Smore the Trikitty

It’s been 4 weeks today since Smore had her amputation! My oh my how the time does fly. I know I said I’d post pictures of her possible cat family, but I forgot it was Thursday today! It seems so lomg ago that I gave her to the student vet who would be overseeing her care for surgery. I remember being terrified and thinking I might never see her again if something went wrong. But she’s been a trooper.

She continues to shock me with her ability to adapt and with her amazing attitude. She’s not a very typical cat.

Over this past month, she’s learned to stalk her “prey” again and catch it midair with one paw. She can balance on her back end longer than I thought possible. She’s learned to jump up and rest on my shoulder. She’s taught me how to play cat games.

I swear she reminds me of a wrestler. She’ll attack a toy and then tap out by running into my lap or behind me. That’s my cue that it’s time to set up the hunt again.

Sometimes she goes straight for the poles to knock them out of my hands too. She’s intelligent enough to know I control them, and she seems to know her best chance lies when I lower the wand.

If I’m not paying attention, she’ll pounce on the toy to make it move for her.

her favorite toys are DaBird and a wand toy that has interchangeable ends. Her favorite though is when there’s nothing attached and she can just chase the string.

she has begun to climb again, and she’s also starting to try to use that invisible arm to cover her food and litter, which seems to pain me more than her.

She’s taken her first stroll outside on a leash and harness too. She’s also done flips in the air while playing. Seriously, there’s nothing she can’t do, except use that paw.

She has come such a long way. It’s been a little over a month since she hopped imto my life, yet I can’t remember life without her.

So here’s to Smore and all the memories she’s given me this month. I look forward to all those that are yet to come!

My dad came to visit me today. He’s staying for a while. I asked him if he could make me a cat tower so Smore could see out the window. He needed tools out of the garage, and he was trying to figure out how to get rid of the bees. He thinks they are yellow jackets despite the fact they didn’t seem to attack Pebbles repeatedly from what I could tell.

well I carried Smore outside for the first time since she’s been off her amputation medicines. She was very calm and took it all in. So I put her harness and leash on her and opened the big overhead door to the garage.

She was a real champ. She didn’t move much at first, but I’m not sure if that’s because of the harness or because she was sunbathing. We didn’t stroll too far from the garage because I’m scared she’ll catch the killer kitty diseases and because I wasn’t sure how she’d do on the leash. She wanted to go on the porch, so I let her. She saw a daddy longlegs and wanted to hunt it. She was good about not pulling too when she didn’t get her way for the most part.

Until my dad started using the saw. Then she was trying to get out of her harness like she was on fire. She almost fell off the porch but dad turned off the saw and I scooped her up.

I’ve determined Smore trusts me. It’s the only explanation I have for how she managed to sit in my lap the next hour while he sawed and drilled. She watched with fear and later I think curisoity. Eventually between saws and even during drilling once she groomed herself and kneaded my jeans. I was sure she’d put up a fight and try to run like she had earlier when he worked and I’d be scratched to pieces, but she lied there just watching. Didn’t even jump, though I did tell her when it was coming because she had her back to him. When he turned it on though she’d turn to watch. I tried covering her ears, but for some reason she wanted to listen. She’s a brave girl.

I think I will have to find a better harness if kne even exists that is catproof. This ine is still to big for her neck but thankfully she didn’t get out of it.

I’m not sure if she enjoyed the outdoors, but I am sure she liked the sunshine and sitting on the swinging chair. I’m sure it was more interesting out there. She definitely heard some things she wanted to go after.

I havent decided if I want the Feline leukemia and fiv shots or if I want her to be allowed outdoors. I’m still scared she will disappear if not supervised and I’m scared her kitten curiosity will get the better of her and she will run off. Yet I also think sunshine is good for her. And grass too.

what to do?

And I may have also found Smore’s cat family. I’ll show you them tomorrow. 🙂

I guess I should call this the Smore and Pebbles blog.

Well the vet was just as perplexed as I was about Pebble’s episode Saturday. My vet is a husband/wife duo, and Pebbles has only seen the wife up until today. I also brought up my concerns about he supposed skin tag on her side that has been around for quite a while. The wife said it was just a sin tag and not cancerous.

However, while the husband was inspecting it, it came free, and he discovered it was a sebacious cist caused by a gland blockage.It was so gross as he cleaned it out.I’m glad I didn’t continue to pursue being a vet. Seriously, it was bleeding and there was this cottage cheese like stuff inside. ICK!

