Update on Tika

[wyntir_knight]

We thought we were doing everything right. We kept her caged, we kept her quiet and as calm as possible. We did her physio five times a day, just like we were told. We gave her her pill every morning, mashed into her food, just like we were told.

Last night we were about to do her exercises when we noticed that her body is really hot but her ears and feet are cold, and there is what appears to be a piece of metal sticking out of her leg, but there was no blood at all.

We brought her into the vet today to get her stitches out ans they are going to do x-rays on her leg. They think the pin may have shifted. So after everything, after two weeks of torturning this poor animal, she may lose the leg anyway. I'll know more after the x-rays are done. My parents will call me at work to keep me updated.

... I'm a mess. We'll see if things get better or worse in the next hour or so.


Edit: I finally heard back. Apparently there was a line up and then she refused to go under ... Anyway, the gist of it is that the pin has pulled away from the bone. The surgeon will see if he can put in a new pin that will come out of the leg on both sides and stay in until she heals. He'll send us an estimate on the cost if it can be done. If he feels that it can't be, then we're looking at amputation at the shoulder and it'll cost $2000 on top of the, I think, $4000 my parents have already spent on the surgery itself. ... I keep thinking that if I had been home none of this would have happened. If I had gone with my original plan of just letting my parents go to Aruba as a second honeymoon, if I hadn't let them talk me into accepting this as a birthday present. ... We'll know more tomorrow. I wish that I have sick leave and personal days because I don't want to be at work right now.

Edit 2: It's official. They're going to have to take the leg. There's just not enough bone to do anythign else except a very risky and very experimental porcedure that would leave her in pain for the rest of her life and has a very low probability of success. My mom is taking this really badly, so I'm sucking it up and being the strong one, preventing my mom from losing it completely. She's convinced herself that she did the physio wrong. That's not the case at all, but she's convinced herself that it it. Tika will have the surgery tomorrow morning and we'll get her back on Thursday or Friday. It will likely be only a week or so of recovery, depending on how the proceedure goes.

Comments

[m-danson.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that.

If it is any consolation a friend of mine has a cat who got run over and lost a leg as a result. His cat healed really well (and faster than a break) and is very active and playful now. From what I've seen, three legged cats can be very active and healthy.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

These past two weeks she was getting along surprisingly well without the use of the one leg, so if they have to take it, I have no doubt that she'll get along fine. ... still hard though.

And thank you

[nightwind69.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor Tika... :(

I hope that she will be all right. But, should the worst happen, I've seen many three-legged cats and they all seem to do just fine...

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yeah, she'll be fine one way or the other. As it is, she's getting around quite well with only the three.

[julie-ann.livejournal.com]

Poor Tika-chu :( Poor Rita. Hope it isn't that bad but at least she has lots of love.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that's one thing she'll never miss out on. :)

[corradus.livejournal.com]

*hugs* that really sucks, poor thing.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) *accepts hugs happily*

[naphtaliphoenix.livejournal.com]

*offers huggles* Here's hoping for the best...

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Thank you

[oni-neko.livejournal.com]

*offers hugs* I hope...I hope for the best.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Thank you

[m-danson.livejournal.com]

If you hadn't gone to Aruba then she might still have broken her leg and might still have had the pin pull away from the leg. Even if you had done everything with the utmost caution, things might still not have worked out perfectly. Don't beat yourself up over it.

It's pretty obvious from here that you love that cat and are taking the best care of her that you can. Many people would just have had her put down, you didn't.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

You and your damned logic and your facts! *shakes fist*

Yeah, I know I'm being silly, beating myself up like this. I think that once I know something more definite I'll be better .. like tomorrow I'll be better. Thank you, though. Thank you very much :)

[julie-ann.livejournal.com]

So sorry. It is nones fault and her boys will take good care of her. Plus she is a stubborn can so she will be resilient...at least she has a good home to come back to and nurse her.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the bear hug! It really lifted my spirits :)

And yeah, she'll be fine, and this is better all around. She'll heal far quicker and won't be in pain any more.

[julie-ann.livejournal.com]

Mission accomplished then.
I bet she still rules the house when she returns...maybe even more so.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh definately yes. I figure it won't take her long to figure out how to go back to handing Logan his tail.

[julie-ann.livejournal.com]

Yep. My prayers are with her.
Your present is lost somewhere in Ottawa I think. They said they redirected it to your new address in the tarcking.

[oreobot.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry to hear about your cat, Tika. It sounds like the broken leg accident occurred just recently...I missed hearing what happened. It's sad that she will lose a leg, but she has good people looking after her.

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

It's been two weeks. It happend just after we left for Aruba. We still don't know what happened, but we think that she got her leg caught in a door while rough-housing with her brother and her elbow was shattered.