Rescued 6 wk. old kitten needs amputation

[critters]

My guess is the surgeon will have to take some pains to get all the bone crunchies out of there since the damage is so severe, but cats tend to heal almost anything. Is he splinted or anything in the meantime?

[DianneB]

We discussed, but Vet didn't recommend splinting. I'll follow your recommendation if you still think he needs a splint.

He talked about a slightly foreshortened leg growth going forward, after the FHO, but not that it should bother kitty.

[CarolC]

Glad to hear the good news!

Dolly had to have an FHO not long after I adopted her. I feel like it has served her well. When the surgeon got in there, he discovered bone fragments that had probably been grinding in the joint for months. I would guess that was why she'd sometimes let out a little "Yipe!" during normal activity when it didn't look like she'd done anything unusual.

After I adopted her I started to wonder if something was wrong with her hip of her remaining leg because I have another paralyzed dog and her hip didn't seem the same as my other dog's. The vet did an x-ray and discovered the hip was broken, it had been like that for months, probably since she was a puppy, but with going through 3 fosters and losing the other leg to infection, they missed it. The one thing her leg was good for was to kick her leg and scratch her head and neck and I was afraid she would lose the ability, but she yelped sometimes when playing which meant she was in pain, so we did an FHO to make her comfortable. (I decided on FHO because replacement hips for a dog as small as mine are fairly new, and I thought she would put extra stress on it due to only having one hind leg, and she was less than 1 year old and artificial hips don't last a lifetime, which is why we just went with FHO.) After the surgery, she did not lose any of the abililty she had before surgery. She learned to scratch her head again, and to use her leg to propel herself around while playing, and she doesn't yelp anymore, and her hip is very strong.

[BendyMom]

HOOOORRAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!
and congrats on your new kitten.

[DianneB]

Carol and Bendy, Thanks so much for your support and comments.

Carol and Dolly: I didn't know, or remember, that Dolly had an FHO. (maybe during my absence) Yes, I agree about scratching her head with a rear leg. He wouldn't be able to scratch on that side.

Bendy: He looks very much like your Bendy Kitty photo. He's a little gray and black striped tabby.

[CarolC]

Here is a picture and more description.
viewtopic.php?p=68901#p68901

I'm thinking how good it is your kitten will be ~8 weeks and accustomed to taking medicine by the time he has surgery. I guess your gabapentin is liquid? Are you mixing it in canned food? I was able to do that with liquid gabapentin with Dolly and she didn't seem to notice.

I can see that in the 2011 post I mis-remembered her being able to scratch her head before surgery, and this contemporary post said she could not. This is why I need to refer back to the original and not try to go from memory when I post!

[critters]

They find a way. Tripod was missing her arm and, therefore, couldn’t wash that side of her face—she used my thumb instead.

[BendyMom]

My guys missing hind limbs come up to me and tilt their head to ask for ear scritches.

[DianneB]

Carol: The gabapentin is in pill form. I crush it in Churu. He gobbles it up. Churu comes in a few flavors and is a huge hit at our house. No more struggling with liquid or pill poppers.

Critters and Bendy: ahhh, they asked you to scratch it for them. Aren't cats wonderful! Right now, he can't scratch his right ear as the right leg won't bend, so I wash it for him with a warm washcloth. He looks a bit like a Maine Coon mix.

[CarolC]

I've seen how cats love Churu on youtube.

Right now, he can't scratch his right ear as the right leg won't bend

Dolly's leg that had the FHO is her peg leg. It wouldn't bend before she had FHO surgery and it wouldn't bend after in spite of extensive professional and home PT. The surgeon suggested he could arthrodese (surgically fuse) her leg so that although it still would not be flexible, it would be fixed in a position of better function with a little bend in the knee. But she can scratch her neck and the back of her head with it frozen in a straight peg leg position. I do not know how long her leg was straight. She was found on a sidewalk at 8 weeks old and I adopted her at 7 months old. I do not know if immediate intervention might have given her some use of that knee or if it was going to be frozen regardless. It was straight in her picture on 12-5-08 when she was about 3 months old. I do not know if the leg she lost was straight or flexible.

Dolly had surgery and now she is going to physical therapy twice a week with Katie, and she does stretching exercises and goes on the underwater treadmill. She has reasonable flexion in her hock and a little flexion in the knee. Goniometry showed she had a 23 degree reverse flexion (from holding it up off the ground in front of her) and a 30 degree possible normal flexion. She does exercises at home between PT appointments.

I have noticed 2 things since the surgery. One is, she seems to hold her leg up off the ground in front of her better now. And the other is *Yay* she is now able to scratch the back of her head and the side of her neck. This was an unexpected benefit.

Even though her knee is frozen she still uses her leg to scratch her head and neck on that side.

When we found out about the broken hip, there was a suggestion to amputate, but I'm glad we didn't, because she has mobility and can scratch, and that must be so satisfying. (It also helps keep her diaper on.)

When we couldn't restore flexibility in the knee, there was an option to arthrodese the knee, in other words do surgery so it would be in a slightly bent position instead of straight (still frozen but bent), with the idea that it might be more functional. But I decided to just leave it straight, she seemed to be doing fine.

[DianneB]

Thanks Carol for the description of Dolly's leg. I appreciate your help. What a rough start to life. So, you also got advice to amputate and defied the advice. She's such a cutie! Hope she is feeling well.

Churu: everyone (7) in our house think Churu's a treat. Just learned about it in the last few months but will now try it first before pill pockets.