Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Harry had another twitchy, meowy, bitey period today So heartbreaking. The vet says that the gabapentin takes a couple of days to kick back in, so to be patient and hope the metacam cuts his discomfort until then. I'm trying, but it's so hard. I wish i knew how much pain he was in. I assume it has to be a lot because his fricken leg was cut off :s but at least it doesn't seem constant. He's curled up under the blankets, resting, now. I hate this whole thing so much. I hope the pain killers get back in action quick. Although we've only got four more days of gabapentin. And I really hope he heals up quick, aswell, and is fine next time we reduce them, and that this isn't a sign of some sort of nerve damage he'll have to deal with forever.
Dang, I hoped Harry was past this part.
How long to the bitey periods last? Are they quick or drawn out a little? If they are quick I would guess phantom pain , if they are longer then it's probably pain from the surgery.
There may be a pup or kitty out there with permanent nerve damage from amputation but I can't think of one I've read about here.
I do believe that gaba takes a couple of days to totally kick in. Maybe you should talk with your vet on Monday about extending the gaba before you run out again. Harry may be one of those that needs the meds longer than average.
Yep, this part is hard. If only our pals would tell us what they are feeling it would be so much easier to know what to do!
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Yeah, I was thinking about asking the vet for more. His stitches are out next Saturday and I think it would be good to be covered until then...although I'm not the expert.
The one last night came on very quickly and I think it lasted until the Metacam kicked in...the one today. I dunno. He climbed into my lap and was purring while I pet him, and then the purring turned into shivering and a bit of twitching and mowling and a nip here and there...which part didn't last too long. Maybe a couple minutes. Then he curled back up and trembled/shivered off and on for a while, but let me keep petting him and by the time I was off with the vet he had started purring again and seemed relaxed - tried swatting at the end of the thread I was tying to sew up a new onesie. This all happened about an hour after his third 8-hourly gabapentin dose. He has another hour until his next Metacam, now. So I don't think it stopped in response to medicine..................but I don't know 🙁
I'm a bit more relaxed now and less catastrophizing, but it still sucks. That's comforting to know that permanent nerve damage isn't common. The vet said maybe phantom limb pain but that that is not usual in cats either. I do know that I'm hyper vigilant and a very anxious kitty parent, so it's probably not as bad in reality as I perceive it to be. I need to remind myself of that as well. I cannot wait until we're all healed up.
We're not out of Tramadol, but it's such a ordeal to give to him and the Vet said that it's the least effective of the three for this type of pain, when I spoke to her last night. Plus, he was doing great on the gabapentin and metacam, after we stopped with the Tramadol. I think we just reduced the other stuff too fast. Maybe?
purrkins said
Oh no, I'm so sorry , poor Harry dear soul, that breaks my heart!Are you out of the tramadol? Just a thought, since he was doing well before.
I second Karen, might want to call on the gabapentin on Monday so you both don't have to go thru this again.
Yeah, Gaba doesn't kick in instantly.
From reading your posts, itdoes sou d like overall Harry is doing well. Obviously he still has some pain, but it's certainly not consistently non stop. Of course, when it co es to our furbabies, any pain ks too much pain!
Give yourself a pat on the back! You really have come a long way in gaining confidence and adjusting to the ups and downs of recovery. It's still sooo very early and I know it's hard to be patient, but you are getting better and better at it!! And you already hit on it....in reality, it's basically harder on you than Harry! I love that once his painful episode passed, ne started playing and whacking that thread!
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!
Thanks 🙂 Sigh. I'm feeling pretty worn out at the moment, to be honest. Not at a high point, so far. But also not a low! I will owe many gray hairs to this ordeal. He's just had a few squaks and a nibble at me....but I don't know if that's pain or some new weirdness. Of course as soon as he starts, my heart starts racing and I start worrying like nuts. Over all he seems pretty relaxed...I took a look at that feline pain levels thing:
https://ivapm.o.....ain-level/
and, of course, the highest level looks very similar to level 1, but I do think he's responding to pets and interested in things going on around him enough to rule that out. He does a fair amount of lazy tail twitching and stretching, and he's eating and litter boxing, and doesn't seem bothered when I run my hand over the incision area...there are just those scary moments....
In other news. He gets out of all onesies now. They're too stretchy. I tried downsizing, but the smaller sizes don't fit over his belly. And he is definitely interested in the stitches. Or, I should say, he wants to have a proper bath, including his shoulder/tummy/shaved area. It's not that he's chewing at them or paying them any more attention than the rest of himself. Except that when I take his shirts off he pretty quickly realizes he can get to a spot he couldn't before. We're currently giving a button down with a non-stretchy collar a go...
![](https://i0.wp.com/harrypawter.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/img_1087.jpg?ssl=1&w=450)
That is a really, really pretty cat, reminds me of my cat Punkie who was a total sugar pie and looked just like Inkpot
I love the onesies, he looks totally great !
For sure Inkpot would love to be able to clean his ENTIRE body, once a cat always a cat!
We are following your journey and sending lots of pawsitive energy and wish your sugar pie a speedy recovery
Lots of hugs and cuddles
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
So sorry Harry, I called you Inkpot ...
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
Lol, that's ok. My username is completely random and he's a black kitty so that's understandable. He is definitely a beauty Thanks for the support.
I don't want to jinx it, but I think the meds are kicking back in. We had an event free night. Phew. He wont eat food with gabapentin in it any more so I've started syringing it with a bit of milk.
I can't believe it. We are up to day 11 post amputation! Harry is still healing away, and I need to remind myself that it's all still new because he is eager to get figuring out his new mobility. He's still pretty slow moving. Is that normal? He seems pretty confident, regardless. Just no running or skipping around. I hope he's not sad :/ He tried getting up on a window ledge yesterday and had a tumble, which was pretty upsetting (his incision side smacked right into the ledge and he sort of bounced down. At least he landed on the bed!) but he seemed fine. No visible impact on the incision or change in behaviour. He's also still sleeping a lot...but he IS a cat. And still medicated. Starting to back up the gabapentin more slowly as of today. Vet also recommended reducing the metacam from the 6kg dose to the 5 and seeing how that goes.
Yesterday and today I let him havea cautious poke around the rest of the apartment for exercise, for five-ten minutes or so. He's been wanting out of the bedroom pretty badly :/ :
Clever boy. But also, I worry that this kind of stretching might hurt the muscles of the surgery site...same with when he tries to use his missing leg and gets that shoulder working away (I've had to remind him/show him again how to use his remaining front leg to bury his business). Is that silly?
I put my box spring back under my mattress and a first set of steps in place today. I figure it's not super high, if he does jump straight down, but maybe a good idea to encourage some baby steps? He got up and down on the couch with no problem...What do you think?
Starting to look seriously at weight loss as part of his recovery, to lesson the burden of those thumps on the way down though...
Ooh, and I don't know whether I've said, but I think I cracked the stretchy onesie neck hole dilemma. I've started cutting right up to the neck hole, from the armpit of the sleeve, on an angle. Instead of just snipping off the sleeve and sewing it shut. It's much less stretchy and Harry hasn't gotten a leg out of these ones yet (fingers crossed it stays that way).
I just love this photo of Harry stretching to pull on the door handle. Smart fellow! He must be ready for an adventure and will be really happy to have those stitches out.
I think Harry will be your guide and show you his capabilities. If he does something that hurts he won't do it again but will try a different way next time.
Kerren and Tripawd Kitty Mona
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