maxmoose Journey of Max as a senior tripawd (osteosarcoma)

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.