Long story short: Several years ago my s/o was sitting in a recliner w/ her cat. When she went to get up, the cat jumped off and got his r/r leg caught up in the folding part. SNAP! The most horrific thing I have ever seen. The r/r foot was pointed backwards. Anyway, brought him to the vet, complete break of both bones in the ankle. Surgery was done including hardware and up until yesterday, the cat has been fine ever since. Yesterday, we noticed the cat was not putting any pressure on the right rear leg. The vet had told us that the pin she put in may make its way out over time so we figured thats what it was. Wrong. Apparently, either by jumping off the bed or whatever, the cat shattered all the bones in his foot/ankle. Brought him to the vet, who said it is a very "catastrophic" injury (no pun intended). Vet said we were better off jump amputating the foot as a surgery/repair probably would not hold (vet said there were litterally a dozen pieces of bone that were separated. S/O didn't want to accept that so she brought the cat to a vet who was an orthopedic specialist. The O/S agreed 100% w/ the original vet in that the only way to take care of this was to amputate just below the hip (she pointed out that along with the multiple breaks, there was alot of scar tissue/arthritis from the old injury). Vet said cat would be fine afterwards. I don't know much about cats/anatomy/etc., but I find it hard to believe this cat (who is 14 years old and a bit on the chubby side) can get along w/o a right rear leg. Anyone have any experience with this?
I had a 12 year old dog who got cancer around the top portion of one of his back legs. We had the leg removed and he did just fine until he died 2 years ago on Thanksgiving day at the age of 19. It's a bit scary looking at the dog when it first comes home but after a few weeks, it is back to its normal routine. The dog still ran a bunch and could do everything it normally could. He had a very good and long life with only 3 legs.
With cats that lose a leg, they get along just fine. The key is, and this is difficult: let them fail. They need to relearn movement, and what they can and cannot do anymore, and you have to let them. This can mean that they sometimes try to jump things and don't quite make it, or that they try to climb onto an old perch and cannot. Unless they are going to injure themselves severely, you should just let them make their mistakes. They will adjust accordingly.
i have heard a lot of stories that 3 legged dogs/cats do fine. there is a 3 legged dog that lives down the street from me. he runs and jumps and goes for walks like any other normal dog.. good luck and best wishes to your cat.
Prepare to have your mind blown: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hq39HZpfEmk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hq39HZpfEmk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
...I don't know you! I have a 3-legged chinchilla as well, coincidentally. He got his leg caught at the very top level of his cage and tried to jump off. I found him hanging there with his leg nearly severed from a combination of the break and his struggling to get free. The whole back leg had to be amputated. Watching him, though, you'd never really know that he was missing a leg unless you're looking carefully. He adapted very quickly and now gets around about as well as he ever did. Maybe a bit slower, but he amazed me with how well he got everything figured out. The cat will in all likelihood be just fine.
I had a girlfriend who worked part-time in a vet's office. She adopted a three-legged cat and named him Tripod. When I was a kid the backdoor neighbors had a dog "Tramp" that lost a leg chasing cars; he still chased me when he could spot me headed to school.
When I was a kid a stray 3 legged cat started showing up at our house. We (meaning my younger sister and myself) kept feeding it, so it kept showing up. Our parents were pretty pissed. It was a really friendly cat though, and it moved around just fine. It was still pretty cat-like. I lived in the suburbs of San Fransisco, and there was a lesbian couple that lived across the street from our house. They had like 3 other cats. My sister and I tried to get them to take the cat, and they did for a while. They eventually had it put down, since the cat was pretty sick... True story. I guess I got a little side tracked, but I wouldn't worry about its ability to move around.
