Night two went much better. I didn’t hear a peep out of either kitty. Sneezes yes. Peeps, meows, hisses, or growls…no.
This morning, I was up early for work and tried to sneak in and out of the closet quickly for feeding, antibiotics, and once overs. I made the mistake of sitting down. Zissou climbed into my lap! Purring even!!
Esteban seems uncomfortable, but not entirely unhappy. I just went digging for dated pictures of Steve post op to compare her surgery site to Esteban’s at this point in the recovery. I won’t know until I go to the humane society tomorrow to get my paperwork and chat with the vet, but the staff member who set the kitties up to go home with me said she was pretty sure that Esteban’s amputation was last Monday and Zissou’s was Wednesday or Thursday. His incision doesn’t look swollen. He’s not bruised or edematous. I found a picture of Steve 10 days out (compared to Esteban’s almost 7 days) and she looked a bit more healed with her skin closed a bit more, but I’m not ruling out that 3 more days will make all of that difference. I’m also hesitant to compare them because their surgeries were so different. The incisions were different shapes and sizes; and I believe his leg was removed from the scapula down, whereas Steve still has a nub of her femur. I’m a little weirded out by his extra skin flap, I’m not gonna lie!
Tonight, I re-rearranged their bedding. I gave Esteban another blankie and made Zissou’s more bunchy and less folded. I also had the joy of pulling a 6 inch tapeworm out of her butt. I was worried that it was a string or a piece of toy from her previous life. I was actually relieved that it was a worm! I love Strongid! Results you can see!!! Sorry if any of that was too much info 🙂
Here are new pictures! I cleaned the boogers off of Zissou’s nose and tried to get a picture of her new, clean face but she just wanted to climb on my lap. The way Esteban is laying in this picture is actually the most relaxed I’ve seen him since he arrived. Usually he is laying in that uncomfortable cat pose with all of his feet under him. Now with the new blankie, he’s at least a little recumbent. I also included a picture of his incision site from today and – for comparison – Steve’s site 10 days post op.
I’m a tripawed mom, although mine is a dog. Praying for a fast recovery for both. You’re a special mom.
We are learning so much from you watching this recovery, thanks for sharing the details. Don’t worry about that extra skin flap, fur will grow back and you’ll never know it was there.
Did I miss this, but what pain meds are being used?
I wasn’t sent home with any pain meds. I know that they had been on Buprenex while they were at the humane society before I picked them up. Steve was only on Buprenex for a few days. Unfortunately, because there’s no money in rescue and because the humane society depends entirely on donations from the public (we have no government funding whatsoever), there’s just no money for pain meds beyond a few days.