Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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We certainly understand your fears and can relate so well to all the worries swirling around in your head. We get it!
So your main concern would be why the weight loss, blood work not up to par and why the infection (for which he's taken antibiotics), and, of course, handling the surgery/anesthesia, etc. Hopefully the "age" is less of a concern to you now that you've seen cats far older do just fine on three.
Have you been able to get anymore clarity on those items? Was the blood work up due to his weight loss? Is that how an "infection" was determined? Where do things stand now in that regard? Were there any food changes that may have caused the weight loss?
Just thinking if you can get current answers to those issues maybe that would help ease your mind.
Maybe sharing the thought processes of some of us leading to our decision to amputate will help. One thing we wll did here on this journey was to "accept" that ANY surgery (human included) has a risk. We did all the pre op work up, we discussed everything with the Vets and Surgeons. Even with the most thorough diagnostics ahead of time, on rare ocassions there can always be some underlying health issue that just could not be detected with tests. But we proceeded knowing the best possible and most up to date medical care would be given prior and during surgery . We covered all our bases as best we could with the knowledge we had and our medical team had at the time. We also knew our pets and knew in every case here they would wants this chance
The one thing that stood out with all of us is that we were willing to take that small risk in order to give our pets a chance at extended pain free. We knew thar, even if things didn't work out as we had hoped, we had to TRY. To forever doubt our decision if we didn't TRY would jave kept us second guessing forever.
So all this is in the FWIW column. To proceed or not is your personal decision and the path forward has to be one that you are at peace with. Any decision you make will always be one out of love for Truls and that will always be the "right" decision.
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!
Hi Veronica and Truls,
Tuxedo's surgery was an emergency one done at a 24 hour animal emergency center. I was faced with an immediate decision to try amputation and hope for minimal spinal cord impact or euthanasia. No pre lab works ups, etc. For him it was an all or nothing gamble. I was in shock and had no clue what to ask, what to do. I did not even find this site until almost 2 months after his surgery. So I was completely winging it.
Tux spent the night at the clinic before coming home. As he is not well behaved at any vet, I am sure they were glad to see him go. Literally the first thing he did once I put him down on the floor after coming home was run out the screen door which had not yet fully closed. Luckily for me he had a cone on and could not get through the porch railing bars. But he certainly tried. That moment was when I knew everything was going to be ok.
He hated his meds and fought me to avoid taking them. All were in liquid form and he likely wore more of them than injested. He did not want to eat. I tried so many different cat foods and treats. Finally found Delectables which he gobbled down like he was starving. Tuxedo is a 15 pound cat. He definitely was NOT starving. In general he had no issues eating, drinking, or eliminating after the surgery.
After the first escape attempt, he mostly slept in my bedroom closet. Everytime I checked on him he was coneless. Since he never bothered much with his incision when I was there, I let him have his way (until after finding out about the infection) Around day 3 he got under my bed and refused to come out no matter how I tried to tempt him. Later he did crawl back out. While under there he shredded a pillow which had tiny foam beads and was coated with them. He looked like some wild snow creature. But otherwise seemed to be ok. In general, he never showed any outward signs of pain. Moved around fine (and very very FAST), just spent far more time resting.
As to what I wish I had done differently, definitely blocked off under bed, managed to keep his cone on better. Also it would have helped had I known about this site, not just to prepare myself for what to expect, but also to potentially assist with the vet bills. The timeframe to apply for financial assistance had already passed before I registered here. I worried a lot needlessly that first night of not only would he live but would it be a good quality of life.
I hope all goes well for you and Truls.
-Dawna, Tuxedo, Lilly, & Angel Dazzle
benny55 said
We certainly understand your fears and can relate so well to all the worries swirling around in your head. We get it!So your main concern would be why the weight loss, blood work not up to par and why the infection (for which he's taken antibiotics), and, of course, handling the surgery/anesthesia, etc. Hopefully the "age" is less of a concern to you now that you've seen cats far older do just fine on three.
Have you been able to get anymore clarity on those items? Was the blood work up due to his weight loss? Is that how an "infection" was determined? Where do things stand now in that regard? Were there any food changes that may have caused the weight loss?
Just thinking if you can get current answers to those issues maybe that would help ease your mind.
