Cat with hip dysplasia - tips for post-op care?

[gabicards]

Hi all!

So, I'm normally around because my young cat has gastrointestinal issues (possible IBD, but we're treating the inflammation now and will see what happens next - he's doing well in this regard!). But, because I know this is a very common issue with Maine Coons, I asked my vet to have a look at his hip this week as well - he did so during a regular visit (by moving his leg, touching the bone), found nothing. I wanted to be sure anyway, so I asked for an x-ray to be done, and got it scheduled for the day after... turns out he not only has hip dysplasia, it's bad enough on one side that he needs immediate surgery - he has a luxation of the left femoral head. The vet team was shocked - you'd never be able to tell by observing his behavior or even touching him. He walks, jumps, grooms himself and all. The only reason I wanted to pay for an actual exam to confirm he didn't have anything was that my previous cat used to jump to more inconvenient places that I wish he didn't (that were often so high up I needed a damn ladder to get to!), and I noticed that, although this kitty does jump a lot, he doesn't seem as interested in those places. I initially thought he might have been too small, but as he grew up more it caught my attention - it was great for me, but... how come? Well, here we are.

We're hoping to get the surgery done next week. He's 1,2 years old and I'm told the prognosis is good, specially because it's a common surgery and he's very young. Still, if anyone has cared for a cat after this type of surgery, I'd love to get any tips - I know the orthopedist is going to guide me, but it could happen that one detail or another gets left behind because I won't think to ask about it.

Tips are specially welcome about expected litter box behavior post surgery - I figure I'll need a different box, so that he doesn't need to step high to get into it? Etc.

I don't know if anyone knows how to interpret these at all, but here are the x-rays in case you'd like to see it.

 

[OopsyDaisy]

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your boy. I just went through bilateral FHO surgery with one of my kittens (18 months) and am now facing surgery with his sibling. Perhaps there would be some information in my thread that could help you. The good news is that Ash is about 8 weeks post-op now and doing great! Lulu is scheduled for Jan. 19th. I wish you all the best with the surgery.

Legge-Calve-Perthes Disease

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I know this isn’t the answer to what you were asking.

I would, if he was my cat, have an echocardiogram done prior to surgery. The reasoning behind it is to check for HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). HCM is often seen in Maine Coon cats. It is usually undetected unless an echocardiogram is done. They most often don’t have a murmur or any outward signs of a problem. Even young cats can suffer from it. My concern, if he was my cat, would be that during surgery, IV fluids are administered at a surgical rate which is much higher than a maintenance rate. Of course it is a good idea to do that during a long surgery, or involved surgery, it can cause congested heart failure in a cat that has HCM.

I am not trying to scare you, just making sure you are aware. Maybe you already are.

The other thing I was curious about, is if you are having a board certified orthopedic veterinary surgeon do this?

As for after care, a cage with bars that are close together. As long as the cage is not tall, it can be fairly big. A very firm dense flat memory foam cushion works well. It should be large enough to cover most of the floor of the cage, leaving enough room for a litter box. The litter box should be low enough that, with the memory foam in place, it is sunken, as opposed to having sides he has to try to get over.

You won’t want to use clumping litter because, he will wind up with it clumping all over his feet and tail when he can’t navigate the box etc to avoid getting urine on himself. I find that shredded paper can be used, but gets messy. Pet stores do sell bags of pelleted paper, which can work. You can also use regular clay litter, but only if it is not scented. It is dusty though. Don’t use the pine pellets because there is a lot of pine dust that can get in his incision.

You will do best to have his food and water dishes secured to the cage. I have used Velcro for this. If he is going to be wearing an e collar, make sure he has enough space to get his cone over it.

Ask your vet for pain medication and a tranquilizer. Keeping a cat that young in a cage can be a challenge.

Ask the vet for something to help facilitate a BM because these cats that have orthopedic surgery, often get constipated.

I hope everything goes well for him.

Cat TV can help, so does having something he can watch.

 

[gabicards]

Hi. I know this isn’t the answer to what you were asking.