She’s on amoxicillan, but thankfully it’s pills instead of liquids (I can’t stand the smell of it because I toook it so often as a kid for earaches). She gets them every 12 hours and a peroxide cleaning twice a day as well. In two weeks I’m expected to all and tell them how she’s doing.

If she has a reaction like that again in the future, I’m to write it down so we can figure out what caused it. He said it also didn’t sound like a typical allergic reaction because of how quick it was, but it was definitely possible. I now have benadryl on hand for her. I also found out my vet does have after hours.

I feel like I made a million mistakes thus far with my doggie since I moved here, and many more on Saturday. I should have been better prepared. Thankfully everything was okay, and I’m better prepared for the future.

She gets her bloodwork results back tomorrow. It’s an old age blood screen plus a deramaxx sreen since they sometimes have liver trouble after taking deramaxx. Hopefully all comes back well.

She cried the whole time, as typical with her. Hope they enjoyed her song choice.

Pebbles could smell that Smore had been in my car I think. She kept smelling where her carrier usually is. Smore was also unhappy that I didn’t play with her before Pebbles appointment.

I’m going to go make it up to her now. I even bought her a new toy. I swear I buy her something new every time I go to the store it seems like. I’d buy toys for Pebbles but she doesn’t like to play. I bought her some pig ears and a greenie, but one of them gave her the runs. 🙁

So tomorrow should return to more tripawd pet specific. Pebbles just needed some attention, and I was worried about her. 🙂 and now to go give Smore her new toy! Hope she likes it.

Smore has finally started showing interest in climbing again. I think her experience with the box that turned over on her while she was on her meds after surgery scarred her for a while.

I rearranged some of the furniture to make it a little safer for her since of course she picked the spot I didn’t clean as well. I should have known she would make her way there though because it was where she would lay when we were inside with the garage door open. I used a bunch of boxes I had from the Day of the Dead altar projects the kids did this year (I’m a Spanish/English teacher) to make a staircase to her hideaway. She was mad she couldn’t get up there while I was doing it, so she tried her best to figure out a new way up there. After I finished, she lied on the boxes with a look of total contentment for a while. Then, she explored all the way to the top of the staircase.

She’s getting stronger each day, and I swear she’s getting more and more energetic as well. I think she’s getting more confident too. She seems to not cuddle as much, which makes me sad, but that’s because she wants to play, play, play.

I always sit or lie on the floor with her so that I can be closer to her in hopes that it’ll build a stronger bond since she can climb into my lap more easily. She enjoys using me as a shield to hide from the toys she’s stalking. Sometimes she also uses my lap as a perch to jump down onto her “prey”.

Twice now she has jumped onto my shoulder from the ground. And it’s not from play. The first time I think was because she was hungry. The second time, she ended up lying down with her body curled across my shoulders and her head right next to mine. She rubbed against me and just lied there for a few seconds. It was weird.

Socks, my previous cat, would occassionaly perch himself atop my shoulder and sit there like a parrot. Usually it was right before bedime. It reminded me of him.

She also still licks me, and today she randomly got nose to nose with me. It’s been a while since she’s done that. She’s also becoming more vocal I think. It’s been really interesting trying to learn cat lingo and body language. Hopefully eventually I can figure out what she wants. I’m getting better.

I think she’s one of the cats who wags her tail when she’s content rather than agitated like Socks did. I see her wag or flick it and back off thinking she’s getting annoyed, and she’ll look at me and rub up against me like “Why did you stop?!”

In other furbaby news, Pebbles has an appointment with the vet tomorrow to discuss Saturday and get her senior blood work done. Hopefully it all goes well. 🙂

Well, it was hard to sleep last night because I was still worried.

Thankfully, Pebbles is still doing well. She still shows no signs that yesterday even happened. She showed no signs of hives or swelling unless they are underneath all that fur coat. I figured they’d be more concentrated near the site of the bee sting.

I did notice something on her face, but I can’t tell if it’s another skin tag or if it’s a stinger, and of course Pebbles won’t sit still long enough to examine it. Hopefully the vet will be able to see us tomorrow so I can get that looked at. She’s standing next to me staring at me like she knows I’m writing about her, LOL.

