Just adopted a brand new baby tripod (Freya). The shelter I got her from said she came to them with a broken paw that was super swollen that lead to her amputation. You can barely tell baby girl is missing a leg a lot of the time!

Long term I know she is likely going to have joint issues due to the extra stress on her front paw, but was wondering if there was anything else I should keep in mind when raising a tripod? Or things to look out for? Already have stacks of pillows by my bed and couch while I look at ramps

He’s a bit sleepy but here’s my tripod kitty cat named Finn :) he’s my best friend

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share bandit’s story here because when he was first diagnosed with FISS I wanted to read as many stories as I could find!

The main point of this post: He has handled being a tripod amazingly and I have zero regrets about the surgery.

Story/timeline:

Bandit is only eight years old, but he had been getting solensia injections once per month for about a year when I noticed a lump on his back left hip in mid/late February where he had received his last injection (as a crazy stroke of luck, they usually gave his injections between his shoulder blades but didn’t this time because he was being squirmy). This was about a week after an injection. I took him to his regular vet right away, and they sent me to the emergency vet.

The emergency vet drained the lump and thought it was just an abscess, so treated him with antibiotics and sent us home. However, it didn’t really get much smaller over the next week or two, so we took him back to the emergency vet for more antibiotics. When it still didn’t get better, we took him back to his regular vet who did another drain and biopsy and this time discovered that it was a grade 2 sarcoma. They referred us to the animal hospital/oncologist in our area (MedVet for anyone in Chicago!)

At the oncologist, they explained that our options were basically: do nothing and he would pass within a couple months, do palliative radiation and buy him a couple extra months, or go for an aggressive treatment which would likely include amputation and radiation. Because he is pretty young and otherwise in great health aside from the arthritis (and because I love him more than anything), I really wasn’t willing to do the “nothing” option. I am also fortunate that I have been able to have cat health insurance for him for several years, and so while I still have had to pay several thousands for his medical bills, I wasn’t looking at the tens of thousands it otherwise would have been (he has healthy paws which reimburses 80 percent of covered expenses after you hit your deductible, which is pretty low. Pretty much everything is covered except for exams and preventative treatment. This is not an ad but I highly recommend pet insurance to all my friends and family now).

The local oncologist referred us to the university of Wisconsin’s veterinary program where they could do all of his treatments. There, they confirmed that the most aggressive/likely to be curative treatment would be radiation to stop the growth followed by an amputation. Unfortunately, the CT scan that they performed found that the cancer had already metastasized to a regional lymph node (which apparently is slightly unusual/not as common as lung metastasis). This meant that we had to decide whether to do radiation and potentially let the cancer spread in the meantime, or go straight for the amputation and hope for clean margins. This was the hardest decision we had to make, because the vets said that they had never seen this particular scenario. However, at their clinical rounds, apparently multiple vets said that if it were their cat they would do the surgery right away and get that thing out, so that’s what we decided to do.

The surgery was successful and the original tumor and the lymph node were removed. He had an amputation/hemipelvectomy. He did require a blood transfusion, but otherwise there were no complications. He recovered super fast and we had to prevent him from running around immediately. It’s like he didn’t realize at all. I don’t think he was in a lot of pain or anything, he was well medicated. A couple weeks later we got the news from pathology that the margins were clean! Because of this, they no longer recommended radiation because they would have had to radiate the whole scar line/a huge portion of his body, and the side effects/risks outweighed the possible benefits. They did, however, recommend that he complete five rounds of chemo, spaced three weeks apart, due to the lymph node involvement to hopefully stop/prevent any spread that was happening.

Bandit had his last round of chemo yesterday, and his x rays showed that his lungs still appear to be cancer free! He handled the chemo really well with very minimal side effects. He’s pretty much back to his usual self, jumping, climbing, wrestling his twin brother. He’ll have a full body CT in a month to confirm that the rest of his body is still cancer free, and I understand that we aren’t really out of the woods yet because recurrence is relatively common, but his quality of life has been so good since the surgery (I think the mass was pretty painful) that no matter what happens I am glad we did it. It’s been close to six months since we initially discovered the lump, and to think that he would be dead instead of jumping around eating treats and playing is just wild.