I would, if he was my cat, have an echocardiogram done prior to surgery. The reasoning behind it is to check for HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). HCM is often seen in Maine Coon cats. It is usually undetected unless an echocardiogram is done. They most often don’t have a murmur or any outward signs of a problem. Even young cats can suffer from it. My concern, if he was my cat, would be that during surgery, IV fluids are administered at a surgical rate which is much higher than a maintenance rate. Of course it is a good idea to do that during a long surgery, or involved surgery, it can cause congested heart failure in a cat that has HCM.

I am not trying to scare you, just making sure you are aware. Maybe you already are.

The other thing I was curious about, is if you are having a board certified orthopedic veterinary surgeon do this?

As for after care, a cage with bars that are close together. As long as the cage is not tall, it can be fairly big. A very firm dense flat memory foam cushion works well. It should be large enough to cover most of the floor of the cage, leaving enough room for a litter box. The litter box should be low enough that, with the memory foam in place, it is sunken, as opposed to having sides he has to try to get over.

You won’t want to use clumping litter because, he will wind up with it clumping all over his feet and tail when he can’t navigate the box etc to avoid getting urine on himself. I find that shredded paper can be used, but gets messy. Pet stores do sell bags of pelleted paper, which can work. You can also use regular clay litter, but only if it is not scented. It is dusty though. Don’t use the pine pellets because there is a lot of pine dust that can get in his indecision.

You will do best to have his food and water dishes secured to the cage. I have used Velcro for this. If he is going to be wearing an e collar, make sure he has enough space to get his cone over it.

Ask your vet for pain medication and a tranquilizer. Keeping a cat that young in a cage can be a challenge.

Ask the vet for something to help facilitate a BM because these cats that have orthopedic surgery, often get constipated.

I hope everything goes well for him.

Cat TV can help, so does having something he can watch.

Thanks for the thought out response and all the tips! I hadn't considered a cage, just thought about keeping him confined to a room - where I would be joining him for sleep and I figure my parents and I will take turns keeping him company during the day, specially in the first week. So the cage is to restrict most movements other than the necessary ones?

The vet is certified, yes! I had two orthopedists that were recommended to me by his regular vet, and she's also a surgeon (but not orthopedist). I will meet him for the first time tomorrow (Saturday morning) so that he can also meet my cat and have a look at the exams. Now that I think about it, I can show him the result from the HCM test so that he can see if it needs to be done again pre-op - it was done when he was 3 months old, almost one year ago.

 

[silent meowlook]

Perfect. Sounds like you are well informed about Main Coon cats and are doing everything right! Ask about the cage for recovery. The surgeon may not feel you need it. The surgery may be different from what I was thinking, or perhaps there have been advancements to it and the recovery plan that I don’t know about.

I will often write down my questions before seeing a vet so I make sure I get all the answers I need at my appointment. I get “my cat’s at the vet amnesia” when I am talking to the vet about my cat.

 

[gabicards]

Perfect. Sounds like you are well informed about Main Coon cats and are doing everything right! Ask about the cage for recovery. The surgeon may not feel you need it. The surgery may be different from what I was thinking, or perhaps there have been advancements to it and the recovery plan that I don’t know about.

I will often write down my questions before seeing a vet so I make sure I get all the answers I need at my appointment. I get “my cat’s at the vet amnesia” when I am talking to the vet about my cat.

I'm writing them down too, as the same thing happens to me! Specially because I get so nervous when it comes to any procedures - I lost my first cat after two surgeries, both of which had the same complication (an abscess).

It's why I asked here first, I figure my brain might be foggier than even I can notice because of the trauma, so I'm just following everyone along - my family, the vets... it's already paid off for the reminder about the heart condition, so thank you! Hopefully he's still okay in that regard, he's had enough with the tentative IBD diagnosis and now this.

 

[silent meowlook]

Yeah, it’s allot of stress, I know. It sounds like you have this handled.

I get a foggy brain when I have my cats at the vet. I always have to take them in when I am not working, because I am a basket case when they are there.

