Leg Amputation. Please help :(

[feralvr]

Hope to hear that Charlie is back home today. :cross: I am sure he will appreciate his quite, safe room until he is recovered and those stitches come out. I imagine you will be spending much time in that room with Charlie as well. We all hope to hear a positive and great update that he is home and on the road to recovery and regaining his strength quickly.

 

[lamiatron]

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:

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• lamiatron
• Sep 18, 2015

 

[denice]

I am so glad he is home and on the mend.  It will probably take a while for the hissing to subside his scent is completely different  from being at the vets and having surgery.  His scent will return to normal and the other kitties will get used to him again.

 

[lamiatron]

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;

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

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.

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

SLEEPING LIKE A BOSS

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

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..

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

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

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

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.

IMG_0841.JPG

• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

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

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

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

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• lamiatron
• Sep 21, 2015

...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.

 

[choppedliver77]

You are a fantastic momma to Charlie!  He's very lucky to have you and you to have him!!   Hang in there guys!  

 

[mservant]

@Lamiatron    It is brilliant to see Charlie making his way about your home, and venturing up in to the lower parts of the cat tree.  I am well impressed that he made it in to the cat tree den with that collar on too.   

I am sure he will feel much better once he looses the collar of shame, no kitty likes those and he's done very well tolerating it for this long.   I wouldn't be surprised if the collar wasn't the main reason for him being subdued and looking depressed sometimes.    Do you know when he will be allowed to go without the collar / have stitches removed?

Remembering the window being scary is quite possible.  Cat memories are based on survival and Charlie's instincts almost certainly send him messages now that windows are not nice.   Once he is free to move more without his collar you should notice him looking more interested in things and not so sleepy and depressed though.  He will probably be tired right now from the trauma his body has been through and all the heeling that is going on inside so let him rest up, he will be using lots of reserves to get healthy again.

Looking forward to hearing that Jet is more settled with him, and that they are together again.   I am confident you will all feel quite different once the collar isn't needed any more.

 

[feralvr]

What a fantastic update !!! WOW - Charlie looks to be quite happy in the pictures and thank you for sharing them. :bigthumb: See how well he is doing ???!!!! This is great news. Well on the road to a quick and speedy recovery.

 

[artiemom]

Charlie looks so awesome! so much more comfortable and painfree!

He is so happy!! and at peace...

Thank you for taking such good care of him.

I would have spent all week end with him also....just watching and cuddling....

 

[artiemom]

Are there any new updates on Charlie's condition?  Thinking about him...and his progress.....