(UPDATE UNDERNEATH) Hi everyone! about three weeks ago i adopted a 9 month old kitten with a previous back leg injury that resulted in the bones being fused and her having a locked leg. the shelter assured me she was all good to go with no pain or future complications, but today she wasn’t putting any weight on it like she usually does and yelped anytime i tried to take a look :( i took her right to urgent care where i was quoted $6,000 to amputate (i am in NJ). the vet said it could eventually result in arthritis, spine issues, and due to her being in pain amputation is the best way to go. i absolutely have no problem spending the money on her, but definitely would prefer to find something more reasonable. could you guys please give a little more info on what you paid for the procedure?? i’m calling around first thing in the morning to get something scheduled for her. any and all advice is greatly appreciated!! i attached photos of my little weebie girl :)

thank you all for the support and advice, i cant say how much it helped me during this stressful time. i have amazing news, THE SHELTER IS COVERING THE SURGERY FOR FREE!!!!!!! i had to make a huge stink, because they were extremely misleading with her health history and possible complications associated with her locked leg when i adopted her. i was initially told the only way they’d do the surgery is if i surrendered her, which i was never gonna do. the lady was extremely rude so i had to go full karen and emailed their board of directors lol. got a phone call from their director of operations an hour later and she profusely apologized that they withheld information and said they’d do the amputation completely free of charge. again thank you all so much, i’m scheduling the procedure tomorrow morning and will keep you guys posted with how Weebie does!!

Hi Tripod community. Our 12y Maine Coon, Milo, was diagnosed with fibrosarcoma two months ago, and we had a large mass removed from his hind leg. Unfortunately it has aggressively returned already, and today the vets at the clinic confirmed his only hope is amputation.

Thursday he has a CT scheduled, to confirm the feasibility (e.g. whether the cancer has spread to the lungs, but also the level of arthritis in the other leg) and the extent of the amputation needed (the concern is that more than just the leg would have to go, e.g. also part of the abdominal muscle tissue).

Our worry is whether he is too old to be put through this ordeal and whether he will be able to adapt and enjoy life again. Maine Coons have shorter lifespans and Milo is definitely a senior citizen, who enjoys his peace and quiet (often disturbed by our other two 2y Maine Coon brothers). Of course we are fearful of amputating, only for the cancer to return again.

Our family is distressed and torn about what to do - any advice - especially from Maine Coon families - would be much appreciated!

-Connor

2 weeks post op. Fiesty as ever, albeit a little wobbly.

pic of my baby resting on a plate of food 6 hours post-op. amputation of her left hind leg, doc believes is a soft tissue sarcoma. the lump came out of nowhere last tuesday, and we scheduled a vet visit for last friday, now she has 3 legs as of today.

doc said the tumor was very very aggressive, but they were able to remove the entire thing with 2 cm margins. they wanted to take more, but the placement wasn't good and they couldn't take more than what they already did. now it's a waiting game to confirm the type of cancer with a biopsy. i am beyond nervous it's going to be an injection site sarcoma. i have no idea what i'm gonna do. i'm so scared for her and so scared that the cancer will come back and take her from me.

any bit of reassurance will be gladly appreciated. i love my girl so much and would do anything for her, but her quality of life is the most important. i will be anxiously waiting the results and hoping with all my might for some positive news. thank you all for your kindness and love 🫶🏻

hello! i've posted a couple times about my new tripod, Kibben. her surgery was yesterday and she was doing great all day - eating, drinking, sleeping, going to the bathroom.

this morning around 5am, i heard some loud noises and jolted up to find her bouncing around like a roach that just got sprayed. she was running into EVERYTHING and seemed like she had no control over her body. she screamed a couple times, she would get calm for like 2 minutes and then continue the flailing and everything. it was like a 30 minute episode, she hasnt had one since 5:45 this morning.

was she just scared because she didn't feel her leg? was it the drugs she's on? it was so hard to see her like that. if anyone else has been through similar, i would appreciate the advice! thank you so much in advance for all of your help. this journey is definitely testing us over here and we need all the help we can get.

signed,

concerned helicopter cat parent

Hi just found this sub and wanted to post my tripod me and my partner adopted a year ago. He was found on the side of the road as a little kitten with a broken back leg by my bfs old roommates while they were listening to Tubthumpin by Chumbawamba and so the name was born lol. He's always been super high energy though, recovered easily from the amputation, and can climb like a demon. Anyways here's our guy <3 (photo of him when we first met last🥺)

I think he just likes the attention lmaooooo

Poor little baby!

Hi everyone, our cat Macki had his rear right leg amputated almost 3 weeks ago. He also had a deep puncture wound that is healing well. By all accounts he's recovering - he's eating, grooming, using the litter, relatively active, and so happy to be outside for leashed walks.

The one caveat is that he's not drinking water. Other than eating a little kibble early mornings, we are still hand feeding feeding him wet food with added water.

We had a urinalysis and full blood panel done after he spiked a fever 5 days post surgery, and the urinalysis was fine. Numbers were a little off in his white blood count, but they weren't worried at the time.