Smore is doing well too. I bought her DaBird by GoCat and it got here on Friday. Smore absolutely loves it. The first day we played with it I had to put it up because I didn’t want her to overdo it; I thought she was panting super hard but I think she was doing that cat smell thing with their mouth. Anyway, afterward she was staring up at the shelf where I put it and you could tell that she was trying to figure out how to get it.

I keep it in the house so she can’t get it, but she does enjoy playing with it. It’s exciting to watch how she can just lie there while it goes above her and she can reach up, grab it with her paw, and shove it in her mouth in a second.

She has also started to get in the house when I open the door. It’s definitely time to start desensitizing Pebbles to the little furball.

First, thanks to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts on my last post. I just needed some reassurance that I was doing the right thing for Smore and wasn’t just being selfish and therefore blinded by the love I have for her. It’s good to know that it doesnt seem to be the case.

So, as you all know, I was first owned by a Siberian husky named Pebbles. Today this post is about her and our terrifying experience today.

I have a large dog run outside for Pebbles because we have 40 acres and not a bit of it is fenced. She enjoys having the freedom to chose where she’s going to go potty, but no fence +husky = bad idea. So we used the old extension panels (originally the panels made 3 kennels for each member of the rock pack) that were being used to make our normal fence taller because Pebbles and the pack were known for escaping. So now she has a nice area outside to go walk around in and explore while she does her business.

Today as she sniffed around the ground she came across a nest of ground nesting bees. I didn’t realize there was a nest inside her pen. She backed away quickly and began shaking her head. Then she started sneezing and pawing at her face. I realized then she had been stung.

She made her way to the gate, then went back towards the nest, and then started screaming. I’ve never heard her make that sound.I ran to her and she was halfway down. By the time I got to her she was all the way down. Her breathing started to slow and I swear it stopped altogether at one point. her eyes remained opened and I lifted her head and brought her face to me. She was completely limp and unresponsive though. I was certain the life had left her completely. I was certain she had just died.

I started screaming her name.

Finally her head moved to the side. She looked like a dog waking up from anesthesia – or at least how I imagine it.Her movements were awkward and slow. She looked at me; Ive never been so relieved to see those baby blue eyes. it was like she had decided it wasn’t time to go or she heard me and came back. I don’t know.

She lied there for a while. I let her, too shocked to see her awake and responsive again and also wanting her to make the call as to when she felt comfortable getting up. The bee nest was about a foot maybe a foot and half away from where we were but thankfully none were interested in us. Some flies landed on her, so I moved her tail to see if she had pooped. I know it’s common for people right after they die to release their bowels, and I know it’s also common after seizures. She hadn’t pooped, but she had peed. She doesn’t like her tail (or any other part of her body) messed with, so of course she ended up standing up halfway. I put her leash on her just in case she decided to stumble towards the beesin her disoriented state.

She got up and went to the gate though. We came back inside with no problems. I immediately called my dad and started crying as I told him what happened. I’m in an incredibly rural area and had no idea where the emergency vet was or if they could do anything. I called my mom, but she didn’t answer too and I called my previous vet because I know they have emergency hours. They told me there wasn’t anything they could do over the phone though but to look for hives.

She has none; she doesn’t appear to have a stinger in her either. The nearest ER vet according to my google skills is 1-2 hours away. My mom called me back, and by this time, Pebbles was acting relatively normal. She was breathing hard, but it’s hot out. She was obsessively licking her butt too, but I know she had pee on her fur.

My mom didn’t hear the part about being stung at first, so she assumed Pebbles had witness another seizure.

She had one long ago one day wheni was home alone with her. She started walking funny and her eyes were darting back and forth in her head. She ended up lying down and convulsing. When I took her to the vet, the doctor said it may have been due to vertigo. She hasn’t had one since.

The two experiences were very different. In the first, she convulsed and her eyes darted back and forth. This time, she was in the process of lying down and was howling/screaming. I don’t know if that was the actual convulsion because she was kind of going back and forth like she couldn’t decide if she should lie down or get up. Or if that was just what she did to make that sound?i don’t know. I also don’t remember her stop breathing the first time.

Of course, when Pebbles goes into a deep sleep, she looks like she isn’t breathing because her breaths are deep and far between. Perhaps that’s what this was and I was too panicked to notice she was breathing?

