Fuzzball had a four-week battle to save the leg. Over the first two weeks the animal hospital people were absolutely wonderful in their support, except one of the docs was not happy with the foot at all and cautioned us that removal is still very much a probability, with really the choice being between mid-foot, mid-shank, and hip removal. Actually, she thought hip removal was the ONLY way to go, with necrosis 99.9999% certain in the other options.
She managed to go to the litterbox on the 4th day. She was still in isolation from the other cats so had no imprint on how to use the box - and promptly started peeing on the bandage. Wonderful. So, in addition to the antibiotic every 8 hours she had to get a new bandage every 6 hours or so - and kitten food as soon as she emptied the last round. Now rebandaging was a 30 minute 2-person process, including peeling off the old one with the help of a saline syringe to break up blood clots and a 5-minute Hibiclens soak (gotta hold the kitten and the leg and the soaking solution otherwise you're wearing kitten and solution). Then Granulex spray then non-stick-pad, then gauze pressure pad then self-stick bandaging then sticky bandaging. Gah. We lost a lot of sleep in those 5 days.
On the 5th day she picked up a 2ndary infection. So we had to do 2 antibiotics one on 6-hour intervals and one on 8-hour. We lost more sleep. They still couldn't draw blood for the virus panel - she was still too small and would have mom's antibodies. So she had to stay in isolation, which meant moaning behind the door and washing ourselves and the clothes we used to play with her, all with aggressive exploration by the other cats. We lost more sleep.
The top candidate for adoption decided that 'Lila' was a really good name, so I immediately started calling her Lila the Lame Lint Leopard. She'd do a rocking chair move onto the bandage, rear up, and pounce on the biggest dryer dust bunny she could find. In between peeing on the bandage and chewing the top of it and moaning if she didn't have attention for 30 seconds. I know, lots cute.
Then we got some good news - the infection cultures were responding to the 2nd antibiotic and we could go back to the 8 hour syringes. 4 more days to the virus panel. 4 Looooooong days.
That's when I had a brainwave - she might be peeing on the bandage because the bandage is up over the knee- she simply can' t bend it out of the way to squat properly. So we changed the bandaging pattern so it was more of a clog than a cast. OMG - dry bandage at antibiotic time! Sweet! 2 days to virus panel.
We were kind of worried at this point because she couldn't hop anymore. Patience, patience, let her get used to the new bandage. We were still being presented with 2 options: mid shank removal and hip-level removal. The toe tendons used to flex claws were apparently completely severed.
Virus panel day. Doc compliments us on our bandaging. Infection is gone. New skin is apparent. PHEW. We can (maybe) stop fretting about the need to amputate. Animal hospital promptly re-bandages in the old cast pattern. And of course she pees on it, like immediately. GRRR.
Results come back and she can get introduced to -OMG- new playmates. At that point Lila the Lame Lint Leopard started absolutely terrorising cats 4x to 6x her size. 'Fuzzball' quickly re-aspected to 'Pestilence'.
Think you're going to get more sleep? HAH! Fooled you! 12:30 am howly fight over bedding space. 2am eyeball paw. 5am toe bite. 5:15 am massive diarrhea by other cat who got into the kitten food. Gah.
Top candidate for adoption backs out. He's got a chancy job situation and he wasn't keen on the amputation risk so she'd have to come back to us if that happened. Yeh, fine, I don't want someone who'll treat her like a Christmas kitten anyway.
Good news: the next door neighbour likes her. And likes the name Lila. 'Pestilence' not so much.
So...we're probably keeping her through Christmas. There has a major re-shuffle of food amongst the cats since we couldn't keep kitten food out anymore. Yeh, that went - terribly. She missed out a week of growth - zero weight gain - and went from tubby to slinky. We're still shuffling. On the upside, she's on the adult food.
So what you see there is a kitten 6 times her original size. The bandage is off and she's starting to get hair on the wound. She now has only 3 toes on that paw and it's not terribly flexible - but she still has the paw.
Last edited:
With no more surgeries on the horizon and all the help from the animal hospital we're good. 
