Hello Everyone,
My name is Sara. This is my first post here and I look forward to hearing back from anyone who has suggestions or ideas.
Several weeks ago, a cat living outside of our house had a litter of four kittens. We were familiar with this cat since we fed her, but we suspected she was either long-strayed or feral, since she would not allow us to touch her at any time. Working with a local feral and stray cat rescue, foster, and spay/neuter program, we decided to foster these kittens in our home, as well as their mother while she was nursing, and then try to adopt them out once they were big enough. This upcoming Saturday, the kittens will be five weeks old, and soon the mother will be spayed and re-released to her outdoor living situation.
Of the four kittens, two are missing parts of one of their hind legs. We were shocked by this, since when we first saw the kittens, the day after they were born, they were all whole. Some time between their second day of life, and two weeks later when we trapped them to bring them in, they were injured and suffered losses. Both of the kittens have healed stumps, are healthy as far as I can tell, and get around well enough.
The male kitten is missing all of one of his hind femurs, basically missing everything below one of his hind knees. The female is missing her back paw. They both are able to walk and run and roll around, and have even begun to try and hop up into my lap while playing. The male with the greater loss is slower at walking, but today I saw him run around for the first time. The female, unless you look closely, doesn't even present with any difference in gait. Sometimes she holds her footless leg up when she is standing so the stump does not touch the ground.
These kittens have yet to be vetted, though I think the local rescue organization is going to help us arrange it when they are big enough to get spayed and neutered. I am concerned about these two and the possible quality of life for them with or without amputation procedures. Furthermore, the cost of having complete amputations of their legs is likely well beyond my budget, especially since their injuries were not anticipated when we decided to foster this family.
I have read online that many cats who have partial leg loss have their entire leg amputated. Is this always the case? Especially with a kitten whose leg is very-nearly whole, as in the case of the footless female, it seems like it would be terrible to have her entire back leg removed due to the minimal loss. Some suggest that the cat would just injure its "stump" by walking on it, and that amputation is best.
Do you all have any thoughts, experiences, or advice to offer? Clearly I have to get a vet's opinion, but I am troubled thinking about further amputation for these kittens. Especially the female who is so very nearly whole.
Thank you,
Sara
Two Kittens, Six Whole Legs
Re: Two Kittens, Six Whole Legs
Yes, vets like to push the complete amputation bit, but my Lefty does just fine with only about half of his hand. If it were me, I'd just wait and see; IF a problem with skin damage or wound opening comes up, well, you can always amputate then.
Re: Two Kittens, Six Whole Legs
I'm sorry, my comments are not about the handicap, which I think is what you really posted about, but I have no experience with cats with partial limbs. I do have experience with ferals. I'm not sure where you live, but if you have raccoons or possums, both will try to kill and eat kittens, so that might be what happened. Possibly the mom cat might have been able to chase the predator away, if that's what it was. Maybe she had a good defensible nest. I imagine the mom cat was very stressed by the time you brought her in, after trying to defend her litter all night every night for 2 weeks. When you see raccoons or possums and feral cats together, they seem to coexist, and if you visit a feral cat colony at night you will see raccoons and possums walking around in the same area in close proximity to the full grown cats and sharing space without problems, but it's a different matter when a litter is born. I don't know if the predators wait for mom to go out hunting and then they raid the nest, or if they are bold enough to do it with her nearby, I only know the results. Just my random thoughts, but I've thought before that it's no wonder feral cats are skittish, considering how many of them probably witnessed and heard littermates or kittens of other litters killed and eaten. It seems like they'd all have night terrors and PTSD before they were even weaned. I'm being serious, not trying to be the least bit funny. No wonder kittens that are born to house cats in the back of a hall closet are tamer, they are not exposed to experiences to scar them at a young age. They are not taught by a highly stressed mom how to react to danger, they do not imprint fear and stress, they just play a lot and eat a lot and sleep a lot.
The rest of what I say may not apply to the place you got the kittens from at all, but it's something I learned recently from a colony where I have been helping them catch up on TNR. One of the reasons for feeding ferals in the daytime and picking it all up before dark is to avoid attracting possums and raccoons, which are nocturnal. It's not surprising if a pregnant cat decides to have the kittens close to the feeding station so she does not have far to go for food when she has to leave her litter, and if raccoons or possums are in the habit of visiting to eat leftover or spilled cat food, it's not a good situation for kittens that are in a nest nearby. There is a colony in my subdivision where the caretaker told me the mom cats have the kittens out in the neighborhood somewhere, but when the kittens are old enough to start being weaned, the mom cats move their litters in closer to the feeding station, and that's when whole litters are then wiped out by raccoons.
I think I'd work on making them feel safe and happy and not expose them to unnecessary stress if possible, they've had so much already. I know a mom cat can continue lactating if spayed, but I do not think I would be in a hurry to remove the kittens from the mom, perhaps you could keep them together a little longer. I guess it's a judgment call and a lot depends on how the mom is responding to being indoors. Best wishes to you and the work you are doing.
The rest of what I say may not apply to the place you got the kittens from at all, but it's something I learned recently from a colony where I have been helping them catch up on TNR. One of the reasons for feeding ferals in the daytime and picking it all up before dark is to avoid attracting possums and raccoons, which are nocturnal. It's not surprising if a pregnant cat decides to have the kittens close to the feeding station so she does not have far to go for food when she has to leave her litter, and if raccoons or possums are in the habit of visiting to eat leftover or spilled cat food, it's not a good situation for kittens that are in a nest nearby. There is a colony in my subdivision where the caretaker told me the mom cats have the kittens out in the neighborhood somewhere, but when the kittens are old enough to start being weaned, the mom cats move their litters in closer to the feeding station, and that's when whole litters are then wiped out by raccoons.
I think I'd work on making them feel safe and happy and not expose them to unnecessary stress if possible, they've had so much already. I know a mom cat can continue lactating if spayed, but I do not think I would be in a hurry to remove the kittens from the mom, perhaps you could keep them together a little longer. I guess it's a judgment call and a lot depends on how the mom is responding to being indoors. Best wishes to you and the work you are doing.