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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I am new to such thing as a forum so please be patient if I am out of line. I chanced upon this wonderful forum when I could not sleep the night after my cat Caesar's amputation. My heart is so broken, will I ever manage to feel whole again? Perhaps if my kitty son had been old or sick, it would not have been so difficult.
He is only 1 year and 1 month old, so playful and adventurous, he and my other young cat of 8 months are real adventurours and have free roam outside. I always stated that I grant them that, as I have had cats my whole life, I am in my 50's now, and they had never been hurt or injured. And cats are wild at heart and I believe it adds quality to their lives. But on Sunday morning (on Mother's day) he came limping in with an injured front paw.
Took him to vet and after x rays it was established that the brak was of such nature, that highly intensive surgery by specialist, costing R10 000 could not guarantee saving the paw. I have a really deep and emotional tie with my cats, I now feel like a failure and blame myself. It hurts my heat really physically every time I see him. He has had his op 3 days ago. WILL IT EVER GET ANY BETTER?
I am now extra over-protective of himand my other cats, I tires me out completely and I cannot see myself keeping up at this pace.
Advice will be so much appreciated.
Out of line? Never! Thanks for joining and best wishes for Caesar. Your future forum posts wil not require moderation.
Other cat guardians will likely chime in soon. Until then, use the Advanced Search above to refine results about specific concerns, or search all blogs here and be sure to check the various Tri-kitty Blogs for lots of feedback from others.
To answer you question, Will it get better? Yes! In 99.9% of all the cases we see, cats and dogs cope with amputation much better than we silly people do. Best wishes, please keep us posted.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
caesar said
that highly intensive surgery by specialist, costing R10 000...
If Google's math is correct, that is approximately $665 USD.
Welcome to the global Tripawds Community! We have had other members in the past from South Africa. 
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Online
Sorry you find yourself here. Under the circumstances though there is no better place to be for support and information and understanding! We all understand how physically and emotionally exhausting recovery period is. YES! There is a light at the end of the tunnel!
It does.not matter.how geographic location, we are all one united family when it comes to loving our animals. Welcome to the family!
The first couple of weeks of recovery can be pretty rough. It is major surgery and it does hurt. Is Caesar on any pain meds? It takes a couple of weeks to get his mobility issues on three legs worked out, but he will!! He needs complete rest right now. Is he able to potty okay? Is he eating and drinking okay?
You clearly have a wonderful vond with your cats and they are very well cared for. You must, however, take care od you also! Try and get some rest. Caesar will do fine in a confined area while you catch up on some sleep.
We have GREAT kitty members who will chime in and give you excellent advice and encouragement. You are doing this FOR your Caesar, not TO him! It's just hard to see that right now. His sparkle will come back soon and all this will be behind you.
STAY CONNECTED! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
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!
You definitely came to the right place! I have a dog, so a little bit different, but recovery is really the hardest part of everything. The first 2 weeks or so were really the hardest time of adjustment. I would assume the Caesar is on pain medication - make sure that you are giving it to him around the clock for good coverage. Try keeping him in a crate or at least in a room for right now to try to keep him calmer and not jumping around as much. I know that's harder with an active cat! lol Sometimes the doctors don't give you enough or the right kinds of medications, so you may have to be an advocate for him. I'm sure that our cat parents will chime in here soon to help you out.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Thank you all for the wonderful encouraging response. Yes, my Caesar is on pain meds and antibiotics. That is another matter that I find quite traumatic, cats do not take very well to being given meds. My son is handling him now, however, to take the stress off of me, and as to not letting him associate the negative experience with his mommy.
He is using the sand box well, he produces a good quantity of urine and his stomach has gone without any stress and a good quality and quantity. He manages to dig a hole with his one front paw, but I help him with covering it. Even though he does wee he does not seem to want to drink water, unless he does it in secret as there is water 24/7 for him to access. He has eaten his usual food on arriving home, however, yesterday he did not want to eat, so I offered him raw fillet steak, which he enjoyed. I will be careful not to start a habit of that.
He does sleep a lot, and I allowed him to go outside yesterday with me at his side all the time. He spent about 20 minutes exploring in a very small area and then slept a good hour outside in the fresh air. I can see that he craves my love and attention and even spin at times when I touch and/or stroke him which is music to mommy's ears. I still cannot help but wonder if I did undertook the specialized and costly surgery if it would not have been better, even though my vet who is excellent and a great friend maintains that the process would have been much more prolonged trauma at no guarantee.
