Month: June 2018

So we are almost at 3 weeks post-op and before he was mastering the three-legged hop very well. We went for our follow-up appointment last week and he was given the ‘looks great’ by the vet. In the last few days (ever since his stitches came out and onesie/t-shirt came off) it is like he has completely forgotten how to use the three legs and is angry when he tries to even attempt to walk. When I try and help him along he tries to throw that back missing leg around like crazy, and he flops all over. Has anyone ever experienced this or have any advice?

BEFORE:

NOW:

Well… it has been 13 days since surgery and we just had our follow-up appointment. Stitches are out and the incision has healed so well that he is allowed to groom that area again! Yay for no more onesies at night and big t-shirts during the day to keep him away!!!

Vet was very impressed with how well he is able to get around and his ability to use the litter box… especially given his size! He was even given the ok to travel if we want. Dad’s family has a lake house about 4 hours away that we usually go to for the 4th of July and he is able to come if I choose to bring him instead of leaving him with my mom like usual. Only suggestion was to continue to keep him in his playyard (thank goodness for facebook marketplace) at night or when he is alone so that he doesn’t hurt himself by trying to jump on the couches like he has been.

Wish we better news about the biopsy but all we can hope for is that removing the leg eliminated the extremely rare type of cancer that they found he had. So rare, that our vet of 18 years had never seen it in a cat. We gave him a fighting chance and that is all that matters!

Well, it has been almost two weeks since surgery and things seem to get better each day. Maybe it is just me but I am still not ready to give him the run of the house when he is home alone or at night. He tries to jump on the couches and chairs like he used to go but cant get that big body of his off the ground so I am a little scared he will hurt himself. Decided to invest in a baby play yard that has all he needs and he seems to like it… truthfully it probably just makes me feel better!

I am beyond happy that he has completely gone back to using the litter box. It shocks me to see him be able to hop in and out of it the way he does. This was one of my biggest worries in the days after surgery but he figured it out as everyone said he would.

He, and I, are definitely sick of the onesies and t-shirts to keep him away from the incision/whatever stitches he has left (they are dissolvable). At what point was the incision no long a concern… meaning licking was ok (no cone of shame)?

Our movement has gotten so much better! Today he actually hobbled all the way to his old litter box, HOPPED in, went, and then ran into the kitchen to try and steal his brothers food… just like old times!!! Stitches are still SUPER itchy and won’t leave them alone… so bad that he is trying to lick them through his t-shirt. Wish there was something we could do to help that! All in all, recovery is going pretty well.

Things had been going pretty well but we had a little setback last night. All of a sudden I noticed one of his front paws was all swollen and immediately jumped to the worst- another tumor (considering thats how this last one started). Thank goodness we have an amazing vet that took us after closing time real quick last night. It turned out to be nothing, just some fluid build up from the way he had been sleeping with his t-shirt on!

I can’t believe how well we have been doing with no pain meds! He is totally fine, other than the stitches being SUPER ITCHY! They used dissolvable stitches which are supposed to last two weeks yet someone has many that are already gone… he never has more than 30 seconds between shirt/onesie changes but he is a freaking quick little bugger! Vet said all is ok because he has another layer of embedded stitches underneath. Said incision looks like it is healing well.

Our biggest issue has been using the bathroom. Every single time he pees he requires a total wash cloth bath because he sits on the pee pee pad and just lets it got… for like 3 minutes! It is amazing how much he can hold. For the first time today he hopped into his litter-box, STOOD, and peed! Then ‘ran’ around the room to get up back up on the couch to ‘his spot.’ He has been playing us yesterday and today and made us think he had regressed… what a trickster!