One Month Post Amp.

Today is our one-month ampuversary. Hard to imagine it has been a month already! We couldn’t be happier to post Purrkins is doing fantastic!

There isn’t anything he can’t do on his 3 legs. He is acting like a kitten again! That shows us how much that leg was bothering him.

Purrkins had his 2nd Acupuncture treatment last Wednesday, and he actually jumped up on Dr. Matt’s cushion ready for his treatment! Dr. Matt used the laser again, Purrkin’s stayed still and enjoyed the treatment!  He Never ceases to amaze me! Did I mention our Dr. Matt is an hour away? Purrkins enjoys the ride:)

He came home and played with his favorite toy (a homemade candy cane). He carries it around the house meowing! That was the first time since before the surgery we got to hear that happy sound!  He feels a great difference with the acupuncture! Both times he has come home and played and has more energy!

He is back to being my shadow just a little louder shadow. He has a cute hopping sound. He is surprisingly very fast on 3!

His fur is growing back pretty fast. The poor guy had his belly shaved from the ultrasound, then the surgery site and his back leg.

We go back again for another acupuncture treatment next Wednesday.

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Purrkins texted his grandpa- Purrkins text was ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////Then shut the computer off lol.

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The boys are back to being sweet brothers!

They are begging to go outside.

They only get to go out with us, on a harness or in their tent. Will work on taking some videos and getting them posted 😉

 

Tripawds Rule!

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A Special Thank you to All of Tripawds! You guys and gals are all very special people! Angels that all gather in one place, as I see it!

We are so thankful for all the help and information not to mention the support! You all made a huge difference in this!

As all tripawd parents know this is not a journey any of us wish to be on. However, thank God for Tripawds!

We are so grateful we didn’t have to go thru this alone!

Thank you, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Chels, Janice, Sara , Dr. Matt, Dr. Jones, Dr. Zarka , Dr. Vilar, Judy, Dr. Rubin, Chris Elmore (MSU Vet student who helped me everyday while Purrkins was there), he will make a excellent Vet one day and New York will be lucky to have you!

Thanks to All of our family. We are so blessed to have you all!

💞❌⭕❌⭕😽😽

 

Purrkins going up and down log stairs.

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Purrkins uses the 4 step stairs to reach that window seat. The larger one has 6 steps he can reach the counters, and up the cupboards, it’s also the right height for our bed. We just move them as he does for now.

We have 3 sets of stairs for Purrkins. All of which are different heights. Just wanted to share these.

They are lightweight very easy to move, I put rubber shelf liner under the steps, and they don’t move at all.

Purrkins uses all of his stairs! We ordered one more set, and hopefully, we can cover all of his areas now. Total will be 4 sets. This helps him get up and down without such a strain on his 3 legs. It also helps his Mom and Dad worry less!😉

Going up basement stairs. 14 days post amp.

We live in a log home the stairs are not typical. We were very concerned how Purrkins would manage these stairs on 3 legs.  We put carpet on them before his surgery.  We thought it would help him get up and down with some traction.

Going up the log stairs

Going down our log steps.  He completely avoided the carpet on the way down? As you’ll see. 17 days post amp.

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This is the 3rd pair of steps.

Just posting this info on what we have done to help accommodate Purrkins to his new life on 3! We want him to be himself and do what he wants and do it safely!

Hope this may help others on the same journey some day.

Back up on the kitchen cupboards.

Wanted to share Purrkins is back to getting around to all of his favorite places.  Much to our disbelief, he scared us to death!

Here he is back on top of the kitchen cupboards. With no help no steps! He has to jump to the countertops, up on top of the fridge, and then up to the cabinets.

Getting down, I did assist him in showing him the best route and moved his steps to the counter for him. He used that way no problem.

How would he have gotten down? I’d like to think he had a plan? This is good we are here to see what needs to be addressed and make those changes as they come about.

Purrkins had stopped climbing the cupboards after his biopsy surgery. It’s an excellent sign he is feeling better without that arm! As scary as it is for us. It’s not for him!

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He jumps in and out of his baskets no problem, Up and down the steps no issues.

It’s just over two weeks since his surgery, and we find him amazing!

Saxton and Purrkins are also back to being brothers! No more hissing. They are even back to a cleaning one another. 😍

Saxton still observes Purrkins, it is not a stalking behavior, definitely watching him close and staying close by him, have to wonder what he is thinking?