Good luck and let us know how everything goes.

With the suspect IBD, does he still show symptoms? Although there is no definable answer as to why they get it, there have been some studies done linking it to food allergy. My cat who has IBD and now turned suspect intestinal lymphoma via ultrasound, I feed rabbit canned food for a novel protein source. Canned of course.

 

[gabicards]

Yeah, it’s allot of stress, I know. It sounds like you have this handled.

I get a foggy brain when I have my cats at the vet. I always have to take them in when I am not working, because I am a basket case when they are there.

Good luck and let us know how everything goes.

With the suspect IBD, does he still show symptoms? Although there is no definable answer as to why they get it, there have been some studies done linking it to food allergy. My cat who has IBD and now turned suspect intestinal lymphoma via ultrasound, I feed rabbit canned food for a novel protein source. Canned of course.

With the IBD, it's been tough on my mental health because I am in a constant struggle between following my own research and what online nutritionists say and the vets (that I do trust, but not with nutrition, admittedly).

I think my cat can't handle kibble - but it takes forever to test that, so I had just come to this conclusion a couple of weeks ago. The issue is that I actually got the (tentative) diagnosis for IBD and the leg problem, with a need for urgent surgery, while we're abroad. My family in Brazil lives right next to a vet, so when his soft stool started (he'd had it before, right after I adopted him, and then been okay for months) I took him, and that's when I asked for the x-ray, because I thought I might as well! I was supposed to return to France with him in about a month, his vets prefer that I do the surgery here and delay my trip by a couple of weeks (I will wait more than that, of course, so that he can do physical therapy here. I hate the idea of traveling while he's recovering no matter how used he is to doing it).

And then, to add insult to injury, Brazil doesn't have hydrolyzed cat food that is wet. His vet is now hellbent on getting him on Royal Canin's hydrolyzed kibble, and I have no confidence to continue arguing with her (I've tried), so I've agreed to do it and switch to a wet novel protein diet once we're settled back in France. I feel miserable about all of this, and even more so because I don't think the hydrolyzed kibble will help since I suspect there's something else in dry food that irritates his gut, but I'll need to wait until we're back home to adjust that, which will take longer now. It sucks all around.

Disclaimer: Because I know the topic of traveling with cats is a sore one and many people online hate the idea of it with a fiery passion, here's a pic of my guy chilling with me at the airport. I promise you it's like any other day to him - I often take him outside, to the supermarket, park or the mall (in his stroller) and etc, and he's never shown any signs of stress. He also naps for ages inside his carrier when we're at home and goes in and out of it on his own when we're in cars, airports and hotels. I only need to open it for him to go in and get cozy. We don't do long distances often, he's done it twice, and in both occasions I needed to be in Brazil for at least 3 months (due to my own health concerns) - he was in the cabin with me and just napped the trip away. The space here is as prepared for him as the one in France!

 

[silent meowlook]

He is young. That is good. Kibble is bad, but you do what you can, when you can.

My cat was on kibble from 4 months till about 8 years of age. She and my other cat were both chronic vomiting cats. I worked for an animal specialty group at the time. I talked to the board-certified veterinary specialist, and others many times regarding my cats vomiting and my other cat’s weight. The answer I got was “Well, cats just vomit.” And “I kind of like fat cats” I did blood work and almost every noninvasive test you could imagine.

In 2014 I started going to a cat only hospital over an hour away. The Doctor there explained the risks of dry food in cats and gave me links to more information. I was horrified. I had read so much from HILLS and other Rx diets books etc. It was at best lacking vital information, at worst lies.

By that time Rusty (my most perfect sweetest cat) was in renal failure and my attention was focused mostly on him. Cheetah, (cat with lymphoma) was young and acted fine.

I started working at that hospital a few months later, and I got Cheetah examined. She was diagnosed through ultrasound with IBD. By then they were both eating fancy feast. Cheetah was prescribed Prednisolone, but I didn’t give it, and I am not sure why. She was still looking healthy and active. I did annual blood work on Cheetah.

