Happy Hoppy Eighth Birthday

We celebrated the boys eighth birthday on June 30th. We are still in the Mature category be clear;) 

Happy Birthday to me
New treat puzzle, not plastic cause I get chin acne from plastic
See how I hold the yeowww banana
I’m laying on it. It’s mine
Hats again Mom?
I got this thing figured out
Enough of this hat I am backing out of it.

We had planned on having both the boys dental’s done in May had blood work done, and Saxton ’s comes back as a no go. We would retest in another month to see if things changed his blood work was great six months ago? Purrkins blood work came back good. We had his dental done. The Vet was accommodating with us and gets cats! We talked about all this before the dental on cage time what meds they would send us home with how they would sedate him etc. He made special arrangements for Purrkins to NOT come in early in the morning and wait in a cage for his turn. The office called us right before they were ready for Purrkins for us to bring him in. LOVED THAT they also let us pick up Purrkins as soon as the procedure was over. For any cat & cat owner HUGE! Less stress on all pawties! 

Two teeth had lesions and needed to be removed. Purrkins came home with three days of Buprenorphine so anyone who thinks three days of meds is ok on amputation IT’S NOT & it is cruel plus Amoxicillin for five days.

We were not prepared for two teeth coming out and Purrkins coming home seeing pink elephants! Purrkins did great on Buprenorphine and Gabapentin in recovery well lesson learned with no Gaba means a drunk ABLED  Purrkins with the Zoomies! Gaba made him sleepy just Buprenorphine does not! NOTED

Purrkins was to remain calm no jumping or stairs, and Purrkins did not get that memo. We got the recovery room ready and pulled the mattress off the frame and into the spare room we went for three days. Uneventful in the room. Purrkins did great.

Pink elephants?

Groovy
Phew I’m tired of those pink elephants

We were able to start brushing teeth again after 14 days. I do brush their teeth yes, I don’t do the most excellent job, but I get it done I was not sure it was enough, and it still paid off, everything was mild tartar, etc.  We added a dental chew in Virbac C.E.T. Enzymatic Oral Hygiene Chews for Cats they love them and come running when they hear the bag. The boys  have a preferred taste to the CET Poultry Toothpaste  that is the only one that is like a treat to them, and we use this tiny little brush CET Toothbrush for Cats 

Some info on dental health in cats if you have a cat, please read. Everything You Need to Know About Your Cat’s Dental Health

Below is a screenshot, not the entire article click the link above, please.

Saxton has since got blood work redone and YAAAAY it has improved, and now he can have his dental done. We will continue blood work every six months to make sure things stay stable. We Mark and I  decided we will not do Saxton’s dental until the next 6-month blood work Saxton needs a vet break, and we all need a break in all aspects. Nothing is urgent dental wise, and we are doing these to prevent problems with their health in the future well that is our hope! I have no idea what we were thinking about doing them both at one time anyway?!?!? 

My parents came to stay with us we had a wonderful time, time went entirely too fast!

Yep, that’s our Grandpa, and we love him!

Grandma said no to the photo of them both and I had to delete it which I understand! I get that from my Mom!

UPDATE ON FARABLOC blanket-

Purrkins uses his farabloc every day, and we continue to go to acupuncture and chiropractic we went May 30th. I move the blanket to his two favorite layabout places, and we have not had one episode until June 23rd. Purrkins was in his cat tree, and I forgot to move his blanket! The cat tree has been the commonplace Purrkins has had his phantom limb episodes? Might be all of the EMF’s are circulating in that area? 

He bolted out of his tree and down the tree to attack, bite, lick & scratch his no arm! Mark said he is having an episode again. I saw he did not have his blanket I forget to move it one time and crap! I grabbed the blanket and wrapped him in it. The episode stopped immediately~! No poop it was over just like that!

Farabloc WORKS anyone has a doubt try it because it has been a huge relief for Purrkins and this was the first episode we have had since it came in Dec. Worth the cost? YES! Was it just because I did not move the blanket for him? That is what I suspect. Time will tell. I can tell you I will never forget to move that blanket again! 🙁

We have ordered a faraday cage for the smart meter, and the wifi router will see what changes and if we have another break thru episode in between tune-ups? We have talked about seeing a pain specialist who is 1 1/2 away. Dr. Matt is an hour plus away so not a big difference, and Purrkins does not mind car rides he never makes a peep and enjoys the ride? Maybe the pain specialist will have some answers? Will keep you posted on what happens and what we decide to do from here.

Purrkins, two-year ampuversary, is the 27th, and

Super Stewie’s one-year ampuversary is the 10th!

