Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
My kitty just turned 12. She’s always acted more like 4. 2 weeks ago she started limping. Her toe was in pain and at that point we suspected a actuated toe nail. Last week we went back and got antibiotics because she was still in pain and foot felt a smidge warm. Well she’s still in pain, won’t walk on it. Is hiding. Not eating or drinking.
Today vet noticed a bump / lymph node on her leg closer up to her hip. In house biopsy is looking like cancer. Blood work and chest X-ray is clear. He’s suggesting we amputate her back leg. Would you suggest this? I’m concerned about it being a lymph node
Hi and welcome! Thanks for registering as a member. Your future posts won't need to wait for approval. What is your kitty's name? To most animals, age is just a number. If they are otherwise healthy, there's no reason why they can't be good amputation candidates (this is what veterinarians have told us through the years).
If she is in pain, she's hurting. This is one of the pain signals in cats that when visible, are signs that action needs to be taken asap. And especially because she's not eating or drinking. How are you keeping her hydrated? That is so critical for cats. Is she getting any liquids? Wet food, tuna water, anything to get hydration in her diet is super important right now. Also, is she on any pain management medication?
It sounds like you should decide soon. There is no pressure either way as to what you should decide on. We will support you no matter what. But in our honest opinion, even if the lymph node has cancer in it, if you got the leg off now, you would be giving her extra quality time with you. If she is otherwise healthy she could bounce back in a few weeks. Otherwise the only alternative would be to let her go, since she's in so much pain. Unfortunately only you can decide that since you know her best.
I hope this helps somewhat. It's a tough situation for sure. Please let us know how we can best support you OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Her name is Chubbs and she is such a sweet cat.... but acting 95% not herself right now. She hasn't eaten or drank in days. Today we she finally ate and drank a tiny bit on her own. I didn't think about tuna water! I'll have to try that. The vet did give her some fluids and we have another cat that gets Sub Q fluids so I can use that if needed on her as well. Sounds to me like amputation might be the way to go. I was just worried that if it was in her lymph node it could spread to the rest of her.
She's currently on Gabapentin... although she was off of it for a couple of days because of some dry heaving issues caused by her antibiotic. The vet also gave her a pain med injection of something else yesterday.
I just want her to be back to her happy self.... if that means amputation I'm ok with that. But this is no way for her to live right now.
I'm so glad Chubbs is eating and drinking a bit. As I understand it not drinking can be very dangerous in cats so it's good you know how to do subQ injections. Does your vet know about her pain signals ?
Sounds like your vet is managing things as best as possible right now. Has Chubbs seen an oncologist yet? They can give you the best idea about her cancer situation..
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I've spoken to two different vets at the clinic and they are aware of her issue and pain signals . She has not seen an oncologist yet as we just got the diagnosis 2 days ago. To be honest, I didn't even realize there were pet oncologists. I'll have to look further into that. Thank you!
Oh good, glad they are aware.
Let us know how we can help. If your vet can refer you to an oncologist that's ideal. If you'd like a referral PM me your location and I'll give you some names.
And until our Jerry got cancer, we didn't know about vet oncologists either. We totally understand.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
1 Guest(s)