Maybe sharing the thought processes of some of us leading to our decision to amputate will help. One thing we wll did here on this journey was to "accept" that ANY surgery (human included) has a risk. We did all the pre op work up, we discussed everything with the Vets and Surgeons. Even with the most thorough diagnostics ahead of time, on rare ocassions there can always be some underlying health issue that just could not be detected with tests. But we proceeded knowing the best possible and most up to date medical care would be given prior and during surgery . We covered all our bases as best we could with the knowledge we had and our medical team had at the time. We also knew our pets and knew in every case here they would wants this chance
The one thing that stood out with all of us is that we were willing to take that small risk in order to give our pets a chance at extended pain free. We knew thar, even if things didn't work out as we had hoped, we had to TRY. To forever doubt our decision if we didn't TRY would jave kept us second guessing forever.
So all this is in the FWIW column. To proceed or not is your personal decision and the path forward has to be one that you are at peace with. Any decision you make will always be one out of love for Truls and that will always be the "right" decision.
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
His age is less of a concern for me yes. I've never really seen his age as much of an issue. Deny him possible treatment because he's at a certain age, doesn't sound fair. Age can be a huge factor for some animals of course, but not for all animals. For some animals age is really just a number.
More clarity, nope I'd say things are still kind of unclear. His blood values are because of the infection, his weight may be caused by the cancer. The smaller clinic I went to first said that the cancer is "stealing calories". I got the impression that it's expected that he would lose weight as the cancer grows. So that is a explanation, we just don't know for sure if that is the actual cause.
The infection was determined from the blood test. Based on his most recent blood test (about 10 days ago ish) the antibiotics are helping to fight the infection and normalize his blood values. The food changes we made about ooh....a month ago ish, I wad advised to feed him a nutrient rich food. So even if he didn't eat a lot he would still gain a lot of nutrients. I think he has been eating better the past couple of weeks, since we introduced these antibiotics. Overall I think he is doing better lately, which is always good. He gets lots of candy hehe. Frankly I got no clue what the future has in store for him. If he will still be around in a week, a month or a year. So kinda spoiling him with candy.
Of course all surgeries have risks, even extremely minor ones. I have had thorough conversations with several vets from the larger animal hospital. Several blood tests have been done, x-ray, ultrasound and if the surgery is a go they are gonna do another x-ray. They want to do an x-ray just before the surgery so they will have as recent information as possible. I think we have done like every test and examination we can, well except for a CT.
As it is right now. Truls only option is amputation or euthanasia. So yes, I am willing to take the risk with the surgery, in order to save his life. I agree, one has to try. This is Truls only chance, his only hope. My dog that passed last fall had zero options, there was nothing we could try. I know if I don't try I will probably always wonder "was there something I could have done? Could amputation have given him several more happy years?"
mommatux said
Hi Veronica and Truls,
Tuxedo's surgery was an emergency one done at a 24 hour animal emergency center. I was faced with an immediate decision to try amputation and hope for minimal spinal cord impact or euthanasia. No pre lab works ups, etc. For him it was an all or nothing gamble. I was in shock and had no clue what to ask, what to do. I did not even find this site until almost 2 months after his surgery. So I was completely winging it.
Tux spent the night at the clinic before coming home. As he is not well behaved at any vet, I am sure they were glad to see him go. Literally the first thing he did once I put him down on the floor after coming home was run out the screen door which had not yet fully closed. Luckily for me he had a cone on and could not get through the porch railing bars. But he certainly tried. That moment was when I knew everything was going to be ok.
He hated his meds and fought me to avoid taking them. All were in liquid form and he likely wore more of them than injested. He did not want to eat. I tried so many different cat foods and treats. Finally found Delectables which he gobbled down like he was starving. Tuxedo is a 15 pound cat. He definitely was NOT starving. In general he had no issues eating, drinking, or eliminating after the surgery.
After the first escape attempt, he mostly slept in my bedroom closet. Everytime I checked on him he was coneless. Since he never bothered much with his incision when I was there, I let him have his way (until after finding out about the infection) Around day 3 he got under my bed and refused to come out no matter how I tried to tempt him. Later he did crawl back out. While under there he shredded a pillow which had tiny foam beads and was coated with them. He looked like some wild snow creature. But otherwise seemed to be ok. In general, he never showed any outward signs of pain. Moved around fine (and very very FAST), just spent far more time resting.