Rusty was euthanized 7/31/2017 at 17 years of age after going from a 17 lb cat to a 7 lb cat. Maybe less. He had other health problems as did Cheetah.

In 2020, Cheetah was diagnosed with Intestinal lymphoma, hyperthyroidism, asthma. I started her on Prednisolone, Chlorambucil, and various other medications, some injectable some oral. (Perks of working for a vet). Most importantly I switched her to a novel protein source. I tried Duck, Venison (I know poor Bambi) and finally got it right with Rabbit. She no longer vomits but she is on allot of medications.

The thing that bothers me is that we could have avoided the lymphoma (I think) if I had treated the IBD with steroids and a diet change or even just the diet change. It did take years though for there to be adverse effects of the dry food. if that is what did it.

Even though I work for a veterinarian, I don't think most are good with nutrition and I think that while some are good with certain things, you have to find the ones that are good with what you need for your cat.

Anyway, I know this is way more information than you asked for.

You are doing great for your cat. He is in good hands with you.

 

[gabicards]

He is young. That is good. Kibble is bad, but you do what you can, when you can.

My cat was on kibble from 4 months till about 8 years of age. She and my other cat were both chronic vomiting cats. I worked for an animal specialty group at the time. I talked to the board-certified veterinary specialist, and others many times regarding my cats vomiting and my other cat’s weight. The answer I got was “Well, cats just vomit.” And “I kind of like fat cats” I did blood work and almost every noninvasive test you could imagine.

In 2014 I started going to a cat only hospital over an hour away. The Doctor there explained the risks of dry food in cats and gave me links to more information. I was horrified. I had read so much from HILLS and other Rx diets books etc. It was at best lacking vital information, at worst lies.

By that time Rusty (my most perfect sweetest cat) was in renal failure and my attention was focused mostly on him. Cheetah, (cat with lymphoma) was young and acted fine.

I started working at that hospital a few months later, and I got Cheetah examined. She was diagnosed through ultrasound with IBD. By then they were both eating fancy feast. Cheetah was prescribed Prednisolone, but I didn’t give it, and I am not sure why. She was still looking healthy and active. I did annual blood work on Cheetah.

Rusty was euthanized 7/31/2017 at 17 years of age after going from a 17 lb cat to a 7 lb cat. Maybe less. He had other health problems as did Cheetah.

In 2020, Cheetah was diagnosed with Intestinal lymphoma, hyperthyroidism, asthma. I started her on Prednisolone, Chlorambucil, and various other medications, some injectable some oral. (Perks of working for a vet). Most importantly I switched her to a novel protein source. I tried Duck, Venison (I know poor Bambi) and finally got it right with Rabbit. She no longer vomits but she is on allot of medications.

The thing that bothers me is that we could have avoided the lymphoma (I think) if I had treated the IBD with steroids and a diet change or even just the diet change. It did take years though for there to be adverse effects of the dry food. if that is what did it.

Even though I work for a veterinarian, I don't think most are good with nutrition and I think that while some are good with certain things, you have to find the ones that are good with what you need for your cat.

Anyway, I know this is way more information than you asked for.

You are doing great for your cat. He is in good hands with you.

I'm so sorry about Rusty, and that Cheetah is on so much medication. How old is she now?

Topaz started on prednisolone on Thursday, right after a bout of diarrhea. He finally pooped today (in the few occasions he had diarrhea before, this happened - he'd go at least 48hrs without pooping) but just two tiny dry pieces of stool. He's never been constipated in his life so I'm hoping that's not what this is, I'm trying to be patient about it. He's eating normally, his appetite never suffered (thankfully).

I saw the orthopaedist for Topaz today and he clarified that he, differently from his vet, doesn't think the surgery is necessarily *urgent* - seeing as Topaz is young and has a lot of cartilage still, he probably feels a discomfort but not actual pain, and he could stay like this for several months or even years. He put me at ease by saying hip dysplasia is probably as common in cats as it is in dogs, the difference being cats live a full life without being diagnosed because they don't show symptoms of it.