At any rate, I know her breathing slowed down. I also know it did not take long because she was only unconcious for a few seconds. The whole ordeal probably took less than a minute from the screaming to looking at me with that disoriented, slow movement.

I ended up not taking her to the ER because she has trouble getting in and out of cars, and the last car ride we took she was stressed out and ended up pooping in the car. I was afraid I’d cause more harm than good. I’m definitely taking her to our vet on Monday though. I  just hope I didn’t make a mistake in waiting.

I don’t know if she had a seizure or if she had an allergic reaction. I would think an allergic reaction would not have fixed itself like this though. But I don’t know if a seizure can be brought out by a bee sting.

I don’t know what happened, but I’m worried about my girl. I thought I saw her take her last breaths today! I really, truly did. She wouldn’t move. She seemed dead to me. She’s been my best friend for 14 years, which is apparently surprising for a husky since everyone always comments about how they’re shocked she’s so old.

I just took her out and she peed. She came in and was interested in getting her treat, though she wasn’t as energetic about it until I walked out of the kitchen with it so she wouldn’t fall on the hardwood floor. She’s drinking water now. She’s pretty much slept the rest of the evening, which isn’t unusual for her at all. She was alert when I checked on her everytime but once. She was in a deep sleep, the kind where she usually dreams.

She’s alert and keeps giving me this look like “what do you want now, Mom?” whenever I look over at her. She’s been drinking water and eating her treats. She’s able to walk around as well. I swear this has been the longest weekend. I’m waiting for test results to see if I get certified in Spanish and therefore keep my job, and now this.

WHY  CAN’T IT BE MONDAY ALREADY?!

So yeah. That was our day. I called my dad the instant we came in at 5:06. So I’m guessing it happened sometime before 5. I really don’t think it all took long even though it felt like forever. It’s now 11:15 and aside from my own memory, there’s no evidence that anything happened.

Hopefully, she’ll be okay and we can see the vet first thing Monday morning. Until then, I’ll be keeping her out of the pen until I can get rid of those bees. And I’ll continue to keep a watchful eye on her.

I have always wanted an affectionate and loving pet like Smore. Weve always been a dog family. I h

ad a cat once back when I was in elementary school. We found him as a stray here while on vacation (because this is our vacation home that I just recently moved to). We brought him back home, and he remained an outdoor cat because we thought he prefered it that way, that was how my parents were raised to believe, and because my siblings have allergies to cats. At night, he slept in our garage, and when it was really cold, we let him inside our dark room to eat and warm up. I think he thought he was part dog. He used to walk me to the bus stop and every day he sunned himself on our patio furniture until he heard the bus coming, and then he would run to meet me. Sometimes I wonder if Smore is Socks reincarnated because they have a lot of similarities in their personalities, or if Socks sent her to me.

My husky was my first actual dog bought just for me. She’s 14 now, and part of the reason why I wanted Smore was because I know deep down that Pebbles is reaching the end. Soon, she’ll be crossing over the bridge and reuniting with the rock pack. Sadly, there’s nothing I can do about it.

I know it’s going to hurt, and it’s my hope that having another furbaby will somehow make it easier. I don’t know how I’ll go on when Pebbles crosses over and gains her angel wings. She’s been a big part of my life, but s

ometimes I wonder if I’m wrong for keeping Smore, if she wouldn’t be better off with a different family because of my current circumstances.

You see, I’ve been keeping Pebbles and Smore separated. Huskies are known for a high prey drive, and when she was younger and my first dog was alive (he was a lhasa apso which are about the size of Shi Tzu), she would go after him whenever he came near me. My family wonders if it wasn’t an attempt to protect me or a dominance thing. She never really bit him; she’d just paw at him, which was enough to do damage. It ended up breaking his jaw, which was apparently weakened by cancer that we didn’t know about. She’s also killed her fair share of wildlife over the years. Plus, she was really interested in where Smore had been that first night, though that could have been because she hissed and I don’t think Pebbles has ever heard a cat hiss.

Once upon a time, she would whine when she saw little dogs. Now when she sees them on walks, she watches them with little interest, but I lead her away in case she decides to cause trouble.

It worries me to attempt to introduce Smore to her. Not to mention, Smore is a kitten with energy; I don’t want to torment my dog in her old age; mostly though, I’m afraid I’ll end up with an injured or dead cat in the process.

