Friday, May 21, 2010

How long does it take a cat to recover from losing a leg?

My cat had her front left leg removed yesterday. Today we brought her home. She cannot stand - she will not eat or drink. What is a typical recovery time for such a surgery?
Answers:
front legs generally take longer for the animal to get used to walking without. I would give her at least a week before she has any stability. If she is still not eating tomorrow, definetly call your vet.
She cant stand, eat or drink..and they sent her HOME already ?? She probably still has some anistesia working through her system, and is making it difficult to "want" to do any of these things. Keep her food / water close to her, and take her (physically take her ) to her litter pan, so she can 'go'. If things dont improve within a few days, call the vet back that did her amputation ! Which by the way, i'm sorry to hear about. Keep a close eye on her for any vomiting, howling, or seems to be in extreem pain.
Please get some Rescue Remedy from a health foods store tomorrow to treat your cat. It is used for emotional healing from shock, trauma, pain, fear -- all things that are going on in your cat's psyche right now. You just shake the bottle well and put three to four drops on the cat's fur between her ears. Treat her four or five times a day till she recovers. It cannot harm her at all and will not interfere with any pain medication the vet has prescribed for her.

You can get stage one Gerber baby food - chicken or turkey. Stage one has no onion or garlic added. You can feed her a little from your finger throughout the day so she gets a jar in her. Your vet also has canned a/d which cats like when they are reluctant to eat. You could get that on Monday.

Good luck to her and I hope she has a speedy recovery.
I work in a vet hospital that does orthopedic surgeries. Usually we keep the pet for 2 days following the surgery to ensure that the pet is eating and drinking well. Plus the animal must show signs of walking. You should give her 1 week before she walks like she never even had a 4th leg.
poor thing i hope she will recover quickly but im not sure you probably should ask the vet..take good care of poor baby.
With lots of love, support and encouragement, she should be stalking you again in a few months. The traumatic surgery will take a week or more to really get over, with the anesthesia, muscle soreness and having to regain her balance and recenter her gravity. If she goes more than 3 days without eating or drinking, take her back to the vet and get some "supportive care."

And kudos to you for loving her enough to see her through this. You're a good kat parent.
it could be about 4 months. if it gets any worse you may have to put her down. *tear*
My cat lost her leg this summer but she still recoverying it might take a 1 year to recover or long I think it counts on it's ages my 1 years 4 months old my cat didn't eat or drink for a couple of days but she findly got the strenght to eat and drink and she started walking a couple days later too I hope u the best of lucky with ur cat
Your cat just had major surgery and it will take a while for her to recover. If you have any questions about how she's acting you should call the vet. I think most surgeries.in humans anyway, take about 2 weeks to heal.

When your cat is feeling well enough, she'll start teaching herself to move about again. Cats are not like humans who dwell on every little thing. She will soon start thinking about cat things like what her new morning spot will be, what her new evening spot will be, and whether or not she should meow at you for food or sit near her bowl and wait. Her missing leg will take a back seat to this. Aside from the fact that she'll have to re-learn to execute a lot of manuevers, the leg is probably of no concern.

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