We have more celebrating to do!!

More Pawties?

Saxton trying to help write Purrkins blog or not;)

Until then hope everyone furry and human alike are doing well and enjoying their summer!  

Love & Purrs to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

No evidence of metastasis as of 2/2/18

CANCER FREE ZIP, ZERO, NONE

One year & 8 months checkup!

We had our dreaded oncology check-up, restaging appointment they insist on calling it and as the title says we could not have asked for better news!! We had the exam, ultrasound, x-rays, blood work, urinalysis done!

  • Soft tissue sarcomas (2) near left carpus
    Completely excised via left forelimb amputation on 7/26/16
  • No evidence of metastasis as of 2/2/18
  • Grade II/VI right parasternal systolic heart murmur auscultated on 2/2/18
  • Persistent elevated ALT (mild) as of 2/2/18
  • Liver cyst – Not seen as of 7/7/17
  • Splenic myelolipoma on the US – Not seen as of 2/2/18
  • Mineralized foci in each kidney on the US – Not seen as of 2/2/18

All unremarkable! One slight elevation in the ALT one number off actually, nothing to be concerned with at this time and a heart murmur was noted today. The heart murmur is new; it is not a concern at this time. Will follow up with Dr. Matt and our Traditional Vet. I can’t help but wonder if it’s not from nerves and being sedated?  Wishful thinking? Maybe?  Will see……Not a concern at this time is all we need at this time;). We will have Dr. Matt take a listen at our next appt in 2 weeks for acupuncture/chiro that is the best place to have it rechecked as Purrkins loves Dr. Matt and it is not like a Vet appt for him.

I do not like this place Mom
What will they do to me this time?

The Oncologist that we saw today was the original oncologist we saw for Purrkins Soft Tissue Sarcoma. We liked him then & he wanted us to do the radiation route, but he gave us all of our options. I did not think we would see him again since we took the leg and today was our day.  He could not be more pleased with Purrkins pawgress and all the test results UNREMARKABLE! I find the news even better when the Onco’s are grinning ear to ear.  I am sure we are not the typical news for them and hope we can always be uncommon!!

We had some little findings in our last ultrasound in the spleen likely a myelolipoma (noted can be associated with mast cell) which scared us, and we wanted to see if it changed.  Did it change? YES, IT LEFT?  Got me and I don’t care it is gone!

We are good for six months they would like to see Purrkins for blood work and an exam and then go to yearly major rechecks FINALLY PHEW. Of course, we will continue seeing Dr. Matt for acupuncture and chiro, immune support, etc.

Dr. Vilar (onco) says no tumor is coming back! HAHA NOPE, we threw it away, but they would still like to keep an eye on him. “Gold standard for oncology is every six months MAJOR recheck ” we are doing great because they are letting us go to one year on the major recheck!!  Whoo Hooo!!

The students loved Purrkins he got all kinds of love and kisses, the one girl that came to get Purrkins knew Purrkins OH IT’S PURRKINS ❣I hope all that somehow that makes it easier on him? I have to wonder if someone reads his blog because they did not go clipper crazy on him like they did last time?!

Before
After

New Feline Only Entrance

Our last Onco appt at MSU they were working on a FELINE specific waiting area we saw the signs Purr-don our dust!

They have completed the Feline Only entrance at MSU!! Look at it!  It is beautiful and what a difference for Purrkins and us! We did not hear one dog bark, sorry pups nothing against the doggies I love all critters; I think this is a win-win for both species!  The dogs are not getting excited at seeing the kitties, and Purrkins wasn’t afraid hearing or seeing the pups. It was a very different atmosphere! I hope everyone follows in their footsteps!

It is beautiful and quiet and purrfect for cats they have high and low tables in there so you can put your kitty where he/she would prefer and a fish tank for enjoyment ;). We were the only ones there when we took Purrkins and the only ones there when we went back to get him?

Purrkins biggest complaint was he had to STARVE for his appointment, and brother Saxton also had to starve but not nearly as long. He came home and ate like he hasn’t eaten in weeks, he had the zoomies!  They sedated Purrkins we have discussed this over and over Purrkins does not need to be sedated!  They will not budge on this!  We discussed this again before taking him back, and she made a note for less sedation. They used two different drugs this time and then reversed one of those drugs – now three drugs.