The way the house is set up, it’s imposible to keep Smore inside because there’s no way to currently separate them, so Smore has been living in our attached garage. I’ve removed all the chemicals, rat poison, and everything else that I thought could hurt her, including my car. I don’t want her getting inside the engine or licking anything off it.

I originally planned on introducing the two after Smore healed from surgery; however, I’m still scared. Not to mention I’m currently living in my parents’ retirement home, and my father thinks he’s now allergic to cats. (He did sneeze a lot when he was here visiting here)

My mom mentioned this to me before, and I figured I could get a place of my own and the critters could live together. I also planned on teaching Smore to walk on a leash so we could go outside and building her a catiary so she could enjoy outside as well. But now I’m wondering if I’m being selfish And if iit’s fair to habe her wait while I find a place of my own. My mom said I could ger a trailer or build a house here, but that takes time too.

I’ve been spending 3 hours with her at least and play with her during this time. I’ll be going back to work In September, and I worry I’ll have less time to play with her (maybe 2 hours? maybe less?) because of planning and grading. However, this year I have a prep hour, so I might have more free time to spend between her and Pebbles.But is that enough time? I don’t honestly know how much time a kitten needs to be with people. I don’t know much about cats.

I’ve been monitoring the temperature in the garage and it’s usually about 60 something in there. At the warmest it was probably 70 something. In the winter, I’m willing to buy a heater for the garage to keep her warm. I’m basically willing to turn the garage into a cat condo or perhaps even more like a studio or office where I can grade and relax after work if need be to make it more cozy for her. It’s not even a garage to me anymore. It’s Smore’s room.

But is it enough? Am I cruel for having her live in there?

Before her surgery was even scheduled, I remember sitting with her and crying because I thought I’d have to give her away; she was in my lap and she stood up and rubbed her head against my cheek where it was damp with tears. It was like she knew I was sad and she was trying to make me feel better. It worked too.

Before her surgery, I purposefully left the garage open while she was in there to see if she wanted to leave. Instead, she found a place high up to hide until we came outside. I haven’t done this since her surgery because I’m afraid she’ll run off and get hurt after I invested so much money in healing her. I’m also afraid that she’ll be more adventurous because she’s not wounded anymore.

Since day one, she’s wanted to cuddle with me. When she had fleas, she’d jump up in my lap and lie down, and I’d put her back on the floor because I didn’t want to bring fleas into the house. But she’d jump right back up into my lap. Over and over we did this. She never jumped in anyone else’s lap despite the fact that there were plenty to go to. She always seemed to prefer me over the others. Sure, She’d play with them, but she seemed to ignore them If I called To her.

I just don’t know if she can be happy here. How do you know if a cat’s happy? I wish I could just ask her.

What do I do? Am I being selfish and cruel? Do I need to find her a new furever home? I know that if I keep her, I definitely want her live inside with me, but I fear I have to wait until my husky passes on, which sounds terrible to say. There’s a chance they’d get along, but can I risk it? And on top of it all, if my dad has allergies, how can i bring her into the house? Can I do something to her or the house to lesson the effects? He takes a million medicines due to 2 heart attacks that iit’s impossible to just give him allergy medicine.

Is there a difference between being inside a house and being inside an attached garage? is it enough to have shelter, food, water, toys, and love? Does she need more? Am I even going to be able to find a new house?

Why can’t we see into the future? Life would be so much easier if we could.

What would you honestly do? Am I a terrible person? this was honestly easier before I heard that my dad might have allergies. Why must allergies exist? I just want the best for her. I want her to be a healthy and happy cat.

Today marks the three week point since Smore’s amputation. It seems hard to believe that it has been that long. She has progressed so much. When I walk in the room, she meows in greeting and keeps meowing until I sit down. Then, she crawls in my lap and purrs away as she rubs up against me.

She plays like any other kitten, or so I assume. I’ve never had a kitten before; I’m a dog person and have been my entire life. We’ve always had dogs, but I’ve only had one cat. He too was a stray that I found here when I was on vacation. He thought he was a dog though I think.

She stalks her toys, and you can really see her inner wildcat. Sometimes her face makes me think of a lynx because of the little tuffs at the top.

I haven’t discovered anything she can’t do. Sometimes she loses her balance while she plays, but even four legged critters do that.

