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.
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Hi!
I took my 4 year old cat to the vet about a month ago for some minor limping I noticed on his left hind leg. The vet did some x-rays and they all came back completely normal, so it was assumed he had strained a muscle. I was sent home with some Onsior to give him for three days. The limping continued even after the medication, so I assumed it was a bad strain. He eats, drinks, and plays like nothing is wrong, he just doesn't use his leg and doesn't jump up on top of tall things anymore.
But his limping only got worse. I took him in about two weeks after the first visit and they re-did the x-rays. They found "aggressive bone lesions" on his femur by his knee. He was given more Onsior to take and 100mg of Gabapentin twice a day. They did bloodwork to rule out a fungal infection of his bone, which came back negative. Now, bone marrow cancer is being discussed. They want to do a biopsy to determine if it is cancer.
The biopsy of his bone is estimated to be about $2k to $3k for the biopsy alone, but amputation and biopsy of the amputated leg is estimated to be around $1.5k to $2.5k for the entire process. I chose to amputate, but I am having second thoughts. I'm having a hard time feeling confident in the choice to amputate since I don't know what comes after the amputation if the biopsy comes back positive. I also don't know if he should be scanned for other lesions/tumors in his body before amputation just in case.
Sorry for such a long explanation! To sum up, I don't know what the normal treatment process would look like in this case, and I'm having a hard time feeling confident in choosing amputation since I'm missing details in my cat's care. Any help/advice would be so appreciated!
Your post has been approved. You have come to the right place for support and inforrmation.
Our volunteer Vet will see your post and replay accordingly.
In the meantime here are a couple of links to check out as far as what to expect after amputation and recovery..
Three Legged Cats
After you get some answers from Dr Pam (our volunteer Vet), then you can hop over to the Tripawd Cats forum and start your own thread . Members can offer more support as you navigate through recovery and we can answer questions specific to your situation.
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
No matter what type of lesion this is it sounds like it is aggressive so amputation is really the only way to remove the pain. Even in fungal infections if the lesion is aggressive then the leg probably needs to come off then you can do the biopsy afterwards to see if there is any other treatment needed.
Any draining lesions or swellings? If so then I would have your vet do a culture for Nocardia but this is usually affects the skin before the bone.
Pam
Thankfully he has no external lesions or swelling! He's perfectly fine other than his leg pain and a limp. When the vet showed me his second set of x-rays, the lesions were internal on the bone of his back left femur by his knee.
I am worried about the possibility of other tumors/lesions in his body. He still plays, eats, and drinks just fine, and he does get up and move around throughout the day (with 100mg gabapentin twice a day). He only really sleeps more than he usually does. Would it be recommended to amputate the leg and then worry about a possible cancer diagnosis later with the biopsy? I am unsure about putting him through such a major surgery if his life expectancy is only a month or so with how aggressive the lesions/tumors are.
Sorry for the delay; yes I would amputate first then send out the entire limb for biopsy.
Pam
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