We thought all was fine Purrkins just had the zoomies, and his pupils were huge and overly sensitive to any noise.  The zoomies and being wired has happened in the past, with his biopsy surgery. An hour or so after he was home he had some reaction with his breathing, he wanted to cough and couldn’t, multiple swallows, trying to catch his breath, it is hard to describe it looked like he was going to have an asthma attack. I was ready to do mouth-to-mouth and take him back to MSU!  It did end up resolving & working itself out. What seemed like furever was only minutes!  Scared the poop out of us & I was up most of the night ensuring Purrkins was still breathing!  I have noted the different meds that were used – DO NOT USE again on his yearly exam and in his charts everywhere!

Purrkins still had the Zoomies Saturday morning, and finally late afternoon the zoomies expired!

Zoomies have expired finally

That is our big news and very happy to report we are still hopping on and we have left that piece of 💩disease behind.  It is our past, and Purrkins does not mind that his arm is in the past. Ask him?

His arm or me? Purrkins says ME pretty easy decision!

Plus I use my Mom’s arm whenever a shoulder is needed!

Saxton 💭 Is it always about him?  No, it’s really not!  Saxton needs a  blog the poor guy he has lots to say!  You can see Sexy Saxton has lost weight too!!

Thanks for all the good juju prayers and thoughts we got what we asked for and could not be more grateful!

P.S. Purrkins is still using his farabloc every day, and we have seen an enormous difference! He has not had any phantom limb episodes, and the twitching has decreased! I look forward to telling Dr. Matt about that as well, he was not familiar with the farabloc blanket but knew we were going to give it a try.

Enough pictures mom I’m trying to sleep here!

Until our next update…….
Much love to you all!
Hugs, Purrs & Scratches

Purrkins Phantom Limb 18 months post amp!

Purrkins just started having phantom limb pain or what I call phantom limb episodes. Purrkins has always had a twitch in his no arm. I asked our Holistic Vet about it when we first started to see the twitch after his amp, what we are seeing is the pectoantebrachialis muscle twitching.

In short – The brain is still sending signals to the arm that is not there causing the twitching. With Purrkins it has never appeared to be painful, looks involuntary it looks like a jerking sensation. I took a short video so you can see what goes on. Just watch his amputated side.

Dr. Matt says it doesn’t seem to bother him the twitch isn’t concerning could go on his lifetime.  This last two months we started having more twitching and then episodes of phantom limb pain.  Purrkins was sleeping in his bed and out of the blue he woke startled and aggressively went after where his arm used to be. Licking fastidiously and scratching it. I felt terrible for him! It lasted about 2 minutes. I didn’t time it, I was trying to help him get thru it!  I have a homeopathic remedy we used after his amputation after his Gaba ran out called Boiron Hypericum Perforatum 30C, a (Homeopathic Medicine for Nerve Pain) During the episode I gave him two pellets tried to massage the area, he did not want my help at all he wanted to attend to it himself.  The other times it came on out of the blue, but he was awake with the same lightning bolt action and attacking & licking his no arm area.

We took Purrkins for his acupuncture and chiropractic he was out of whack in the in the three usual places atlas, thoracic 7 that number varies last time it was thoracic 10 and his pelvis needed to be adjusted these seem to be the consistent ones that Purrkins needs to be adjusted.

(red arrows showing you where)

Dr. Matt was surprised Purrkins was having phantom limb episodes this far out, but he said it could come about at any time. We do believe acupuncture will help it has always done wonders for Purrkins we will just have to get the how often dialed in better we were at every three months as a tune-up.  We discussed EMF’s Electro Magnetic Fields like a smart meter, wifi routers, laptop, cell phones, microwaves, etc. Post’s Jerry has done on the Farabloc go into further detail & a PODCAST: All About Electro Magnetic Frequencies and Tripawd Amputees  

We discussed this because the electric company installed a new smart meter on the house and this does correlate with when Purrkins started having these episodes. Purrkins will be a year and a half post amp next week, and the phantom limb episodes just started happening!  Very interesting discussion & a little geeky for some but I find all this very interesting! Dr. Matt does suspect the smart meter is the reason for this late onset and we discussed how dogs have high anxiety and behavioral problems the list went on! He suspects for the same reason too much EMF’S.  We can purchase a cage for the new smart reader to block any harmful emissions; we figured we could not block them all & bought a farabloc blanket for Purrkins instead.

When the blanket arrived we know more got it out of the envelope, and Purrkins was on it literally, and he stayed on it, on and off the entire night!

Right out of the envelope;)

The off was to eat and go potty then back on the blanket! I even moved the blanket around actually out of my own curiosity to see if he would follow it! I put it in the doorway where neither cats would typically lay, it’s too busy to lay there. Guess what? Yep, he followed it!

