Hi All, I'm seeking advice following a bit of a journey with two sisters (Rita and Fiona) who both had the same back leg cut off when they were kittens. Sorry in advance for all the detail but the backstory and failed fixes are all part of the advice needed!!

First off, it wasn't a professional job (there are some horrible people out there). Long story short we adopted them both from a rescue centre when they were pretty tiny kittens. We wanted to keep them together, and have been trying ever since to get the little legs to heal up well enough for them to go back to normal. They're now almost 7 months old. They move around happily, are agile, and generally seem content and cheerful, but there's still a fair bit of growing pains, and phantom pains.

Phase 2: Cones of shame were a semi-permanent feature, and some attempts at bandages were made by the vets, with little success and fierce protests.

Phase 3: When they were spayed the vets also took a little of the loose skin around the area to try and pull it over the exposed area, stitch it up, and give it a better chance to heal. We wanted to avoid full amputation as we felt they'd been through enough, and we could see they still used it for balance and movement.

Post-op: One of them is healing well, and furring over the stitches - but Rita (the smaller and feistier of the two!) has had a few complications and trips back to the vet. Her sister is staying with neighbours, so they have a better chance of recovering well. Recently, Rita bust one of the stitches, and managed to cut her leg a little too, but the vets sewed it back up. Bigger cone.

Phase 4 - the pressing bit: Then, something happened over the course of this morning - either she bumped it badly on something, managed to get the stump into the even larger cone, or she's been having a growth spurt that the stitches were too taut for (or a combination of all three, or none of the above!) - but a part of the healing tip has *popped* out. Basically, there's an open cap at the tip of her short leg, and the furred part has slipped up, leaving about half an inch exposed. Bigger cone being installed as we speak.

We're booked in for her to get stitches in the afternoon tomorrow, but any - ANY - advice would be appreciated.

Any creative solutions you've tried, pain management routines to help with recovery like this, ways to keep her entertained in the hours when we can't play gently with her... We both work from home, and I've been keeping her in the room with me, but it hasn't been an easy couple of weeks and it would be good to hear from anyone with experience of similar scenarios.

We really don't want to do the full amputation if we can (sensibly) avoid it, and after the previous surgeries will need a little time to save up again. No suggestions too small!

Thank you,

Regina (and Rita!)