As to what I wish I had done differently, definitely blocked off under bed, managed to keep his cone on better. Also it would have helped had I known about this site, not just to prepare myself for what to expect, but also to potentially assist with the vet bills. The timeframe to apply for financial assistance had already passed before I registered here. I worried a lot needlessly that first night of not only would he live but would it be a good quality of life.
I hope all goes well for you and Truls.
-Dawna, Tuxedo, Lilly, & Angel Dazzle
Hello again Dawna. 🙂
You had no time at all to just think about your options, just had to make a decision right then and there. That's rough, but you made the right call since Tuxedo is all good now. 🙂 And the moment he came home he just wanted to return to his old habits, aww that sure was a good sign.
I can relate with the medications. For Truls I first gave him another kind of antibiotic which was also in liquid form, kind of like toothpaste. Total nightmare. It got on his face, on me, on the floor, like yiches. After that I asked to get the antibiotics as pills instead, much simpler!
Ahhh your little Tuxedo sounds like a ball of mischief after the surgery "looked like some wild snow creature", lols.
Sounds like Tuxedo gave you some trouble but after he was all healed and recovered he was just himself.
If anything your experience has reassured me that cats, including mine, can definitely go on living happy lives. 🙂
Ohh I will definitely worry, no doubt about that. I'll find out tomorrow if and when we will go ahead with the surgery. I don't think I'll relax and just stop worrying until after the surgery when he has recovered.
Veronica, you have done such an excellent of processing everything and weighing the "pros and cons". Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and to give more detail of Truls 'issues", treatment, various Vet opinions, etc.
His Vet team has a good hand on soing everything possible to make sure Truls is in tip top shape for surgery if that's the path taken.
The fact that he's eating better and feeling better overall is great news indeed!
Yes, you are now an official member of our Worry Wart Club. Welcome! You are surrounded by all of us who wprry so well😎
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS. Dawna, invaluable feedback as always.👍
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 Benny. 🙂
I do my best to prepare for my kitty and help him however I can. He's my first pet ever, been with me half my life. Ya know a little joke I make sometimes, owning pets is like a marriage, in sickness and in health.
But here we go. Truls and I are on route to the vet. My word I'm nervous!! In the next couple of hours one can say his future will be determined. They are gonna take a blood sample and just a general check up. If his blood values have gone down...guess no surgery. My hope is that they have gone up a bit or at the very least remained at the same level.
Well k trying to think logically and unbiased. Is he eating and drinking, yes. He also likes to drink from the puppies water bowl, when the puppy is nearby. Puppy goes all "...ey, that's mine ..watcha doin??"
Has his leg gotten worse, don't think so. Has his behavior changed nope. Is his toilet normal, yap. Is he nuts about candy, yes! Think my little tiger is confused, can't live on candy. Just wants more all the time lols. XD 😆
So with this in mind, logically I shouldn't worry....oh boy SO much easier said than done.
Alrighty, update.
Sooo now the results are in. Truls will have one less limb on Friday. Yiches...0.0. Felt kind of unreal to discuss amputation, until the actual time was booked. The vet is not worried about Truls surviving the surgery, the vet said he has a good chance for surviving the surgery itself. With his blood values, the risk with anesthesia etc.
The remaining concern is, will this make Truls healthy? We have talked about it, a lot. We haven't found any other cause, anything else that can explain his problems. And they checked his hormone balances, metabolism etc, all normal. Soo yup this is his only chance to actually recover and get healthy. I will leave Truls on Friday morning, pick him up Saturday. Loooooots of snuggles and cuddles until then!
Darn it feels weird to tell a vet "yah okay remove his leg".......that it's his only chance to get healthy.
I know it is weird isn't it? Amputation to give a better quality of life? How is that even possible? Well, we wonder those things but animals like Truls, they just want to move on and feel good again. And he will!
Well you made the commitment and with one less decision in the way, you can definitely get those cuddles and snuggles in before surgery day. Oh and make time to get your house ready too, don't forget that part. Focus on creating a safe recovery space, and making sure he can't get into trouble by hiding under the bed, etc. Will you have anyone helping you during his recovery?
jerry said
I know it is weird isn't it? Amputation to give a better quality of life? How is that even possible? Well, we wonder those things but animals like Truls, they just want to move on and feel good again. And he will!Well you made the commitment and with one less decision in the way, you can definitely get those cuddles and snuggles in before surgery day. Oh and make time to get your house ready too, don't forget that part. Focus on creating a safe recovery space, and making sure he can't get into trouble by hiding under the bed, etc. Will you have anyone helping you during his recovery?