I cannot wait for the day I see his naughty sparkle in his eyes again!
My kitty Mona had her front leg amputated June 2014 and she is doing great! Please enjoy every single moment of nurturing Caesar during his recovery.
My vet sent Mona home with canned kitten food and she loved it. When cats eat wet food or food with a lot of moisture they don't drink much water. It's only when they eat kibble that they need water. You probably don't need to worry about Caesar drinking because he probably will when he needs to. Since he is peeing then he is getting moisture.
Expect him to sleep a lot during the first phase of recovery. They get sleepy from the pain meds and need it for healing. I loved it when Mona slept during her recovery because if she wasn't sleeping she was racing around the house (she was a bit nutty from the pain meds).
The only suggestion I have is to ensure Caesar leave the stitches/staples alone so the surgical site does not get infected. Once the staples are out everything gets easier.
Mona can easily jump up onto things such as the bed and uses chairs and boxes to get down so she doesn't hurt her one remaining front leg. I provided the boxes and she figured out how to use them.
Cats are resilient and just get on with their lives. Mona continues to be happy and loving and nothing has really change except I admire her even more. Here is a photo of her sitting up to grab her food:
Kerren and Tripawd Kitty Mona
Of course you'll see that sparkle! Just wait. Here's some posts to give you some hope:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Kerren your kitty Mona is lovely. Thank you for the encouragement. This morning (day 5) Caesar woke up jumping up quite bewildered, and bit at the place where the paw used to be, and hissed and gnarled. When I attempted to calm him, he bit at my hand. I left him for a while and figured it might be phantom pains, although I read that animals do not experience it? As it as time for his daily pain pill, I administered it, as I do, disguising it into a small piece of steak. He took it and ate a little and drank water, moved around in the house a bit, and then came to rest again on his usual spot. Have you experienced this?
Thank you, I'll let Mona know how lovely she is. She's quite funny these days because I cooked some halibut for her and she thinks that's all she should eat. She's taken to sleeping in front of the fridge hoping some halibut will happen to fall out. I hope to see a photo of Caesar when you have time.
I believe others here had experiences with phantom pain with their pets. I only witnessed once with Mona where she cried out and took a leap. Mona never makes a noise except to hiss at her brother so this cry really surprised me.
She would get very restless when it was time for her pain meds. I was to give them to her 3-4 times a day. I chose 3 times a day but in retrospect 4 times would have been better. One thing I learned here is to keep ahead of the pain.
I also put cool, damp wash cloths on Mona's surgical site. It seemed to give her comfort. She would also sleep on her surgery side on cool tile. Some folks use an ice pack wrapped in a towel to give some relief.
I remember there was another young cat named Smore who has an amputation done in 2014. You may find his story inspiring, here's his blog: http://smore.tr.....pawds.com/
Kerren and Fish-loving Mona
Kerren and Fish loving Mona...your advice for kitties is invaluable!!
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!
I know it's hard not to want to comfort our animals when they appear in distress. We forget that animals in the wild go and hide when they are in healing mode. I would allow your cat to den and be in a quiet place, uninterrupted for as long as you can until it's time to give him his medication.
Yes, animals definitely experience phantom pain , among other types. I'm guessing what you read was outdated information. Veterinary pain management has evolved so much in the last 10 years. Here's an article that discusses what your cat may be experiencing:
http://tripawds.....ts-part-1/
P.S. How badly did your cat bite you? I've been told by vet techs that a cat bite requires immediate antibiotics for the person who got bit. Don't wait OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Fortunately he didn't really bite me, he bit AT me, I pulled back in time. Yes, I see that there are times he wants to 'den' and I allow him. Since today (day 6) he starts to do his old routine again, following me to the bathroom, sitting in the kitchen while I clean and cook etc. I do have trouble administering his liquid antibiotics, he became quite wild when I gave it with the syringe and a lot spilled. Today I have offered him a little milk with egg yoak and put it in there. He drank the half of it, then seemed to taste it and left. Can I give it this way, say twice the same ones about few hours apart?
Oh glad he didn't bite bite!
Sounds like you're good at observing his behavior, that's great. I know it's SO tough to give a cat medication. I would ask your vet about splitting the dose like that, I don't have any answers there.
Here's to a good week ahead, keep us posted OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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