As I think about that day 3 weeks ago, I remember how we were trying to come up with a name. She was almost named Lucky because she seemed to be such a lucky cat. When we took her to the teaching hospital for an orthopedic vet, they randomly decided to make her birthday St. Patrick’s Day. I took that and the fact that they thought she still had nerve function in her leg as a sign that it would get fixed.

When I found out that wasn’t true, I thought her luck had finally run out; however, I was wrong. Her quick recovery was no doubt due to her circumstances. The vets both agreed that the accident was at least a week old or more when I found her. The second vet I think believed it had been longer due to all the calcification inside the wound. It had started to heal itself.

Smore occassionally put her weight on the limb. She had discovered a way to cover her business in the litter box. She knew how to jump up and climb with only three working legs. She was a three legged cat before I took her in; she just had dead weight holding her back. Because of that, she was able to recover so much quicker I think. There wasn’t an adjustment phase. It was just another day when I brought her home, except with pink birds flying above her head due to her medicine.

I’ve noticed a definite increase in her playfullness since the surgery. I dont know if that’s because we now have several toys to choose from or if it’s because she feels better. It’s just really hard to believe that it’s 3 weeks already. She’s only been officially part of the family for 3 weeks too, but it feels like she’s been around forever. She makes me smile; she makes me feel loved, and she teaches me that despite terrible circumstances beyond our control, we can still strive to live a happy life. I’m grateful for that. I’m the lucky one because she chose our house. Despite a run in with my large husky, she decided to come back and lie on our welcome mat as if it was a message for her (even though it too had a dog on it).

For whatever reason, she showed up here, and I’d like to think she’s made my life better because of it.

It’s very likely that during this time, your pawrent(s) are going to be very concerned for you. They might cry. They might doubt that this is the best option for you. They might annoy you and refuse to leave you alone. You might be scared, but I assure you: everything will be just fine.

I’ve only been a tripawd for two and a half weeks. I’m probably not the most credible source, but it’s all fresh in my mind at least. I wrote these for my feline friends in mind, but tip #10 is just for dogs.

So here we go without any particular order.

Tip #1: Enjoy the disgusting stuff they give you

When you come home from the hospital, your humans are probably going to give you stuff that isn’t going to taste very well, but it’s going to make life more fun to look at. Seriously, I saw like five birds flying around the house all the time. I’d swat at the air and BAM, they were dead. It was AWESOME.

It’ll also make that strange pain and itch at your side go away. I know, it tastes nasty, but take it. You’ll thank me later. It’ll be about the only source of entertainment you’ll get during recovery. Humans don’t think we should move much.

Tip #2: Humor your Human

Humans take the post-op process in a couple different ways. Some, like my human, are just super excited about everything you do like it’s the first time you’ve done it. I played with a mouse, and I swear my human thought I had solved a calculus problem.

Humor your human. Keep doing all those “amazing” things. There’s bound to be extra petting, food, treats, and toys from your human for doing them. Yes, even if you’ve done this for ten years. Milk it for all it’s worth.

You’ll get bonus points for striking pretty poses that they can share with others later.

Tip #3: Comfort your Human

Other humans take the post-op process another way and cry a lot. You see to humans losing a leg is a Big Deal. They only have two, so they don’t really get that we can lose one and still go on to live normal lives. Humans aren’t always logical, but it’s okay. We’re here to enlighten and comfort them.

When your pawrent cries, comfort them. They need to know you still love them and aren’t mad at them. Humans are weird like that. It’s like they think we are going to believe that they wished for this to happen. Yes, I know, it really is strange, but that’s what they think. You and I both know that no human is going to willfully wish their feline friend gets cancer or gets hurt so that they’ll lose a leg. Even the more heartless ones wouldn’t because they know that it’ll cost a lot.

So comfort them and let them know you’re not mad at them. It’ll make them feel better.

Tip #4: Don’t Climb Boxes While Enjoying “the Good Stuff” from Tip #1

Do not climb up on cardboard boxes. When you go to get down, you’ll turn it over on yourself. It’s not fun being stuck under a box. ‘Nuff said.

Tip #5: Be Patient with Your Human

Your human is under a lot of stress and feeling emotional. They’re going to wonder if they made the right decision. They’re going to wonder if you can do X, Y, and Z. They’re going to follow you around to make sure you don’t get into mischief. They’re going to try cleaning your butt too. Or at least, mine did.

Just remember, when they’re really annoying you, to be patient. They really do mean well.

