Lyla Kitty Rear Amputation

Lyla is a very happy and so far healthy kitty a lil over 3 years since her surgery. She is now 10 years old and leading a fairly active tripawd life. I don’t log onto the site very often now but man was it a godsend when we were deep in it. …So I will always post any relevant updates as to help others going through this challenging journey.

Lyla has made strides since her surgery and diagnosis with chondroblastic osteosarcoma. Overall she is doing quite well. She is adjusting to her new way of life, but is still quite hesitant to do any running. Mostly it’s the hop/walk pace. Lyla is eating high quality foods plus an omega3 supplement. One odd thing is that once in a while she has what we call a mini freak out, I think it’s when something scares her and she goes to jump back and she ends up spinning around backwards a revelation or two…also I think when she is pivoting or maybe forgets idk. I am hoping slowly this will subside.

I met with an oncologist regarding her diagnosis yesterday. I am going to cut and paste a portion of his recommendation below. He spoke with a few other oncologists and between them they could only find two other similar cases. At the moment all her chest scans are clear. My family is taking this very seriously and I think we are opting to forgo chemo. Please no judgement, she is a docile shy kitty and the stress of it all with no guarantee or stats to back it up makes me cautious. Truly our main concern is quality of life.

Oncologist info:
Compared to dogs, osteosarcoma in cats tends to have a lower rate of metastasis, or spread, to other areas of the body, such as the lungs. Therefore, the overall prognosis relies more heavily on the ability to obtain adequate local control of the disease. In patients with osteosarcomas of the limbs, amputation is recommended, as the median survival time with surgery alone often exceeds 2 years.
Chemotherapy is another option we discussed today. The main goal of chemotherapy is to slow the spread of the tumor to other part of her body, such as the lungs. Because osteosarcoma in cats metastasizes infrequently, chemotherapy is typically not incorporated as part of
standard treatment. Chemotherapy may be recommended, however, for tumors that cannot be resected, for tumors that have already spread, or when features on a biopsy report confirm a more aggressive tumor. One of these features is the mitotic index, which was quite high on
Lyla’s biopsy report. The benefit of chemotherapy in decreasing metastatic osteosarcoma in a cat is unknown. Two drugs often used for osteosarcoma include Adriamycin (also called doxorubicin) and
carboplatin. Adriamycin can have effects on the kidneys so we often choose carboplatin. With or without chemotherapy, thoracic radiographs are recommended every three months to monitor for metastasis.

*recommendation was 4 IV treatments every 3-4 weeks.

As of yesterday Lyla was able to be trusted sleeping where she wants with only A few restricted areas. Until about day 16 she still needed some supervision as the incision scabs were starting to itch her I think. She is using her ramp to get up onto the bed alone and some of her steps. I had to work for a little bit Friday and left her in the room with the baby monitor app keeping an eye on her and she basically slept the whole time. She’s getting a smaller dose of the gabapentin twice a day until Tuesday and then I think we’re done unless we see any signs of pain.

I think she is happy to get back into her usual routine a bit more. Besides being a tripod, the biggest changes now are the different litter boxes and she will always be wearing a bell collar to locate her more easily….and of course from here on out trying to prevent her from thinking she can jump up onto kitchen counters and things that are too high, it seems the world for rear amputees is very different than front. She is a little bit more clingy than she ever was before at the moment, she has always been a fairly independent cat and we’ll see if she get some of that back.

Lyla meowed all the way to the vets office to get her stitches removed this morning 🙌🏼 Things went as well as it could under the circumstances. I plan to make a consult apt with the recommended oncologist and will leave kitty at home as she has been through enough for now.

The litter box situation has still been somewhat of a disaster. Kinda like Goldilocks, one is too short and small and one is too tall. So amazingly enough I have found an awesome replacement at Home Depot in the masonary area for $6. Here is the link just in case anyone else has issues. She is doing quite well with this size and depth. This one measures 27”l x 20”d x 6”h.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plasgad-Black-Medium-Concrete-Mixing-Tub-887101C/205451550?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-205451585-_-205451550-_-N

We still plan to keep a close eye on her for over grooming the incision area and overall adjusting getting around the next week or three – lols.

Lyla is slowly progressing a bit more as each day passes. Spending the evenings in the recovery room sleeping with her cone on and the days out and about the home without her cone and constant supervision. In the middle of the day she needs a long nap from overdoing it a bit. Trying to slowly ease her into it all so her good leg can handle it, I still worry about it being a FHO leg and hoping the range of motion is working okay for her body as a whole.

The photo above has some corrugated cardboard stackable squares we had from target, so we sawed one in half to make her a stair to the chair and another for the sofa.

The wound area looks good still and her hair is slowly growing in.

Tonight as it was nearing nighttime I was procrastinating on putting her cone on and in just a couple seconds she starting biting at her stitches 🥴 So I cleaned it with the spray just to be safe and luckily it all looks good. Cone back on for the night, I do give her a treat right after and at least she doesn’t hiss at me now🤷🏼‍♀️