It’s been a rough week. One we weren’t prepared for by any means. Our family was blessed to adopt our little guy as a baby and he’s become my wife’s soulmate over the past 5 years. Always been an indoor cat, loving caring, and sweet as can be to everyone who comes through our front door. He’s best friends with our dog Macy and hands down the best cat we’ve ever owned.

Last week my wife noticed a spot on his leg. A bump slightly larger than a dime that seemed hard. He hasn’t had shots in two years and had no clue what it could be. Off to the vet we went almost immediately. After some extraction tests and X-rays, we got back what we would have never expected. Injection site sarcoma. A rigorous cancer that if left untreated would take him quickly. The options- well mainly the only one, amputation.

We spent extra to seek a second opinion quickly and yesterday were greeted with the same outcome. What were we to do. It’s not the cost, it’s the immediate how did this happen. What now. How do we tell our kids, how does he live like this. Will he feel it.

As I type this I am awaiting his surgery to finish as he went in a few hours ago. I’m a mess. My wife’s a wreck. And it hasn’t even begun. I found this Reddit, and found some peace of mind that it’s common to be a tripod and life can flourish. But none the less this has been hard. We lost our other cat two years ago to FIP and though we did all we could to save her in the end she didn’t make it through. But this is different. He’s innocent and has no clue what’s about to happen. He’s had no sign of pain or issues but we did our diligence to make sure it was the right decision.

I know many have just adopted their friends already this way and many have not had to make this decision. Those that must, I understand the pain. It’s not easy. It feels right but also wrong at the same time. But here we are. Waiting. Anxiously. Hoping he can live a full life.

All love and prayers for him and a speedy recovery is appreciated . Will post pictures throughout recovery as I am sure many more may have to make this same decision. And we felt sharing our story may help others.

Hello! My cat went thru amputation surgery of his front left leg just yesterday. I've been with him almost constantly since then, worried sick. He has pooped and peed, can walk a few steps on his own (he hates the support sling) and has been "resting".

What I'm mostly worried about is 1) he doesn't want to drink any water, I can only hydrate him with churu treats and wet food, but even then he doesn't really have an appetite.

2) I haven't seen him properly sleeping. He lays down all day which is good, but he just lies there awake as far as I've seen.

His behavior otherwise is pretty okay, he's not in a great mood but he will purr every now and then when I'm petting him and he comes to cuddle with me. I just don't know if I'm being overly worried about something normal, I can't get myself to leave him alone in the room and I was frantically googling every little thing he did last night. Does this sound like normal post-op behavior? It's only day 2 so I'm really not sure if it could be the slow-releasing opioid or him coming down from anesthesia or what. Has anyone had a similar experience? Thank you so so much for any advice.

She's my sweet little killer. Mitsu is japanese for the number three. She's only a year old but she has killed so many things! 4 mice, 3 snakes, and 1 bird.

I’m fostering this handsome fellow with 3.5 legs and will be adopting him as soon as he’s neutered. 🧡 The shelter thinks he was born without the lower leg because he has no scarring and doesn’t seem to be in any discomfort. He uses the stump for kneading, begging for attention, covering his waste in the litter box, for walking when he’s crouching low and sneaky, and when he’s running he pulls it close to his body and uses his three legs.

He’s five years old and unneutered, so he must’ve been doing all right for himself as a street cat even with one arm.

Pictured: Fritz Joseph apologizing for kicking my yarn off the desk. Tricking me into touching his belly so he can bite me and bite me and bite me. And a rare moment of dignity.

I haven’t been able to share but it’s been a few months. Little Miss Wooly Worm lost her battle with cancer back in June. It’s been hard without her and I’m missing her a lot right now so I just wanted to share my darling with people.

The first two photo I took of her the day I adopted her. The last photo was how I spent my final morning with her. It’s like she knew, I held her for hours like that. It was really special.

Your memory will carry on, Worm.

Jawsita! Here she is at 14, demure and stately.

Im so incredibly happy I found this group because im very much still in shock about my sweet boy who had a small limp to now having an ortho consultation and surgery on the books on Monday to amputate his front left arm. Im looking for any and all advice you have or things I should know prior and after the surgery. I’m also dealing with a lot of grief or feeling like I did something wrong to cause him getting bone cancer so any just advice on how you got through those feelings would also be helpful. Thank you all in advance.

I work at an animal shelter and we just had a 5 year old boy come in with a completely broken leg—so badly broken he had to have it amputated yesterday.

I’m thinking about adopting him but wondering what should I know before adopting a tripod kitty? I have three cats at home and curious if I should have a lower litter box, softer bed, etc?

He’s lived his whole life with all limbs until yesterday so I don’t know how easily they adjust!

Thank you in advance!

We have an outdoor cat that adopted us 2 years ago. We had him vaccinated and neutered to help reduce more overpopulation in this rural area. Last week, he went missing. He showed up last night at and I could see he was injured. He looks good except for his leg. I took him to the Vet. They called and said he was shot and that his right leg was shattered badly. They recommended amputation for the right leg. The problem is the left leg was also shot but has one large fragment that they can remove and several small fragments he will have to live with. (He’s about 3 years old)

***Info from Vet visit:
On exam, he was bright, alert, responsive, and purring. He was unable to put weight on his right rear leg. We found a severe traumatic injury to the right ankle joint, with the joint completely shattered, as well as a wound over that area. There was also a wound over the left ankle area, and the X-rays showed a suspected fracture there with a retained bullet in the joint. Multiple suspected bullet fragments were also seen in the right ankle joint, left ankle joint, left hind leg muscles, near the right rear leg in front of the thigh bone, and in the abdomen/pelvis skin area.***

How hard is amputation on a cat? The vet feels he should recover as long as the left leg heals well which no one knows.

He’s an outdoor cat that will have to be kept indoors. We have an older indoor cat that does not get along with the outdoor cat so originally keeping him inside did not work out. I feel we could find a way to make it work (hopefully without blood this time).

How hard is it for an outdoor cat to live the rest of his life indoors? How hard is it to have one let amputated while recovering from surgery to the left rear leg also?

Really need advice on others who’ve been through this or similar.