Tip #6: Choose one: Cone of Shame versus Clothes

For some reason, humans don’t think we should lick at our wounds despite this being a normal aspect of being a cat. I blame it on the fact that they have lost all their fur and no longer use their tongues to groom themselves. Such pitiful creatures.

When I came home from the hospital, I had a stupid cone on my head. It made it impossible to see. I ran into things, and I’m sure they all thought it was because I was “disabled”.

Then, just after I managed to get the darned thing off, my human presented me with a t-shirt made for dogs. DOGS! What was she thinking? It was a dent in my pride, but I quickly decided to accept the t-shirt because at least I could walk normally.

So choose which one you’d rather live with for the next couple days to two weeks.

Or quickly learn to resist the urge to lick at your wounds. Your human might have sympathy and refrain from using either. Once you get through the first two weeks, you’ll get your stitches or whatever they put in you out. Then, you can lick away.

Tip #7: Accept Change

Obviously there is a bit of change required after losing a limb. Front amputees like me will learn that getting down isn’t nearly as easy anymore. My tip? Slide down with your body against the object as long as possible to make landing easier or find an alternative method of getting down that does not require jumping very far.

Rear amputees will learn that getting up may be troublesome. Look for alternative routes to get to higher locations or meow pitifully to your humans while staring at your preferred destination. I’m sure they’ll catch on and help you. Eventually, they’ll give you an alternate route too if one doesn’t exist.

Tip #8: Be Patient with Yourself

It’ll take a while to get back into the swing of things, but I assure you: you will learn to do the things you used to do. You might not do them the same way, but you’ll adapt and find a way. We are cats after all.

Tip #9: Enjoy Life
That’s really all I can think of as far as tips go. After your stitches are removed, life is pretty much what you make it. Take breaks as needed when you play or run. You lost  your spare leg, so be careful not to hurt the others.

And remember that humans need love too. They helped give you a second chance instead of putting you to sleep or giving you away. They deserve the extra attention, so crawl into their lap and purr away.

Tip #10: Dogs Only
Well, sadly you were born a dog, but I hear dogs do well on three legs too. So go back to tip #1 and read them all, just make sure you scratch out cat and put in dog.

 

 

Friday, August 1st I brought Smore to the vet for her post-op check-up. The vet tech that had seen her at every appointment was happy to see I was keeping her and that I had finally picked a name (up until then she was known as “Kitten”). Before Smore even got out of the carrier, our vet tech said she had grown.

“Really?” I said. I guess you really don’t notice changes when you see them every day, haha.

When she had her surgery, she was 4 pounds. Now, 2 weeks after surgery and minus a leg, she weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces. The doctor was pleased with how nicely her stitches looked, and he took them out right there with me scratching behind her ears. I didn’t expect that to be anything like it was. He took a pair of clamps, held the string, and cut the string with scissors. Then, he pulled the stitches out. It still boggles my mind.

Smore didn’t seem to mind at all.

Actually, the only thing she did mind was her temperature being taken, but I don’t blame her. That does kind of suck.

He then gave her the first set of kitten shots, told me she was filling out nicely, and that he thinks she’ll remain a very active cat who will surprise me continuously at her abilities as the years go by.

Honestly, she already has! Granted, I don’t know what I expected from a cat who climbed up my leg and onto our window screen with only three legs to begin with. That other leg was just dead weight that got in the way.

I’ve noticed a steady increase in her activity. She’s way more active than I remember her being before surgery. I guess that leg really did get in the way. I think she feels better now too.

I brought her home, and she hasn’t put her clothes back on since. Or rather, I haven’t put them back on. Her fur is already starting to grow back too. It’s so soft!

She continues to enjoy her snuggles. She also apparently likes to lie in strange positions as evidenced by the photo of her in my lap. And actually, she liked to do that before getting her stitches out too. See? Notice her back foot is by her head and her front foot is near her butt. She’s actually completely asleep in this one too. She started dreaming shortly after.

So then the night after getting her stitches out, she struck this pose. She was actually curled up so that you couldn’t even see her face, but my phone made a click sound when I unlocked the screen, which resulted in the “hey, what do you think you’re doing?” face. Seriously, you’d think she was trying to groom herself or something! But no, she’s just being goofy and trying to teach me cat yoga poses. Why bother doing downward and upward dog when you can do crazy cat curl?