Lulu-a week since kitty amputation

[srlello]

Hello everyone I'm so glad I've found such a useful website out there with so much information!

Last week (9th August) my 9 month old kitten lulu got spooked by a dog when she was playing in the bushes and ran the wrong way into a road instead of home. Luckily she is microchipped and a lovely motorist who saw the accident took her straight to a local vets who scanned her and called us right away.

Hew hind right leg was so badly damaged that it was amputated on the Thursday (11th Aug) and my little baby was sent home the following day all stitched up with 10 days worth of antibiotics and painkillers. Now a week on, the antibiotics are drawing out any infection so she's a little gooey but is slowly getting there, I'm just so happy that she's alive!!

Does anyone have any advise or tips or anything that I need to keep an eye on while she heals and recovers?

Thank you for Your support
Sarah

[Christine]

Hi Sarah. Welcome to you and baby Lulu. I know the thought of this is ripping your heart out - it is so hard to see our babies go through things we feel we have no control over. I was trying to find some posts about this situation here that would be helpful to you and ended up going out on the web to find this helpful bit of advice. Not included here, but I also read that younger cats seem to deal with this type of injury even better. Here you go. We have many lovely cat caretakers here who, I am sure, will chime in soon. Ask any questions you have and we would love a picture of Lulu!

The loss of a limb sounds catastrophic but 3 legged cats adapt well and are usually as agile and active as 4 legged cats. The loss of a limb would be catastrophic to humans, but our limbs are more specialised (2 for walking, 2 for manipulating things) while a cat's limbs are all used for walking. Three-legged cats need help grooming areas that would normally be groomed by the now-missing leg. Don't expect a recent amputee to be 'back to normal' immediately, but don't be over-protective. He must work out his new limitations and how to compensate for a missing leg. He must build up additional strength in his other limbs. He can't do this if you carry him everywhere.

After an initial adjustment period, which is sometimes painful to watch, he will probably be able to jump and climb much as before. If he has lost a hind leg, he may not be able to jump as high. If he has lost a foreleg, he may find landing more difficult, especially when jumping down from a high place. At first he will make some mistakes and you can expect some minor (hopefully) injuries, but he will quickly work out his own limitations and even find alternative routes to favourite places. The loss of a fore-leg is actually more serious for a cat than the loss of a hind-leg. This is because the forelegs are used when the cat lands after jumping while the hindlegs are used mostly for propulsion.

It is important that a three-legged cat is not allowed to become obese because he has fewer limbs on which to distribute his weight. It is also important that he get exercise, gentle at first to help him adapt to his condition and more active later on to strengthen his remaining limbs. Most 3 legged cats adapt well enough to become as active and energetic as they were before losing the leg - but you can't expect this to happen overnight and it may be painful to watch him adjusting.

[critters]

My Tripod was just 2 MO when the fan belt took her arm off, but she liked to play ping pong in the bathtub in the early days so the ball would rebound itself to her.