Since surgery will be needed anyway, this specialist is going to talk to Topaz's vet - which he knows (he was recommended to me by her), apparently his wife went to vet school with her over 20 years ago - and clarify whether the surgery could end up aggravating the inflammation we're treating now. He's also on a dosage of prednisolone that is high enough to be considered an immunosuppressant, but that's only for the first 10 days, and then it will be cut down in half, which he says is already great for the surgery.

While they discuss this, we'll have the heart exam done again, as well as a blood test, and make sure he's in the best possible condition for the surgery. Once we have all of those results we'll decide if we'll do it now - if it all comes back clean, and his vet maintains that the intestinal inflammation shouldn't interfere with anything (and shouldn't worsen because of this, either), which is what she told me on Thursday, I'm inclined to do it. The orthopaedist wants to do both legs at once, too, says it's better since he would eventually need to do the other side, and these surgeries are never risk free - by doing it only once we already reduce the risk of a complication in half.

He says he's been doing this type of surgery for 16 years and lost 3 animals to it, but operated on hundreds. I think he said these cases were due to blood clots, which happens in humans too after a surgery. Odds seem to be on his favor, but I'm still terrified.

 

[gabicards]

Hello,

Topaz's surgery was yesterday and we brought him back home a few hours ago - he's very wobbly and can't stand on his hind legs, which is by no means a surprise, but still hard to watch. He seems to have only eaten one sachet of Royal Canin Kitten yesterday, because the vets are cautious about offering food post surgery (anaesthesia), but he still only wanted a little bit after he arrived home.

The vet said he should eat as normal, so we'll see. He seems to be upset that he can't move around, but thankfully he finally fell asleep a couple of hours ago and has been resting since then.

A curious thing is that this surgeon seems to have done the surgery through his belly instead, so that's the only area they shaved. Was fully expecting him to come back home "pantless"...

 

[OopsyDaisy]

Hello,

Topaz's surgery was yesterday and we brought him back home a few hours ago - he's very wobbly and can't stand on his hind legs, which is by no means a surprise, but still hard to watch. He seems to have only eaten one sachet of Royal Canin Kitten yesterday, because the vets are cautious about offering food post surgery (anaesthesia), but he still only wanted a little bit after he arrived home.

The vet said he should eat as normal, so we'll see. He seems to be upset that he can't move around, but thankfully he finally fell asleep a couple of hours ago and has been resting since then.

A curious thing is that this surgeon seems to have done the surgery through his belly instead, so that's the only area they shaved. Was fully expecting him to come back home "pantless"...

I'm so happy for you! You will be amazed at how quickly he recovers. I imagine that through the belly was the easiest route to get to his particular area that needed surgery. Nice that he doesn't have to be pantless like mine were/are. Lulu is 9 days post-op now and she is doing great. Don't stress and fuss over him too much. He will sleep a lot and should eat and drink normally fairly quickly. He might have a little diarrhea but don't worry if it happens. What meds did they put him on?

 

[gabicards]

I'm so happy for you! You will be amazed at how quickly he recovers. I imagine that through the belly was the easiest route to get to his particular area that needed surgery. Nice that he doesn't have to be pantless like mine were/are. Lulu is 9 days post-op now and she is doing great. Don't stress and fuss over him too much. He will sleep a lot and should eat and drink normally fairly quickly. He might have a little diarrhea but don't worry if it happens. What meds did they put him on?

Thanks for the reply! The vets sent us a video yesterday of him egearly eating his meal (I took his food to the clinic), but then today he only ate a bit and stopped. I really hope he recovers his appetite soon, he's normally quite the glutton. As for the diarrhea, I do expect it... I won't be too worried about that part, I think, because his IBD seems to be in control now that he's back on his favorite kitten sachet. The soft stool was gone immediately after I switched him back to it.

I was surprised about the area since every cat I see that had an FHO surgery seems to have gotten the incision on the torso. His surgeon did mention he was going to do it through a "ventral approach", which is easier on the soft tissue and means he should recover faster - Idk if this makes a difference in location too... but it doesn't matter so long as he recovers well. I'll be anxious as hell for the foreseeable future, no doubt.

