Liz, mother to Scout, here.  Hi everyone.  I have been reading other kitty tripawd blogs for a week now and have found so much comfort in having a better idea of what to expect when Scout goes under the knife this week.  I wanted to contribute by sharing Scout’s story especially because there are not many examples of 16 year old kitties going through amputation.  I was sooooo nervous until I found stories of similar age group fur friends and that gave me more confidence in the decision.  I’m still pretty nervous but I second guess the decision so much more and now know this is really what is best.

Scout came into my life 16 years ago when my best human friend had an aunt in the country who’s barn cat had a litter of kittens.  I spotted Scout of of the litter immediately (she was the cutest one) and took her home as soon as she was weened.  She’s been a healthy happy kitty except for some kidney and thyroid issues that her rockstar vet (shout out to Dr. Matt Murphy at City Vet!!) has been able to manage.

A little more than a year ago a lump on her left front “wrist” appeared out of nowhere and was quickly diagnosed as a nerve sheath tumor.  We had an operation to remove it and Dr. Murphy warned it would likely be back.  It returned about 6-8 months later and since there was barely enough skin to close her leg the first time a second operation was not possible.  We began treatments of lomustine to shrink the growth.  While the lomustine was slowing the growth it was doing more harm than good to her white blood cell count.  We drastically reduced the dosage which drastically reduced the results and the tumor continued to grow quickly.

Unfortunately it was painful for her so we started pain management with low doses of gabapentin that continued to increase.  Now the gabapentin isn’t working anymore and the decision has been made to amputate.  Good news is that the tumor does not appear to have spread to her lungs and her oncologist has approved her as a good candidate for surgery.  Now I’m keeping her as comfortable as I can on both gabapentin and buprenorphine until she goes in for surgery in 2 days.

Amazon stress shopping has begun and so far I’ve purchased:

• New litter box with low entry
• Stairs for the bed
• Comfy Cone
• New toys for post recovery
• Extra yummy treats

Tomorrow I’ll be shopping for:

• New pet bed and blanket so she can be covered.  Usually she naps under the covers in bed.
• Onsies
• Some sort of recovery confinement solution.  I read about someone’s experience using a large dog crate and may do the same.  I live in a 600 sq foot studio and the only confined space is the bathroom.  Neither of us would want to be shut in there for 2 weeks.

Looking forward to her being able to rest comfortably again soon.