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three legged cats

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Originally posted by: ElFenix
my cat had her leg amputated due to skin cancer and it was almost like she didn't notice. when i got her back from the vet she shot under the bed immediately, but by the next morning she was normal enough to have gotten a turkey leg off of the kitchen table and was eating it. bad kitty!
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cool. maybe I should stock up on turkey legs. 🙂

anno (leanin' toward tuna, actually)
 
i've seen 2 legged cats before (amputated diagonally) on tv. they seemed to adapt fine and were able to move around pretty well.
 
Originally posted by: Bassyhead
i've seen 2 legged cats before (amputated diagonally) on tv. they seemed to adapt fine and were able to move around pretty well.
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Well, I was going to say that all of the three-legged cats I've ever seen seem to be just fine, but I had my doubts about a two-legged cat's quality of life. I guess I no longer need to doubt.
 
i saw a two legged dog on tv, amputated on teh same side. he learned to get around, but would lean against a wall when it was tired. i can't imagine a cat having to hop.
 
Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Originally posted by: Bassyhead
i've seen 2 legged cats before (amputated diagonally) on tv. they seemed to adapt fine and were able to move around pretty well.
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Well, I was going to say that all of the three-legged cats I've ever seen seem to be just fine, but I had my doubts about a two-legged cat's quality of life. I guess I no longer need to doubt.
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I think if it comes to amputating a second leg or letting him go, I'll have to let him go.. I really don't think I can ask him to make that kind of adjustment. but.. I hope it doesn't come to that.

washed his favorite blankie for the trip home, found a less favorite one for the trip to the vet in the AM (he'll likely soil that one.. he ::hates:: the car).. got a bunch of gooey food and a bottle of salmon cat gravy to fancy up his kibble (cat gravy.. who knew!).. figure he might need more exciting food to entice him to make the effort to get there, initially.. fed him his last supper (he can't have anything to eat til he comes home, now.. which means his sister can't either, which is gonna make for a noisy pesky next 14 hours or so).. fortunately, I get to sleep through 6 or 7 of 'em 🙂 ).. poor thing. that leg hurts him.. maybe he'll be glad to be rid of it.

ya got any positive energy to spare, send it his way tomorrow.. his name is possum, and he's not mr. perfect kitty by any means, but.. he's a good guy. I want him to get better.

anno
 
i had a friend who had a three legged cat (back leg) and it was an outdoor country cat. it was vicious and all the dogs and cats around were afraid of it.
 
Originally posted by: virtueixi
Good luck with your kitty, how much is the surgery if you don't mind me asking?
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I have no idea, actually. didn't ask.. guess I'll find out tomorrow.

anno
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
What a twisted thread...in the wild, handicapped animals get slaughtered. Let nature BE, please.
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Stop being a hardass Michael. 😉 I found a three legged squirrel that was only a few weeks old. I kept it and raised it and it was the best pet I have ever had. She surely would have died in the wild like you say but I could not let that happen. had a three legged dog for 11 years also....so three legged aniamals get by quite fine...unless they are wild where they will be food real quick.
 
ya got any positive energy to spare, send it his way tomorrow.. his name is possum, and he's not mr. perfect kitty by any means, but.. he's a good guy. I want him to get better.
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Purrs coming Possum's way.
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
What a twisted thread...in the wild, handicapped animals get slaughtered. Let nature BE, please.
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When the animals got chopped in the fan in the engine bay of the car they got a shotgun blast and a quick burying in the field. I can't ever see paying hard earned cash on an animal like that.
 
I had a feline tripod and he did okay with it. He was missing a back leg which is much worse - think about squatting...

They just aren't smart enough to dwell on the loss and adjust remarkably fast. Don't feel bad about it at all and good luckj to both of you...
 
I had a kitten once when I was a kid that grew up to be a full sized cat that was born without a front leg. It got around just fine, up and down stairs since it was born playing with it's bros and sis'
 
Originally posted by: Azraele
I'm glad things went well. 🙂

Let us know how he does at home.
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he came home last night. he was pretty much just a lap rag on a blanket for hours but eventually got up and made his way on jello legs to his favorite miserable kitty hidey spot under my bed. and he pretty much stayed there until lunch time when he came out and had a little kibble. and went back to his hidey spot. and he came out a bit ago to have a little dinner, and had a bit of a rest and a wash in the family room before he went back to his hidey spot. he's alert now, and grooming himself and purring when you pet him, and taking some water and a bit of food.. but I think he has some pain, I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and see if he thinks he might need some more meds. he's getting around fairly well when he decides to move, though. his sister has decided he's frankenkitty and is taking great pains to be anywhere he isn't, at all times.

virtueixi, to answer your question, it cost 490.00. I imagined it would be more than that. I don't know if that sounds expensive to other people or not.. but to put it in perspective, monday we spent 250 to buy tickets to see george carlin next month (us and the kids and their boy/girlfriends (heh.. one of each)).. it'll take another 125 or so to take everybody out to dinner and pay to park.. my kitty is definitely worth more to me than 2 nights entertainment.. so I figure it was a hot deal. 🙂


anno

 
update:

Possum got his stiches out today! he's doing great. clyde-the-vet says we can expect to keep him for a good long while now. 🙂

the biopsy said he had a spindle cell sarcoma which seldom metastasizes (at least in cats). yay! 🙂

he's really doing great. he can't (or won't) come down stairs yet, but since we figured that out, he hasn't gone up any either. I guess he figured it out too.. I expect he'll get there eventually, but there's no reason he needs to go upstairs, so.. is not a big deal. that's pretty much the only thing he can't do, though.. and he's back to his old self, every other way. well.. except for the hairless threelegged thing.. but the hair is coming back, so he won't always be so funny looking.

he's doing great. 🙂

anno
 
Animals seem to do a lot better than humans when a limb is amputated. Makes sense; cats and dogs use their limbs for walking, not complex tasks. If you amputate only one then they still have three others to use.

My highschool drama teacher had a dog with three legs. He was a great dog, cheerful, didn't seem to mind the missing leg, though he hopped more than walked. It even moved closer to the center of his body to compensate for the loss.

Our old vet had a cat with two partially amputated front legs. (from a fire) He seemed to be fine, though he spent most of his time in his kitty bed or lounging somewhere else. So basically he acted like any other cat. 😛
 
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