Pictures of my gibbled kitty, and wondering something....

I have a three legged cat, and am fostering one from the local shelter (though I may end up keeping her). They both came in at different times missing everything below their left Tibia (his left, her right). Two different vets performed the amputations, one left a significant amount of skin on the Male, Ty, though it doesn't affect him at all. (It just makes him look like a furry fat man when he sits )

What I have noticed however is that Ty, the oldest at one year, has problems jumping onto my bed now, whereas the female, Ali (7 months), does not. I had to buy a step stool in order for him to jump up without incident. I'm wondering if there is too much stress being put on his right back left now to compensate for his missing left. I know that the muscles in his back right have built up and are stronger than normal due to compensating for the missing leg, but would it cause any long term problems? I know many people here may not have experience with this, but I'm just looking for ideas.

Anyway!

My little troublemakers:

Ty as a kitten. You can see where the tibia ends and the tarsals are absent.



Ali. You can see that she's had her surgery already.


I've NEVER had cats more curious and active. These two keep me busy twenty four hours a day. They're bad, but they're my babies

Cute lil' buggers! Wish you the best with them!

Originally Posted by TheFragginDragon

Cute lil' buggers! Wish you the best with them!

Thanks! They're so bad. One knows how to open doors, and the other likes to torment my bearded dragon. Thankfully, my beardie doesn't seem to bothered by her. She'll just sit there, then move a tiny bit. Then comes Ali like a bullet, smacking her face into the glass of the tank and the beardie just sits there and doesn't bat an eye. I swear she'd laugh evilly if she could.

hooray tripods. super cute!

I've never had a critter missing a hind leg, only front legs...but they always got along just fine. Over time, things did seem to kind of "shift around" (for lack of a better term lol) with the doggie who had a complete amputation of the one front leg, including shoulder blade, but I don't think it ever affected her negatively.

Speaking purely from educated speculation, I can see where the hind leg missing may create a bit more potential future issue than the front, though...they can learn to adapt very well to most things, but when it comes to the motion of doing something like jumping, I don't think they would really be able to compensate as much, as the hind legs are obviously the "power" behind the jump. I would think that making little aids (like the steps ) for them, if they will use them, is a great idea to prevent any more stress on the remaining joints/muscles than necessary.

Depending on what the initial injuries were that brought about the amputations, the one kitty could have some side effects from that too - if there was damage to an area larger than what was amputated, there could be some scar tissue/arthritis/etc in the hip, etc. that may limit the range of motion somewhat, or cause some discomfort.

I would say that I would try to limit the actions that seem to cause the problems - but they are kitties, and kitties will do what they want. LOL.

They are VERY adorable....I'm thinking you gonna be the proud owner of two tripod kitties. I know I would, lol.

We never found out why they were missing everything below the tibia. The male TY came in to the shelter over a year ago as an owned 7 week old kitten. The female came in around September with the same thing. The "stubs" were perfectly fine, no scabbing or damage. Someone suggested it could be a birth defect, another cat had bitten it off, ect. The only problem I find with the birth defect scenario is that we had four other cats, all various ages, come in with the same thing. The same area of the leg and everything. It's very puzzling.

It's true what you said about lacking enough power to jump. I don't have to worry about having food on my kitchen counter with these two! (As long as I make sure there are no bar stools or chairs around)

I do think the female will end up staying with me, despite me telling everyone she isn't. How often do people own a three legged cat, never mind a matching set?

I had an outside cat who suddenly turned up with her hind leg broken, bone showing thru but already healed over almost completely and without infection or sensitivity, immediatly I rushed her to the vet thinking they could correct it, the vet stated the bone had already "died" and an aputation was all he could do. I opted not to do it because it was already healed and she was walking on it normally. She sprays so amputaion and becoming an inside cat was not an option and with all the dogs around, outside with 3 legs would have not been an option, its been about 2 years and still no sign of any problems, u can feel the bone thru the skin and infection would seem iminent but...??? I think some animals just compinsate better than other- cats are alot like people, u see 2 people who are missing the same leg-one does everything they used to before losing the limb and another IS "handicapped". what I'm trying to say is maybe the other cat is just more "driven" to be normal. Just my opinion- They are both very beautiful, u have a heart like mine- a rescuer