Which surgery did your Lulu get?

 

[OopsyDaisy]

Thanks for the reply! The vets sent us a video yesterday of him egearly eating his meal (I took his food to the clinic), but then today he only ate a bit and stopped. I really hope he recovers his appetite soon, he's normally quite the glutton. As for the diarrhea, I do expect it... I won't be too worried about that part, I think, because his IBD seems to be in control now that he's back on his favorite kitten sachet. The soft stool was gone immediately after I switched him back to it.

I was surprised about the area since every cat I see that had an FHO surgery seems to have gotten the incision on the torso. His surgeon did mention he was going to do it through a "ventral approach", which is easier on the soft tissue and means he should recover faster - Idk if this makes a difference in location too... but it doesn't matter so long as he recovers well. I'll be anxious as hell for the foreseeable future, no doubt.

Which surgery did your Lulu get?

I'm not sure about the ventral approach but other members might be. His recovery will go really fast regardless. I'm still amazed.

Ash had bilateral FHO in November and he is almost 100% back to normal. Lulu just had FHO done on the right side last Thurdsay. I think you saw a video of Ash before that you commented on but here is one of Lulu at Day 4. Prepare to be blown away by well Topaz does!

Day 4 Lulu Walking

Everyone here is so supportive. Keep us posted.

 

[gabicards]

I'm not sure about the ventral approach but other members might be. His recovery will go really fast regardless. I'm still amazed.

Ash had bilateral FHO in November and he is almost 100% back to normal. Lulu just had FHO done on the right side last Thurdsay. I think you saw a video of Ash before that you commented on but here is one of Lulu at Day 4. Prepare to be blown away by well Topaz does!

Day 4 Lulu Walking

Everyone here is so supportive. Keep us posted.

Ah yesss, I remember Ash's video! I was so amazed by it. Thanks for showing me how Lulu is doing!

I keep seeing that big breeds of cats are prone to needing this surgery - are yours big too? Or are they blood related, since this is often genetic?

 

[OopsyDaisy]

Ah yesss, I remember Ash's video! I was so amazed by it. Thanks for showing me how Lulu is doing!

I keep seeing that big breeds of cats are prone to needing this surgery - are yours big too? Or are they blood related, since this is often genetic?

Mine are siblings about 20 months old. Normal size, around 5kg (or at least I try to keep them around that). I rescued them from the shelter at 3 months. Normal, healthy kittens with no indication of illness.

I woke up one morning and Ash was limping. I thought he had hurt himself during the night so I took him to the vet. When they did the X-ray, they found that his femoral head was shattered but they also discovered that he had Legge-Calve-Perthes Disease which apparently, is quite rare but most often genetic and shows up in young animals. I had him on crate rest awaiting surgery, however, by the time we got the surgery date, the new X-ray showed that his other side had also shattered.

Shortly after that, just before Christmas, Lulu was jumping up onto the counter, she fell backwards with a sudden look of pain on her face and ran under the bed. It looked as though something had happened mid jump. She was obviously suffering and she was hiding.

Off to the vet we went on Christmas Eve. Poor thing was in pain. Her x-ray showed that she also had a shattered femoral head but they were unable to tell if she had LCPD at that time. They think it is a possiblity because her bone was so damaged from such a small fall. She was restricted to her crate from Christmas until last Thursday when she had the surgery.

My only concern is that it may happen again on her left side. The vet said that all it can take is a jump to break the weakened bones. I suppose time will tell.

They are young, active cats with a very strong bond and it will be great to see them playing again in about 8 more weeks. Ash is ready to go, we are just waiting for Lulu!

I can't wait to see how Topaz is doing in a few days from now.

 

[gabicards]

OopsyDaisy oh no, that's so rough, and both shortly after one another... I'd ask if you have pet health insurance, but I think most insurances don't cover this anyway since it's congenital, right? That's the case for Topaz's hip dysplasia, at least. I hope they have a great recovery!

