Please help my Charlie (Hind Leg Amputation)

A dear friend of mine has a hind leg amputee cat, he was injured outdoors and the vet said what yours did, recovery would be less painful and quicker to just amputate.  For them, money was no object, they would have done whatever was best for him.  He was a big boy and it took him awhile to develop a new way of moving, but he has done very well.  That was maybe 7 years ago and he is 18 now and still doing well.  His other hind leg has kind of curved towards the center of his hind end when he walks and he has the nickname of "Bug" because he looks a bit like a bug when he is moving through the room.  They built pet stairs with carpet on them so he could get up on their bed and another set so he could get up on the bed in the guest room. They also got him a "dog" litter box that has very low sides.  Once he had healed, they didn't need that anymore but it helped early on. 

Hi Everyone. 

Okay so Charlie is home. And he is doing okay!

He's not so happy at the moment, because he's got a cone on, and he's been confined inside the crate for the most part. He's not a fan of these things.

Other than that, Charlie is eating, he's sleeping for most of the time. And he's really enjoying the extra love, attention, and visitors he's been getting. He was visited by our friend and my fiance's brother yesterday.

He has used the littler box, although we have to take him out and put him in the box. No number 2 yet (sorry for the TMI).

We did let him out periodically from the crate as he was just meowing non stop to get out, and i swear i don't think he know he's just got a leg amputated. He makes a b line for the scratching post, and if someone tries to catch him he tries to run from them. He is a bit wobbly...and he's learning how to use his tail for balance, but he's not a pro tripod yet.

His follow up appointment is on Oct. 7th. So until then we were advised to keep him crated for the most part, and told to not let him walk around too much.

The other two cats visited him, while he was crated. Jet came and hissed at him while he was in the crate, then she went and sat by the window sill for a while, and then left. Gunther came by to visit him numerous times. He just comes and tries to sniff through the crate and just looks at Charlie. And Charlie looks back at him. I keep them out of the bedroom for the most part. The other two are VERY CURIOUS about him. When i have the bedroom door closed the two of them will sit by the door trying to figure out what's going on and who's in there. 

I will try to upload a video later. It's of Charlie meowing in his crate wanting to be let out.

Here is a pic of Gunther visiting Charlie this morning:

I'm not sure about Charlie, but my cats like crates much better when they are closed on 3 sides, i.e. I hang a sheet over them and leave only the one side open.  I guess mine tend to be cave dwellers anyhow. 

I just heard from my friend with the 18-year-old tripod cat (his name is Sherlock).  She just had him at the vet for annual checkup, blood work and  dentistry.  All his blood work is fine and his teeth are cleaned now (he had heavy tartar and had to have one canine removed as it was loose).  The vet thinks he may be one of those cats that lives to be 25, that' how healthy he is.

It sounds like Charlie is doing great! I'm so happy he is back home with his family after his ordeal.
Sending you and Charlie lots of positive vibes for healing!

If he is being hissed at by his brother, do the wiping of cloths around the faces etc as you did when introducing them as babies.

I'm am so happy that Charlie is home with you.  I really appreciate the updates you've given, on TCS and from the gofundme site.    I have been following his progress.  I think you will be surprised at how well he functions with three legs.  It took Blackberry some getting used to, and it broke my heart once when she fell down soon after she came home from the hospital, but now she can run and climb just fine.  The Persian cat I had as a child with a partial back leg amputation had a long healing process, but when she recovered, she got around great.  I've kept you and Charlie in my prayers and will continue to do so.  Please continue to let us know how he is doing. 

Red Top Rescue said:

 
A dear friend of mine has a hind leg amputee cat, he was injured outdoors and the vet said what yours did, recovery would be less painful and quicker to just amputate.  For them, money was no object, they would have done whatever was best for him.  He was a big boy and it took him awhile to develop a new way of moving, but he has done very well.  That was maybe 7 years ago and he is 18 now and still doing well.  His other hind leg has kind of curved towards the center of his hind end when he walks and he has the nickname of "Bug" because he looks a bit like a bug when he is moving through the room.  They built pet stairs with carpet on them so he could get up on their bed and another set so he could get up on the bed in the guest room. They also got him a "dog" litter box that has very low sides.  Once he had healed, they didn't need that anymore but it helped early on. 