Hey Jerry. 🙂
It's really darn bizarre. 0.0 Like how did we get here? Cut of a leg to get him healthy...half a leg. I'm still processing this....just...feels unreal. 0.0
Well cancer is apparently quite common in older male cats. Yap you're right, he just wants to feel better again. And of course I wanna do everything I can to help him get healthy again.
He already has a room which I kinda call "his room" so yah he will have a safe place. Just need to move things to the floor so he can easily access things. Or alternatively create some simple steps he can use to get up and down.
Yap I got help not to worry, my parents. So technically there's three of us. 🙂
One idol I have, Dawna's Tuxedo. Quite funny how he managed to get up on the roof even after his surgery. That sure shows you what a three legged cat is capable of. 😀
You are good to go with recovery! I can tell you will make a great nurse. As strange as it is, you have what it takes to handle recovery because you are doing it for him. That's one thing we say around here ... amputation isn't doing it TO them, it's doing it FOR them. For a better quality of life, for no pain, for happiness again.
How cool your parents are on board with recovery too!
jerry said
You are good to go with recovery! I can tell you will make a great nurse. As strange as it is, you have what it takes to handle recovery because you are doing it for him. That's one thing we say around here ... amputation isn't doing it TO them, it's doing it FOR them. For a better quality of life, for no pain, for happiness again.How cool your parents are on board with recovery too!
That is one thing that did cross my mind. Like "am I gonna let this happen to him?" To him.....yah. Guess it's easy to confuse it's not to him, it's for him. Better to think that amputation is for him, for a chance to become cancer free. Just healthy and happy. 🙂
Well clock is ticking, ish. I just want to enjoy one day at a time. But now it's literally 48h......Truls becomes a tripawd on Friday.
This was/is the goal. Because it's his only chance to get healthy. But to actually have it happen, wow.
I'm gonna be such a bundle of nerves on Friday after leaving him. Yes the vet said that Truls has a high chance of surviving the surgery and they do watch him like a hawk. But still, I always get nervous when a pet goes under, well who doesn't.
Ohh and here is a picture of Truls, my little tiger. ^^
OHHHHH what a gorgeous kitty! Those eyes! Thank you for sharing.
Yes, you're right, it's easy to be nervous about any kind of anesthesia. It does sound like the clinic you chose is well-equipped and experienced with amputation, so do your best to stay strong and pawsitive. You are both in good hands.
Truls is stunning! Such a handsome boy! He certainly knows how to pose for the camera, that's for sure!
Does sou d like Truls has a good team at the clinic to give him the best possible care. Good job.
Stay connected and remember, we are here to help support you and Truls in any way we can.
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!
Hehe thanks! ^^
Yah he's always been a very handsome kitty. Very majestic, easy to get good pictures of him. ^^ 😀
I'm quite confident everything will be alright. But ya know, who isn't nervous.
Ohh after the surgery, assuming, hoping all goes well. Will he need constant supervision? Like someone watching him all the time? Can he be allowed to roam around? Can I leave him home alone for a couple of hours? For example to go to the store and such.
I'm assuming it's fine as long as he has the cone on and can't reach the stitches, or be able to do anything which may impact his recovery.
Can't remeber of you have a space set up for him, like a bathroom, or a utility room, you can close him off in, etc. For the first several days you want to keep him as semi-confined in a smaller space as you can. He probably wont feel like roaming around at first anyway. I would try and stay close to home the first day or so, then you could make short trip to grocery store, etc. As he gets further out from the surgery you'll feel more comfortable about leaving him alone for longer times. As you mentioned, just want to always make sure cone is secure and he can't do any jumping, climbing etc while you're gone.
You've got this!!!!!! We know you will do great and so will Truls👍
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!
I would say keep him in a close, supervised space, and keep a close eye on him during the first few days. Cats are really good at getting out of their cone of shame and ripping out stitches. He won't need that kind of supervision forever, but you really want to make sure he doesn't do any damage to the incision.
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