The New Kitten !!!!

[Dexter Morgan]

This thread is going to be about my new kitten. We don't know what sex it is, because it's only about a month old. I found this kitten in my yard a week or so ago. It had a severely abscessed hind leg. My husband took it to the vet the next morning. The vet put it on antibiotics ,and instructed us to water pack it 4 times a day. Water packing is holding the leg under warm running water to clean it. After a day or so, it wasn't improving so we took it back. On the follow up visit last Saturday, the vet said it wasn't improving and gave us some options. The first one was amputating the leg for $120.00. The second was doing some diagnostic tests, somewhere in the range of $500. We chose the tests. We didn't want to remove the leg, if there was any possible way to save it. Monday, they did x rays, bloodwork and a biopsy. The vet then put a drain in it. So, now we have to clean, and dress the wound twice a day. I must say my husband amazes me ,because he takes charge of the situation, and does everything while I hold the kitten. I have to say that it is extremely hard ,to keep a month old kitten still enough to bandage the leg. I called for the test results today,and they're not back yet. Tonight, when we changed the bandage the drain came out. I hope it doesn't have to have another one put in. Hubby and I discussed it tonight, and we don't think the leg can be saved. It's pretty bad. We try to stay positive, but that's hard to do. I've been nervous waiting to find out the results. I've never dealt with an amputee before. I don't know what I'm in for. The kitten is sooo little, I can't even imagine what it will be like. I'm hoping to get pictures up here soon, so everybody can see what he/she looks like. 

[me]

Thats such a shame.  I hope it will be ok.

[Dexter Morgan]

Thats such a shame.  I hope it will be ok.

I hope so too, it seems to be fiesty, and reasonably strong too. It's just sooooo little, I hate to see it go through life without its leg. It fits in the palm of my hand. When it wants its bottle, it wants it yesterday LOL!!! It's a little touchy about being made to wait.    When it first wakes up, it wails until I get the bottle ready. Before bed I prepare the bottles, and put them in the fridge, so we don't have total chaos, if it wakes up in the middle of the night. I just add hot water, and it's ready to go. I hope I find something out soon, waiting is the worst part. 

[me]

I do hope its good news. 

[Dexter Morgan]

Well, the test results are still not in. I have an appointment at the vet's office at 8:00 tomorrow morning. The drain fell out of it's leg last night. I hope to God that we find something out tomorrow. I'm soooo stressed out it is taking its toll on me. 

[me]

How is the leg doing tonight?

[Dexter Morgan]

How is the leg doing tonight?

It looks pretty bad. To be honest, I think it will have to be amputated. I'm bracing for that. I just don't know how it's all going to go. And on top of everything else,I think Dudley is showing symptoms of Feline Leukemia. I think he has a fever tonight, and he has thrown up twice tonight. My God what's next? 

[me]

Oh no dexter sure hate to hear that about Dudley.   

[Dexter Morgan]

Oh no dexter sure hate to hear that about Dudley.   

I get depressed when this stuff hapens. It's one thing after another. For a while things will be going great, and then the bottom drops out. Yesterday, was the first anniversary of our cat Pig Pen's death. It's hard to believe he's been gone a year. 

[Dexter Morgan]

Well, it's 8:19 am and I just got back from the vet's office. They are doing an emergency amputation this morning. The infection is spreading into his hip, and lower body. If they don't take the leg now, the kitten will die. I am soooo freaked out!!! The kitten is coming home TONIGHT!!!! I'm not prepared for this!!!! My Hubby is freaking out too. We're dumbfounded, we figured the leg would have to be amputated, but we didn't know it was going to be today. I've never dealt with an amputation before, this is new territory for me. I called my friend ,and she said it's not that big of a deal, and there isn't much that I have to do. She's going to be on stand by tonight, in case I need help. She is a veterinary assistant. So, that makes me feel a little better. I have a three hour shift at work today, which is a real pain in the ass. I hope I can keep it together long enough to do my shift. I'm really bummed about all of this. I'm worried the little thing might not be strong enough to survive this. The vet is one of the best in our area, so I'm confident he knows what he's doing. I'll try to post an update tonight.

[me]

Hope he does ok.  {{{{{hugs}}}}@dexter

[Sandy Eggo]

Bummer! Poor lil' fella, but he's got the BEST support system w/you so he'll recover nicely and be happy go lucky.

[Dexter Morgan]

Hope he does ok.  {{{{{hugs}}}}@dexter

I'm just soooo freaked out. We knew it would probably have to be amputated ,but we didn't know it would be all of a sudden like this. The vet looked at it for a minute,and said 'wow, look... the infection is spreading up its body." It's little belly was awful pink, and he said its upper leg was bruising. It's a good thing I set up the appointment for today. They wanted me to wait to take it in again until Monday. I insisted that they see him today...... boy am I glad I did that!!! It probably would have died before Monday. Sometimes, persistence really pays off in a big way.  When it comes to my kids, I can really be a pest LOL!!! I want the best for my babies, and dammit they are gonna deliver LMAO!!!  I'm scared though... I figure just because they take the leg, doesn't mean the little fart is out of the woods. What if the infection gets in its blood stream? I soooo hope I'm up for this. After all of this, I'm going to be crushed if it dies.  I've got to brace myself for that though. What a horrible day.    Now, I've got to get ready for work, and hope everything holds up alright until I get off at 2. 

[Dexter Morgan]

Bummer! Poor lil' fella, but he's got the BEST support system w/you so he'll recover nicely and be happy go lucky.

I wish I had your confidence PIYA.  I just hope I can handle everything OK. I hope it isn't in a lot of pain, I can't stand to see animals suffer. I do have some pain medication for it, it hasn't needed any yet, but I got some in case its leg started to hurt. So, at least I have that. The dosing is really tricky on an animal that small. They can only have a small drop, or it could kill them.  We'll just have to see what happens.

[Dexter Morgan]

Well, the surgery  was a success so far. The poor little thing looks like half a kitten. When I first saw it I almost cried. I did cry on the way home.  It looks soooo pathetic. It is alert and the major concern was getting it a bottle ASAP!!! It drank a full bottle of formula when we got home. Right now it's sleeping. It wants to be held constantly, so that's what I'm going to do. Tonight, I'm going to light the fireplace and veg with the kitten. I was very surprised to find out, they stapled it instead of suturing it. I'd say there are probably 15 or 20 staples. We go back a week from tomorrow to have the staples out. I guess I worried myself over nothing. It seems normal it's just missing a leg.