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Red Top Rescue said:

 
I'm not sure about Charlie, but my cats like crates much better when they are closed on 3 sides, i.e. I hang a sheet over them and leave only the one side open.  I guess mine tend to be cave dwellers anyhow. 

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Red Top Rescue said:

 
I just heard from my friend with the 18-year-old tripod cat (his name is Sherlock).  She just had him at the vet for annual checkup, blood work and  dentistry.  All his blood work is fine and his teeth are cleaned now (he had heavy tartar and had to have one canine removed as it was loose).  The vet thinks he may be one of those cats that lives to be 25, that' how healthy he is.

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@Red Top Rescue

Posts about your friend's Tripod kitty gives me a lot of hope. Thank you for sharing. Charlie is still healing...he is 1 week Post Op at this point. Every day he seems to be doing A LOT better than the day before. I'm looking into buying high protein and weight control food for Charlie as I've noticed his appetite has increased A LOT to the point where he searches for food (he's never done this before)

happybird said:

It sounds like Charlie is doing great! I'm so happy he is back home with his family after his ordeal.
Sending you and Charlie lots of positive vibes for healing!

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@happybird  Thank you!

Stewball said:

If he is being hissed at by his brother, do the wiping of cloths around the faces etc as you did when introducing them as babies.

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@Stewball  Hi Stewball how are you!! So far, Gunther has come visited Charlie many times. And Jet does not come to the bedroom to visit him. She just watches him from the hallway. Once Charlie is all healed i'll have to give them all 3 a bath and rub them down with my towel once their dry so they Jet is no longer so hissy. But since she is so skittish, he's a hisser for even the smallest things. lol

nurseangel said:

 
I'm am so happy that Charlie is home with you.  I really appreciate the updates you've given, on TCS and from the gofundme site.  

 I have been following his progress.  I think you will be surprised at how well he functions with three legs.  It took Blackberry some getting used to, and it broke my heart once when she fell down soon after she came home from the hospital, but now she can run and climb just fine.  The Persian cat I had as a child with a partial back leg amputation had a long healing process, but when she recovered, she got around great.  I've kept you and Charlie in my prayers and will continue to do so.  Please continue to let us know how he is doing. 

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@nurseangel  Thank you so much for sharing your experience with Blackberry. it does put my mind at ease when i read about your kitty and how she's doing now. I hope that Charlie can recover soon and be his normal self. He's having a bit of trouble getting around...and has fallen once already (he lost balance while walking and then coming to a stop abruptly). Thank you for keeping Charlie in your thoughts and prayers

Here is an update on Charlie. He is officially 1 week post op.

He's doing good. It seems like physically, he is improving daily, and is a lot stronger, and attempts to do more things as the days passes.

Sorry I was not able to update over the weekend. I spent the whole weekend with Charlie, watching Catfish (our guilty pleasure) and cuddling with him.

I feel kind of bad because my other two cats have been a bit neglected (as far as cuddles are concerned). I stayed in the bedroom with Charlie all weekend, and whenever I would come out, the other two would gang up on me for some attention. lol

for the 1st and 2nd day home, we pretty much kept Charlie crated for most of the day, however now the crate door is left open. He is a bit uncomfortable because he is still wearing the cone. he hates that thing. He has been walking around, and he also started to climb stuff in the room. I freak out, and i want to just pick him up and crate him, but I watch him carefully and see what he's upto. So far, he's climbed onto a camping chair to nap. Then once he was done napping, he climbed from the camping chair to the bed, basically using the camping chair as a step which was pretty amazing to watch. He also climbed onto the lowest part of the cat tower we have. It has a little ladder that goes into a little cat house. He climbed into and took a nap. He's been napping a lot.