We go back for his 2nd Acupuncture treatment on Wednesday.  Will keep updating as we go.😽

2 Weeks today! Purrkins is back

It has been two weeks today since Purrkins arm was amputated. Unreal it has been two weeks already.

Yesterday after his acupuncture treatment Purrkins played with his yeowww fish! He rolled and rolled he figured out how to hold the toy with his one arm.

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Purrkins went back today to MSU to get his stitches removed.

He quivered the entire time.  I felt terrible for him.

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The surgeon is pleased with how everything looked and said Purrkins is FREE – no more t-shirts or onesies!

He is allowed to go back to regular activity!

I attached his Pathology report below.

 

LOVE THE BOLD PRINT ON PAGE 2!

Regular activity became RUN and JUMP all over the house lol

He was ready Mom was not. He does so well I shouldn’t have been so worried.

He amazes us again! He wanted to go down to the basement Mark, and I thought we would be ready in case he needed us. Well, he RAN down before we could do anything! 👀

Mark and I were both in shock did you see that?! He investigated the entire house every room in fact! I thought he must be exhausted by now. No, he rested for a few minutes, and he was back up again.

What an amazing day! Purrkins is AMAZING. We are both in awe. His Grandma and Grandpa were able to watch all thru videos and pictures. They were also amazed.

Saxton just watched Purrkins go everywhere, they smelled each other, and that was ok for a short time. Saxton then gave him a big hiss  😒 Hopefully a little time we can get them back to being brothers.

Purrkins is back to himself today! We can certainly say we did what was best for Purrkins!

He is back to his happy, active self!  We also know his leg was bothering him more then he was showing us! He had slowed down and was sleeping more than usual before the surgery.

We will work on some more videos and get them uploaded of him getting around!

1/2 day of being a free man again and on 3 legs has been a joy to see!

We are so thankful we had a choice and were able to save Purrkins life!

I know cancer has no rules. But this is the greatest news we could get! Clean margins, cancer left with the leg!  We are running with that!

We are going to live and celebrate a long cancer-free life! 🙏

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Purrkins all time favorite hang out! He can watch the birds and chipmunks!

Thank you, everyone, for being here with us thru this terrifying time!  Yeah, Purrkins! 🎉🎉🎊🎈

Love to all XOXO

 

Acupuncture appointment

Purrkins went for his acupuncture appointment today. He was not happy with the needle acupuncture he squirmed all around. I took a bag full of bonito flakes thinking that would help. Nope, not today.

Dr. Matt said this isn’t helping him and decided to try the laser acupuncture.

Purrkins didn’t mind that in fact, he started to purr.

In the photos, he still has some needles in. Most he squirmed right off. There were Lots of bonito flakes everywhere. 😉

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Dr. Matt would like him to have 2-4 sessions. We go again next week and will keep you posted on how this goes and what improvement we see.

*Purrkins pain medication and gabapentin will be done tomorrow. Hoping this will help him be off the meds without any pain.

He came home and ate supper and is now sleeping soundly.

Thank you, Dr. Matt!

 

*Edited

Purrkins meds & duration ended up being

  • 14 days Gabapentin 100 mg capsule – one capsule by mouth every 8 hours
  • 12 days Buprenorphine 0.3 mg 0.25 ml every 8-12 hours

Spaced the Gabapentin and Buprenorphine 1 hour apart per our instructions.

I opened the Gabapentin capsule into a little bowl (pestle)
I added a small amount of sardine water or tuna water, mixed the Gabapentin, used a syringe and sucked the mixture back up into the syringe to syringe to Purrkins.

 

Getting stronger by the hour!

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Purrkins is back in his window seat and is thrilled. We are so happy he is doing great! Each day is better than before, and each day he wants to do more.

We just set up his window seat and the stairs on Saturday. We thought it was time for him to start doing more things. We stripped this room down to next to nothing for Purrkins to come home.

We took the bed off the box springs and just put the mattress on the floor. No way for him to get under the bed. We needed to have access to him for his meds. Also under the bed was not a safe place to be, if he would bump his incision.

We took out all the tables too. The room had the mattress, litter box, sleeping bag cushion for me and all cushioned floor exercise mats down for Purrkins learning process. We did not want him to hurt himself if he had some mishaps learning.

We will continue to bring more things back into the room this week. Our Purrkins is getting stronger every day and making this Tripawd living look easy!