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maxmoose Journey of Max as a senior tripawd (osteosarcoma)

September 19, 2021

Day 5 update

Filed under: Uncategorized — mrmaxmoose @ 11:31 pm

I’m so impressed with my little booger.  Max is doing really well.  The incision looks good and oozing is minimal.  He stopped tolerating the ice so we stopped trying.

The first 2 days he was home he had SO much energy (he loved those pain meds!).  He’s slowed down quite a bit (thank goodness but it’s also worried me a bit).  We’ve been monitoring for pain and he seems a bit more reclusive, so we called the Vet today and increased his Gabapentin to 100mg every 8 hrs.  I’ll see how it goes.  He still very much wants to be near us and have his belly rubbed.  He’s eating and drinking everything (he was always a piggy, so this is not new).  The Gabapentin helps that appetite, for sure.

He spends most of the day resting until he demands more food.  I know we need to keep the weight managed, so we’re watching how much we give him.  Did I mention this cat loves to eat?  I tried free-feeding as a kitten and that was a total disaster!  I’m actually kind of glad for the hyperthyroidism as it got him nice and svelte.  Once he’s off the Gabapentin his appetite should decrease a bit.

He pooped on the third day home!  Yay!  That was a huge relief.  He’s pooping regularly now, so I’m super glad I bought the Miralax that I never used- haha.  If I hadn’t gotten it, he wouldn’t have pooped… Murphy’s Law.

He’s taking his Felimazole tabs like normal, which is also a huge relief.  We give the Gabapentin by opening the capsule onto a spoon and mixing it in a squirt of Delectables.  He gobbles it down with zero issue.

Almost a week into the healing and I’m starting to relax a bit from the hypervigilant monitoring.  He’s still not interested in grooming or scratching his incision.  That could change…

The cat pee on him is still not all gone.  Ugh.  I used a little Dawn dishsoap on a very wet microfiber cloth and that helped.  FYI- wet cat pee on cat?  Barf-o-rama.  He’s also grooming a bit more, thank goodness.  But his belly still smells faintly of Eau De Urine.  It was on his entire belly, all legs, his head and neck, everywhere.

We allowed our other cat Gracie to come say Hi.  She sniffed him and walked away.  Yeah, I don’t blame you girl, he’s stinky.  She’s not too interested in seeing him and he hasn’t called for her yet, so that works for me.  Gracie is our psycho kitty, poor thing.  We can’t pet her or touch her (we’ve had her 14 years) and she does her own thing.  But she and Max are besties.  So I know she’s happy that he’s home, even if he stinks!

He loves using my calf and feet as a pillow.

I included a pic of our room setup and I used the wide angle so it looks MUCH bigger than it is!  The gray rug is about the length of a yoga mat.  Our house is very small.  I crammed all the fabric stuff over to the side so he can’t get behind the table.  The yoga mats do a great job of giving him traction.  There is a rug pad under that chili towel so it doesn’t slide.

I bought him an orthopedic bed that he didn’t care about.  So a quilt covered with his favorite Disney blanket works better.

September 16, 2021

Day 2 post-amputation

Filed under: Uncategorized — mrmaxmoose @ 7:00 pm

Hi everyone! My name is Katie and we live in San Diego. I’ve been lurking for a few weeks while we had tests done and Max was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. His right front leg was amputated on Tuesday Sept 14.

Max is 15, has hyperthyroidism and a slightly enlarged heart and a heart murmur from the hyperthyroidism. Luckily the CT scan was clear except for the leg and he was a good candidate for amputation.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. He was there one night and we picked him up yesterday. When we picked him up he was growling (both kind of funny and really sad), pretty grumpy, and he smelled really terrible. He managed to get the e-collar off in the box on the way home. He HATED it. I think he had also maybe been laying in his own pee, poor thing. So we got him cleaned up, put a modified onesie on him and WOW what a different cat. I have been shocked at how incredibly happy and amazingly mobile he is. Like he is really, really happy. Belly rubs, chin scratches, head bumps, never-ending happy purring, all of it.

He’s eating and drinking and taking meds pretty much like normal. I’m telling you, he’s a really happy cat! I wasn’t expecting this level of normalcy at all.

I am extremely concerned about pain management and like some of you, I was just send home with an NSAID (Onslor) and the Gabapentin I’d already been using. He did get injections of Nocita and BupSR which are supposed to last 72 hours. I fought pretty hard for more pain meds, but to no avail. I’ll monitor him closely on Sat and if I start to notice a change in behavior, I’ll call and get some meds. He’s also letting me ice him without much fuss.

We have him confined to my sewing room and we’re using the bottom tray of a small dog crate as a litter pan (we switched to that a few weeks ago since he was pooping everywhere even after we modified the regular litter box to have a lower entrance) lined with a piddle pad and covered with a layer of litter and cat attract additive. It works pretty well for him, at least for the urine. We scoop when we see it and change the pad/ all the litter weekly. Hoping he starts pooping on the tray… that would be awesome. I also got the 15 degree tilted food/ water bowls on a small pedestal and they have been fantastic.

I’ve been having issues with the neck of the onesie stretching out and exposing the incision. I got the 0-3 month size and he’s a big orange tabby (13 lbs before leg was amputated). I finally safety pinned it closed much more tightly on each side and that seems to be working well. He doesn’t seem overly interested in licking it. He goes to groom it, licks fabric and gives up. He is SO happy not to be in a cone.

I really appreciate the Purrkins onesie post!! Purrkins looks so cute. Max looks like a drunken sailor with the huge stretched out neck- lol!

I have a second cat (same age), but she doesn’t seem to be interested in seeing him yet.

I will keep you all updated and just wanted to thank you all so much for all of the info and resources on this site. The info been so helpful as we navigated this. I know to post pics on here that I have to have them on a blog somewhere, so maybe I’ll get that started. Thanks again! Fingers crossed as he continues to heal.

I am not creative and thus this post is the same as my forum post!

Neckline stretched out. Fixed with safety pins.

Litter tray that seems to work well

Angled food bowls makes eating easy!

Hello Tripawds!

Filed under: Uncategorized — mrmaxmoose @ 6:28 pm

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