Recently Adopted Rescue Kitty Who Survived House Fire

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KBHartley
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Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2018 5:43 pm

Recently Adopted Rescue Kitty Who Survived House Fire

Post by KBHartley »

Hi everyone,

My name is Kaitlin and I've recently adopted a little kitty named Mia who unfortunately was in a house fire in the beginning of October. Since then the clinic I work for has been wonderful in taking care of her and she's been a wonderful addition to my home. She had some severe wounds on her legs due to the fire, leaving her with only 3 claws in total (2 on one front, 1 one the other front) and on her packs she no longer has any P1 bones and is unfortunately is facing amputation of a few P2 bones early next week due to exposure through the skin. Her open wounds on her back and front legs are slowly but surely healing but after speaking with a specialist ortho surgeon, the next step to healing is getting some sort of custom boot for her to wear as all of her paw pads are gone and she will have some problems with infectious ulcerations once she is healed enough to walk around.
I just want to give Mia the best, most comfortable life possible and if anyone has any ideas as to help with that, I'd greatly appreciate. I've been in touch with companies who make prosthesis/boots for animals but none have been able to help me. Any ideas are welcome, I've been great things on this website but I have no experience with these things and would greatly appreciate any ideas.

Sincerely,

Kaitlin & Mia
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critters
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Re: Recently Adopted Rescue Kitty Who Survived House Fire

Post by critters »

:whale: Let me think. I'm trying to remember the name of the company that made my Koi Boy's custom shoes. Oh, they're out of business. https://www.bbb.org/us/ct/suffield/prof ... 1-87095966 I don't know if there's any way of contacting the woman that ran it to see if she'd make some shoes anyway. Could you find a local seamstress or tailor who might do it? Tammy and Teddy's shoes were made of nylon-type fabric, and I don't know that any old person who sews could do that. I wonder if baby socks would be enough protection? Fripple, a spinal cord injured boy who walked on his hocks, wore baby shoes with the toes cut out. Maybe a non-custom idea like those would work.
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CarolC
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Re: Recently Adopted Rescue Kitty Who Survived House Fire

Post by CarolC »

I wish there was post I could think of where someone got boots for their cat, but I can't think of one, other than Fripple who critters mentioned, for his hind foot. There was Captain Jack the Pirate Cat, but his was an amputation.

I checked Orthopets and they do prostheses but apparently not boots. Therapaw doesn't seem to have anything small enough. (I am aware of this size problem, having a chihuahua.) Since people do not usually buy boots for cats, you might search under "chihuahua boots" or "tiny dog boots" if you are googling.

I think you are going to end up in one of those situations where you try several things and maybe have to return several that don't work and get your money back.

I see some on eBay that are being modeled on cats.

Vetwrap is an idea. You would have to reapply it every day. I think that is what they use when they send a cat home after declawing. You can probably get some from the vet, or PetsMart. If you are going to use vetwrap, it is very important not stretch it when putting it on. Cut a length of it, like maybe 6", and loop it around the paw two or three times and a little way up the ankle so it is snug but not stretched, then enclose the whole paw in your hand and sqeeze. The vetwrap is self adhesive, it will gum onto itself and form a custom fitted glove.

This boot from Walkin' Pets comes really small. The XXS size is for a 1.25" wide paw and they velcro around the ankle.

https://www.handicappedpets.com/walkin- ... -and-cats/

This one, too, and it looks softer.

https://www.handicappedpets.com/walkin-traction-socks/

I don't know if this is an option, but what about padding her environment instead of her feet? Do you think the bottoms of her feet would hold up to soft carpet? The new style in houses is tile floors everywhere, or laminate. At my house I have area rugs everywhere on the kitchen floor, bathroom, foyer, anyplace there isn't carpet. I'm just trying to think whether your cat will get kitty litter inside her boots when she goes to the box, and will the "sand" in her shoes be bad for her feet. You might need to use something like Yesterday's News litter if she is going to have shoes. Also, I have one cat who insists on putting his front paw in the water bowl and flipping it everywhere. He wouldn't be able to wear boots, I don't think, or he'd have at least one wet paw all the time that wouldn't dry.

Neo-Paws makes some really tiny ones. This one has XXS that is .75 " wide, that is probably too small for a cat, you might have to go up a size. Actually they say they have XXXS and it isn't on the chart. Size chart is down at the bottom of this link.

https://www.neopaws.com/catalog/summeri ... -1908.html

This one called EZ-Paws is supposed to be easy to put on and take off, and it comes in 6 sizes. No velcro, they just pull on. It would be tempting to try if it comes small enough. I think a cat would prefer not to have velcro tabs on her ankles, the streamlined fit might be better.

https://www.neopaws.com/catalog/bootssh ... -c-39.html

Don't know if any of those would help, but I do know from experience, if you find something that's perfect for your handicapped pet, buy extra, because you never know when they might go out of production. Tammy's and Teddy's is a good example. There used to be a gal who made a special style of dog diapers called Pouch Pants and you can't get those anymore, either. I stocked up on extras of the diapers that fit my dog, hopefully a lifetime supply, so I don't have to worry. :)
KBHartley
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Re: Recently Adopted Rescue Kitty Who Survived House Fire

Post by KBHartley »

I will certainly look into those - thank you SO much for the help and all the information!
As far as her environment goes she lives in all carpeted floors now but the veterinarian I was speaking to has mentioned even on carpeted surfaces she would be having problems with ulcers on the bottom of her feet unfortunately just because of the way her back feet have lost all the P1s. We did vet wrap for a long time but it ended up only making her wounds worse and slower at healing (as of now she still has open wound from her burns). Once all her wounds are healed I could try the vet wrap but without a cone on she is one sneaky cat and has no problem chewing it off.

I never realized how little boot and prosthesis options were for cats until I became involved with this case, but obviously it's a pretty special case considering.

Thank you for your help, I'll keep you updated :)
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