A three legged, still shockingly handsome, black cat.
Look what came in the mail! A Tripawds Rule bandana! Obviously a cat isn’t going to rock a bandana for too long, especially if that cat’s name is Sebastian. Instead, Arthas is proud to support his lil bro!
And here’s how it went when I tried to get Sebastian to pose with it for just a minute!
Happy Tuesday everyone! Tonight I bring you a picture and an interesting tid-bit. Front-amp tripawd kitties put their one foot in the center of their bodies. I saw that on someone else’s blog (I forget which)…and here is Sebastian doing the same! He also stands with it in the middle.
It has been a month and 3 days since Sebastian’s amputation, and almost a week of normal activity for him. He’s doing great, honestly, though there have been some hiccups with his diet, lack of balance, etc. But he’s happy and being goofy like usual (and still a little angry, as usual).
Our surgeon’s recovery instructions were a lot different from everyone else’s that I’ve read about – we kept him in a dog crate for two weeks, no jumping or climbing for nearly 4 weeks, and no interaction with the other animals for nearly 4 weeks. But let me tell you…best thing ever!
Before the amputation, Sebastian’s normal daily life consisted of the following:
So, needless to say, he’s not your typical sleep all day kind of cat. And with the exception of the first week, he wanted to resume his very active, very social lifestyle. Oh, and did I mention he was a klutz even when he had 4 legs? Keeping him locked up was an excellent idea.
When he finally got out:
Stairs were an instant no-brainer.
It took him 3 tries (2 scare-the-crap-out-of-mom falls) to return to his morning office chair routine. Now he’s a pro.
He started running at mostly full speed after a couple days. Sometimes he face plants when playing with toys. Does it make me a bad person if I laugh? I’ll take a video later.
He was afraid of the cat tree for a couple days but has slowly re-gained his confidence, and he’s learning that running full speed and jumping onto it is a bad idea. For now, the hammock is sufficient:
And he didn’t really have a choice in the matter of wrestling with his brothers. They’re jerks.
Sebastian is CLEARED for normal activity! Woohoo!!! And, I just had to make this video. He is the best cat ever.
The doctor called me this morning with the biopsy results. Sebastian’s tumor was a malignant, locally invasive osteochondrosarcoma. That means it was a mix of bone tumor (osteo) and cartilage tumor (chondro). He said the malignancy level was low and it does not appear to have spread, though of course there are no guarantees. His lungs, liver, and other bloodwork were checked 3 days before the amputation and there were no signs of cancer. It also sounds like osteosarcomas do not spread in cats the way they do in dogs.
The doctor is happy with that. I’m happy with that. Of course I would have been happier with “it’s benign!” but everyone was pretty convinced it was malignant from day 1.
This also tells us that this is NOT a Vaccine Associated Sarcoma. Hearing that makes me feel better because while I’m still sad that Sebastian didn’t do anything to deserve this, at least it wasn’t anyone else’s fault either. It happens. We deal with it.
So I’ll take it!! We will hope that Sebastian lives a long, healthy, happy, cancer-free life and be super, super cautious of his health. I’ll probably call the vet if he so much as sneezes.
P.S. Sebastian is back to eating like normal. And he wants to play a lot. I ordered him a Kong Kickeroo and it should get here tomorrow. I think that will be a more appropriate toy until he can do some serious running around.