It's been rough with Topaz on Day 2 post-surgery because he can move his legs surprisingly well, but can't firm them enough in order to stand, so he doesn't want to use the litterbox. He peed in the morning from Friday to Saturday, before we picked him up, and the vet watching him noted that he did so by himself and in the litterbox, but he's very obviously struggling at home. We've tried to help him but it doesn't work.

So today we took him to the clinic and they helped him relieve his bladder - they saw it in an ultrasound and it was very full, probably super uncomfortable for him or maybe even slightly painful, so they used 3 huge syringes to get some of the urine out, and then he finally let go and just... peed on everything and everyone vet says that he was probably holding it in because he couldn't get into position comfortably. They can't help him poop, though, so we still have that mountain to climb.

Vet today insisted once again that we get physical therapy started asap so that he can regain confidence - she thinks he might be able to stand already - albeit very wobbly - but he's afraid to do it. So I've already messaged the therapist and am crossing my fingers for an appointment early this week.

They also told me his meds slow the bowel movements down, which is probably for the best since he can't move well and will for sure hold it in instead of pooping somewhere else. It makes me very anxious because his intestinal inflamation was under control before the surgery, I'm hoping this isn't going to cause him any serious issues. Vets aren't worried about it yet, because he's also eaten less (we're slowly getting him back to the same food quantity as before the surgery), but the last time he passed stool was on Thursday morning.

 

[OopsyDaisy]

Unfortunately, I didn't have insurance and had to do a fundraiser. I was also fortunate to get some help from my local shelter. I believe they were willing to help mainly because the cats were so young, and supposedly healthy, when I adopted them. I also have a rescue dog. Without the help, I would have been looking at almost $10,000, which was completely out of my reach. I probably can't get insurance now because of this disease diagnosis. I first contacted the shelter in case other kittens from the same litter had the same issue. I thought they would want to know.

My two struggled a bit at first with the litterbox. It takes them a while to get their bearings. They would wobble and fall over...but as cats do, they just kept trying. We also didn't have pee for at least a day or so and poop took longer, maybe 3 days, I can't quite remember. My vet said that as long as they were eating, it had to come out eventually. They also didn't like to use the litterbox inside the crate and would often wait until morning to go. I had to start leaving the door open, putting a box outside the crate and blocking it off.

I'm glad the vet helped him to empty his bladder. I wonder if the position of the surgery incision made any difference with that. I think as long as the vet isn't concerned, it should be fine. I'm sure it will work itself out. I kept in touch with them almost every day because I had no idea what to expect and I was checking and questioning everything. We just worry about them so much.

I asked about the therapy too but they didn't seem to be concerned about it. Ash started doing stairs pretty quickly, however, he still isn't jumping. He willl jump horizontally but not vertically. He has been surprisingly good about knowing his own limits. Lulu isn't walking a whole lot yet so I will need to work with her a bit. She's not as adventurous as he is. I will get her checked at her wellness appointment next week.

You are almost over the 3 day hump. You should start to see improvement soon. Go Topaz, you can do it!

 

[Jcatbird]

I have been through the hip surgeries too. One kitty I still have and he is now 16 and has not needed the other hip done. It has been 15 years since the surgery. He is a big kitty but built long and lean. He jumps a lot and is one of the most active in the house. So.... I hope that anyone reading here will benefit from all the fantastic information previously shared here by you all as well as having the good outcome that my guy has had.

 

[OopsyDaisy]

I have been through the hip surgeries too. One kitty I still have and he is now 16 and has not needed the other hip done. It has been 15 years since the surgery. He is a big kitty but built long and lean. He jumps a lot and is one of the most active in the house. So.... I hope that anyone reading here will benefit from all the fantastic information previously shared here by you all as well as having the good outcome that my guy has had.

Thanks so much for sharing about your guy! Did he have a disease or an injury? It was the bone deterioration factor of LCPD that I was particularly concerned about. Just curious. Great to hear that he did so well and is living a nice long life.