Help me decide what to do with my poor little kitten

[overthesea]

My little kitten has damaged her leg and the vet is saying it is either a series of operations at well over £1k or amputation £3-400. I've already spent about £400 on exams/xrays so far.

Because the vets say it is an older injury (i..e happened a few weeks ago, healed and then happened again) I am not covered my insurance.

DH will go (quietly) spare as we rescued the kitty from certain death in the first place and planned to rehome it in a few months as we all have allergies. I feel just dreadful though giving the go ahead for amputation. She's such a sweet thing. Has anyone been here?

My DS2 found a nearly-dead feral kitten at the side of the road a few years ago. In order to save his life, it was necessary to amputate his rear leg, and much of his tail. This was after antibiotics had been tried, but gangrene set in.

He's now an enormous moggy on a diet.

There are many amputee cats around, they usually do pretty well. :)

Thanks. I am a bit calmer about this option now although the children cry when it is mentioned; asking what we do with her other leg.

What age is the kitten? I'm a vet, and I had a kitten handed in to me that was only about 8wks old and was apparently being used as a football

Xrays showed his right hind leg was basically smashed to smithereens. his options were similar to yours, with no owner prepared to pay top whack for major orthopaedic procedures. I decided if amputation was the last option, we would stick his leg in plaster for a bit, see what happened, then if it wasn't working, we could still have the option to amputate. #

he came to live with me while the plaster was on, as we didn't want to rehome him only for his new owner to have to deal with the amputation etc. 3wks later the little bugger pulled the plaster off, and never looked back! He always had a strange hopping type gait, but his leg never bothered him- we were all amazed at how well it healed.

And yes, he ended up living with me to the end of his days!

As amputation is a salvage, last option, is it worth asking your vet if it's worth having a go with a simple plaster/ splint (obviously, I don't know the extent/ nature of his injuries, but Bep's leg looked pretty horrific on his original xrays. Could be worth a try??)

jooly that is a very sad but wonderful story.

jooly I really really wish you were my vet.

I keep asking for plaster or a splint as a solution. Like you I had a kitten 20 years ago that was hit by a car. He was put in plaster and had a few pins put in and though he always limped he was fine. They refuse saying; it is pointless, it will have to be changed every few days and she will have to be sedated every time and that it will give her sores (none of which happened with our old kitten who was much the same age).

This kitten is about 3.5 months. One of her back femurs is thickened and bent (the xray shows a shadow of a possibly old fracture at the bottom of the femur). The top of the femur is also not sitting properly in the pelvis. Then she also has a displaced knee cap (don't know technical terms) which is floating free. Plus I think the growth plates on this leg are damaged.

Our insurance won't cover the work because of this 'old' fracture and so an injury that pre-dated the insurance. So they are advocating amputation mainly on a financial basis I think. The op would cost £1.6 k we were told last night. Plus we have spent £350 getting this far.

I am quite depressed now I know another vet WOULD advocate plaster as a possible solution. What do you think?

It's difficult to tell obviously without seeing xrays etc. It sounds like there are a few issues with the leg- do you know what they would be doing for the £1.6K ()- as a first opinion vet (ie not a specialist) that sounds steep- whereabouts are you?

Plaster wouldn't help the issue with the hip joint, as we can't really plaster up that far, but sometimes we actually remove the head of the femur to form a false joint- I've done this procedure as a salvage on cats many times, and it doesn't usually cost more than about £200, but I guess if the rest of the problems with her legs would mean she was still lame/ painful then there wouldn't be much point.

As far as the kneecap goes, again it depends on the severity of the displacement. Many cats (and small dogs) have what we call a luxating patella and do ok without any intervention.

How lame/ sore is your wee cat? To me, that's really the crux of the matter. If the leg is dragging or painful, and can't be fixed then amputation is probably a fair option, and to be honest most cats will do fine on 3 legs (our old surgery cat, Trio, was minus a hind leg and lived until he was 15 very contentedly!)

There is a "right" way to do these things (address all the abnormalities so that the cat is as nearly anatomically correct as possible, which yes, could involve various ops), but sometimes there is another way, which would probably leave the cat with a limp/ odd gait, but as long as it wasn't painful might be acceptable. It's difficult for me to assess the situation without seeing puss and her xrays, but I would say given your dilemma at the moment there would be no harm in you seeking a second opinion. After all, amputation is a last option, really, so you want to be sure it really is the best way forward. I would get a second opinion from another vet if possible- explain the situation and ask for their take on it. If, having examined your wee girl/ seen the xrays they concur with your original vet, at least you will be more confident about going ahead with amputation.

Hope this helps- it's hard to know really, and I always hesitate to dismiss another vet's opinion when they have the full picture and I haven't!! I do think having someone else have a look would be a good idea, and I hope you get a good outcome for kitkin- let us know!

Thanks so much. I just keep looking at the kitty and thinking it will be such a shame to amputate. D day is this Friday as I have to go back to the vet for a decision. I keep trying to make her rest but she just wont (even though caged), I so want it to get better enough for them to extend the deadline.

I actually took a photo of the xray on my phone, I could send it to you (very cheeky emoticon). My email is [email protected] if you would be ok with that (by phone I guess).