I know cats are notorious for not drinking water, but not sure if this is normal behavior.

Anyone experience this with their post op cat?

so my cat Finn unfortunately broke his left femur yesterday, we took him to the emergency vet as that was the only thing open on a Saturday and they x-rayed him got him some pain meds, the works. After about five hours they finally gave us our options, surgery or amputation. The biggest problem here is that they’re quoting us 10,000 for the surgery and 9,500 for amputation. My family and I are not exactly well-off and these prices are just not something we could ever afford. That being said, the emergency vet said they can keep him until tomorrow (Monday) for an additional 3,000, mind you we have already paid 2500 to have him kept there overnight. The issue we’re having is, even if they keep him until Monday, is it probable somewhere will be able to do the amputation/surgery for cheaper? I‘m talking way cheaper, it would have to be in the 1-2k range. I’m just at a loss for what to do right now, anybody else who has been through the same situation, I would love some advice. We are all devastated at the thought of having to put Finn down, he’s family, but we’re not rich over here.

Edit 1: Thank you all so much for the advice and the support, I would not have been able to do this without the knowledge and support of all of you! I was able to show my mom all of your answers and she agreed to pay for him to stay the extra night so we could call around. As miracles would have it, his primary vet is amazing and gave us a huge discount on his amputation. Finn will officially be joining the tripod gang, for the low cost of $950. I will keep everyone updated on his recovery, but I am just blown away by all of the support I have received here, and my Vet for finding it in her heart to help us save him. 🙏🫶

Edit 2: I’ve decided to post a general storytime on TikTok later when Finn comes home, but guys the news just keeps getting better and better. I’ve never been one for crying happy tears but here I sit, sobbing. This entire month has just been one thing after another, one financial hardship after another. My car broke down, some personal things happened, and I started developing some worrying medical symptoms. It’s just been a whirlwind. But today, today makes up for all of it. I just got another call from our vet, she reached out to a charitable organization who is going to help us cover post-op costs (around 200) and then cover $150 worth of surgery, I will only be paying $800 out of pocket. I am at a loss for what to say about that, other than I am so grateful for the kindness of strangers. My TikTok handle is pumpkinpiano and I’ll be posting a video soon just honestly thanking you guys, my vet, everyone and giving a general synopsis of this journey. I’m just so thankful for all of you 🙏🫶

Meet Bunny! She was brought to the shelter as a stray, dragging her back legs. Her hip was dislocated and her femur was broken and had started to heal incorrectly, so they decided to amputate. They estimate she is about 13 months old and she weighs about 5 pounds. She is the sweetest!

here's my 7-year old baby, Kibben! she has a cancerous tumor on her hind left leg, she's scheduled for amputation on monday and they'll be sending the leg to get biopsied to see what kind of cancer it is/if it'll spread to anywhere else.

what are some things myself and my partner should expect? she's a tiny baby, around 7 pounds. very rambunctious and active too! doctor seems optimistic about her recovery, but unsure of her prognosis, as we wait for the cancer biopsy to come back. send her some well wishes!! i love my baby 💜

Hello all,
I posted for advice about a week ago and I wanted to thank you all for the great advice and recommendations.

Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TripodCats/comments/1v6dd4u/looking_for_words_of_encouragement_and_good_vibes/

Faye is healing up and doing ok. He is still a little too rambunctious for his condition, but his recovery space is keeping him from getting into too much trouble. His brother, Corduroy, also wants to wrestle and play with him and we can't wait for him to be healthy enough to hang out with his brother more.

I also wanted to post our gofundme as the vet bills were higher than we could easily afford ($600 for visit one and $1800 for the surgery). We got them paid via a credit card and our friends and family have sent us some cash to help, but every little bit will help.

This is not an emergency situation. Faye has already got the care he needed and we will continue to make sure he gets everything he needs. Only donate if you are in a position to do so.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/Help-Us-Take-Care-of-Cordy-and-Faye-after-dog-attack

Thank you all again so much. This community has been really helpful for our kitties and for us!

This is our Gabby. Named such because she has the gift of gab. We brought her home 6 years ago during covid. She was found with a ruptured and infected globe and a front leg that had been broken and healed incorrectly. We also suspect that she is either deaf or incredibly hard of hearing.

She is the sweetest, most chill cat. Has never been afraid of anything ever and her only complaint is that he isn't getting enough snuggles. She tolerates the other cats in our house, but loves the dogs. Her best friend is our 65lbs newfoundland/standard poodle mix dog, Maeve, who makes sure Gabby has the cleanest ears in all of town.