential rains pretty much for 3 days straight.  

November, the bigger black cat (we actually call them Big - he's the biggest frame and has been as heavy as 18 lb - and Fat, who is a butterball and smaller frame).  Anyways, Big was missing overnight back in November, and missing dinner is always suspect.  He showed up for dinner the next day - but his foot was not particularly attached any more.  We went to the ER vet and ended up having 2 stages of surgery for a total of 4k!  

He was really hard to keep in the house.  He's always sprayed if not let out on demand, and being injured seemed to be no excuse.  So i bought a vest (he was too big to fit any of the cat harnesses at the store!) and we started leash walking him, which stopped the spraying.

So about a month ago, he finally got the clean bill of health.  They had fused his ankle with a plate, but it looked fully healed.

And it started getting hot, and he wanted to be out a lot.  Hubby is the cat person, and he started hanging outside with the cat, sometimes without the leash on.  Well, I did the same thing, got distracted, and the cat ran off - but was back 20 minutes later.  Hubby decided it was OK to give him some more freedom, and started letting him outside.

Only 1 week later . . he went missing.  Sunday evening hubby and kid were out doing yardwork after dinner, cat was there.  He didnt come in for bed.  Hubby was a mess, but basically mourned and decided he was gone.

9 days later . . . here comes the cat!  Bleeding . . . I could see bone.  He'd re-injured that same foot.  Turned out the toe bones had come detached from the plate.  I had posted on line and there were sightings of him 1/4 mile away and 1/8 mile away, 2 days and 1 day before he came home, so I suspect he got on a trailer or something and jumped off about 2 miles from home and walked back!!

Anyways, ER vet said the leg had to go.  And they quoted $3,500!  After the money we'd already spent, hubby couldnt face that and was a wreck all over again - but we called around and found a vet walking distance from our house that was much cheaper - and used to work at the ER vet!

So, cat returned from his walkabout 8 days ago and had surgery 6 days ago.  

Mostly he's getting around pretty well - he barely used that leg the last 6 months anyways.  Surgeon said that actually made it easier to amputate.  Hubby spent monday and tuesday working from home, and we put a large wire dog crate out on the porch so kitty could sit outside with hubby's laptop on the porch table.  

Now hubby is back to work.  Big Cat never comes down stairs as much when hubby isnt here.  I mean, I'm ok, but dh is his true love.  But even when hubby was here last night, the cat cuddle with him a bit, and went to bed.  He just seems sleepy.  Which I assume is reasonable after such a big surgery but it feels like he's sleepier yesterday and today than he was on sunday. 

any feedback welcome