I've noticed that his appetite has increased. whenever he finds the bedroom door open, he makes a mad dash for the kitchen, and starts to meow and sniff around for food. He has that "feed me" Meow...i think eating is the only thing that brings him comfort. He did have a day where he was sleeping for the most part, and to me he seemed depressed, because he didn't even eat or want to...but i'm not sure. He is using the little box without any issues. for the 1st couple days he wouldn't bury his waste, but now he buries his waste too. I take off his cone from time to time allowing him to groom himself, and he seems to feel good after that. I watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't started to groom the stitches. He has been taking his meds, but after two days of giving him the pain killers, i stopped, because he doesn't do well on it i noticed. He becomes super lethargic and lays around all day. Doesn't even sleep. Just lays on his side with his eyes open looking around and he just looks so ...miserable..with glassy and teary eyes...and pupils dilated all the way. One time, when it was time to give him his pain killer, i decided to wait until i gave him the next dose...and as the pain killer left his system, he was more active...he was more himself...and he didn't seem like he was in pain. The next day in the morning i didn't give him the pain killer again, and he was perfectly fine (this was also the first time he buried his waste in the litter box). I only give him the pain killers at night now before bed. 

Here are some pictures I took over the weekend;


PUT CHARLIE ON HIS CAT BED BY THE WINDOW. HE TRIED TO LOOK OUT OF THE WINDOW FOR A LITTLE BIT, BUT QUICKLY LOST INTEREST.

I wonder if he understand or remembers that he fell out of the window? He hasn't had much interest to be by the windows at all.


SLEEPING LIKE A BOSS


BEING LAZY WITH CHARLIE AND WATCHING CAT FISH LOL. 

this is his favorite position to sleep in Usually he has 1 leg up in the air..but that leg is now no longer there..


HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A MORE COMFORTABLE KITTY? EVEN WITH A CONE ON?


GUNTHER VISITING CHARLIE. THEY CHIRPED TO EACH OTHER FOR A BIT. WHEN I TRIED TO TAKE A VIDEO GUNTHER GOT SCARED AND RAN OFF.

He's the only one that visits Charlie. It's so cute. Jet will watch Charlie from a distance, but never come into the bedroom to get close to him.


CHARLIE CLIMBED ONTO THE FOLDING CAMPING CHAIR ALL BY HIMSELF FROM THE CAT BED ON THE FLOOR.

from here he also climbed onto the bed, and he sprawled out


HE ALSO CLIMBED INTO THE CAT HOUSE IN THE CAT TOWER....


...AND TOOK A REALLY LONG NAP

see the ladder on the right side of the picture? he used that to get into the cat house.

Yay!! Fast huh??  

So curious, how long were you advised to leave the cone on?

To me, a week post op deserves to be tested out of that darned cone.

He will lick it yes, this is to get those awful vet smells from his body and fur and will not harm in any way.

The cone is more for excessive cleaning and possibly chewing at the stitches.

Why not give it a try?

His spirits will def. raise losing that awful cone! 

He's really doing wonderfully!!

He looks SO good! I'm happy for you both

Blighty really needs a cone to stop him making sores on his legs but he'll go crazy. He's still a scared cat even after being here for 2 years. How does Charlie eat and drink with it on?

Stewball said:

Blighty really needs a cone to stop him making sores on his legs but he'll go crazy. He's still a scared cat even after being here for 2 years. How does Charlie eat and drink with it on?

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@Stewball

when i feed him, i take the cone off. I sit next to him and let him finish eating, then give him some water, and let him groom himself a little bit, and then i put the cone back on him.

He has a hard time eating with the cone on, so when i do take it off for him, i watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't go for his stitches.  

My blighty is very hard to deal with. I have an arrangement with my vet, if he nee think go, that I don't make an appointment. I phone them when I catch him and he is in his cage.
He keeps making sores on his legs. He finds a spot and links and locks until all the furhas ggone and then he makes another.
He was a street cat but came to me age roughly two months. He's now two but you'd think he just came in from the cold, although it's jolly hot here. He's a scardey cat. He loves to be stroked, when he wants to be, he loves whisky. Picking him up is almost impossible and getting a cone on him would drive him mad. The vet would put it on. If i took it off for him to eat, I'd never get it back on again. He'd be off and hiding. Funny little boy.