Kitty with amputated toes

Among other health problems, our 17 year old cat, Lizzy, has cancer. A while back the middle two toes on her left front foot got really swollen and infected. She was on heavy doses of antibiotics for about 2 weeks and they didn't help at all so we had those two toes amputated last night. Because the vet suspected cancer, he took as much as he could. She was a really high risk for surgery, but she came through okay and we got her home this afternoon.

I'm sure she's going to be fine, but just out of curiosity, has anyone had a cat with amputated toes? And if so did they do okay walking? Did they actually walk on their toes like normal or more on the pad?

-Chelle

 

Hi. I'm sorry your kitty is having to go through all of this. I suppose having her toes amputated must be a lot like being declawed, as they are both the same. Animals just learn to cope and deal with what they have, so I'm sure your kitty will learn to adjust to the new anatomy of her paws. I hope she feels better soon. Keep us posted.

 

I, like Chessmind, would think it would be similar to a declawed cat walking. I have one declawed cat (I've highly anti-declaw...her former owner had the nasty deed done - not I). And she does walk differently that the other cats.
Your kitty will adjust quickly, I'm sure. Animals have a better ability to adjust to handicaps than people do. Right now I'm fostering a blind 13 year old Siamese and I am blown away by her ability to get around - I watch her carefully and even in my home, with is a new environment for her, she's only bumped into things 2x.
I hope your cat improves and the cancer doesn't advance.

 

I'm so sorry about your kitty. I hope she will get better soon! *hugs*

 

Thanks. He took the whole toes (I'm assuming as far up as he could) so she should only has the outside two toes to walk on ( sort of like O....O) so I'm not sure how well she'll be able to balance on it. She had radial nerve damage in the same leg a while back (eventually recovered about 95% usage) and managed to get around fine even with a completely limp leg so I'm sure she'll figure something out. I was just curious if anyone else had gone through something like this before.

-Chelle

 

I'm sure there are other cats who have also had this done. However, this is the first time I have ever heard of this. At least she has a couple of toes left. It would be a lot more difficult is the vet had removed all of the toes all the way up. She's been through a lot. I hope she feels better soon.

 

I'm sorry about your kitty. I hope everything will be okay.

 

She got her bandage off this morning and is doing pretty good. She occasionally walks on it, but mostly holds it up. I think it's more because it feels weird than because it hurts.



It looks like she's saying "I love you" in sign language.

-Chelle

 

something else you might want to be careful of (and the vet probably mentioned this) is your choice in kitty litter for her.

 

Wow a picture is worth a 1000 words. Poor girl. That looks like it's pretty uncomfortable. I hope she heals up really quickly. I also agree with Mary_NH about the kitty litter.

 

Poor kitty. :cry:

 

Actually, he didn't mention it. What kind should I be using? Right now we have Tidy Cat (multi cat) clumping litter. It doesn't seem to be bothering her. I can see how the clumping litter might stick to the suture area, but that doesn't appear to be happening.

-Chelle

 

It was the clumping litter I was worried about cause it is so fine...I'd worry about it finding its way into the wound. Maybe a clay litter?

 

Shredded newspaper is generally gentle on the toes for the 1st couple of weeks as well.