The blanket folded in half on this photo

Funny Saxton also gravitates to it?

I think I need one too Dad;)

Now if anyone has cats, they know cats are finicky about materials well at least ours are. They always pick the softest, cushiony materials this is anything but that. It is fabric and I was not sure Purrkins would be interested in it, but we did the research & wanted to try it if it can help him in any way money well spent! I move the blanket around to Purrkins regular sleep spots as you can see for yourself Purrkins loves it! Amputated arm always on the blanket!

Also folded in half in his window seat.
Mom why all the pictures again? SIGH Single layer full size we got the 20 X 20
Could not be more content sleeping so peacefully! Love this picture!

I have not seen him be this relaxed in months!  I have seen less twitching and will give the full review when we have more time to see what happens.  I am very interested in the technology and will watch and document how this goes & let you all know. What we can see in 4 days we are impressed!

Next week we will celebrate our One year & 6 months cancer free Ampuversary we will have to schedule that dreaded recheck once again.🤢   January or February we are shooting for ! Will let you know and ask for some prayers & pawsitive tripawd power before our appointment!

For now, I will leave you with our famous upside-down closing photo of Mr. Purrkins loving his new Farabloc blanket!

We want to wish you all a very Meowy Christmas and or a Hoppy Howlidays and a Hoppy Mew Year FULL of treasured memories, love & laughter!

Love to everyone one of you and your fur & human family here & on the other side whom we always carry in our hearts❣

 

 

Hopping on 16 months

Purrkins In his hunt mode

We have unsuccessfully gained an entire 1 lb back!😩
Both Saxton & Purrkins both 1 lb each so two on how you look at it! I see two! I am sick, to say the least, we slacked on the weighing them for one month, this is the result!😲

This was an experiment gone wrong on what calories it would take to maintain where we were. Not intentionally missing the weigh-in life just got in the way. The plan was to experiment with calories, adding some actually, weigh them each week to know which way we were going or if we were holding steady.  We did not weigh them, and here we are One month =+1 lb If only it worked the reverse way🤢

We are back on track back with alerts on the calendar to weigh every three days then back to every week weigh ins! Maintaining this weight I have not figured out YET so when we get there I will happily share what it takes and if there is allowed any extra calories or what not?  We will get it back off and figure out the rest! UGH! We share our success and our failures because like it or not we always have both! Hard lesson learned!😞

Purrkins has always had an obsession with q-tips since he was a kitty, he actually would steal them out of a glass container.  It was a little battle we had trying to keep him out of the Q-tips! I changed the container to one that had a small drawer, he opened the drawer and got the Q-tips, into a cupboard they went, he found them. Childproof locks went on, and he tried for the longest time and could not get past the locks. My concern was his safety of course.

This is one of those cases when they become a tripawd like so many other things, everything changes & our views change:)  Purrkins is allowed to play with the Q-tip now with Mom that makes it more fun right? SUPERVISED ONLY!  I got one out, and he saw it and went bonkers;).  We took a short video for you for fun!  Watch how much fun a q-tip is & how fast he goes!

You might need to rewind it did you see him jump over his water bowl? He is a nut!  We play in the hallway because that is Purrkins runway it’s the longest strip we have without furniture in the way!

Purrkins says enough of the computer Mom & I listen;)
This is the picture we chose for this year’s calendar

Our Howloween pictures;)

Purrkins as a lion
Saxton as a Panda

Until our next post…

Much love to all

Hugs & Purrs & Scratches

 

Purrkins is in CATSTER MAGAZINE

Purrkins is a Star HE IS IN THE CATSTER MAGAZINE !! OMC
Miss FETA and PURRKINS ARE STARS!

 

How to Care for a Three-Legged Cat

No words that can truly explain how Proud & grateful we are !! Thank you Tripawds if it weren’t for the site for Jerry for You both we wouldn’t be saving lives Purrkins is a shining example of what a Tripawd kitty can do not what he cannot do!! What a QUALITY OF LIFE IT IS!!

I showed Purrkins & he is posing for the next CATSTER issue to arrive with PURRKINS & FETA IN IT! Will see on the print edition?

The article addresses the kitchen cupboards.

We tried blocking access and do when we are not home & at night!

When we are home, his steps come out!

With Purrkins if there is a will, there is a way and with three legs that does not change!  Yes, we would love that aspect to change but what we do is just provide a safer route, even if it means a not human-friendly route!

Would I have done this before NO LOL but yes as we all know this journey changes us!!  Saxton doesn’t climb up the cupboards & never has & still doesn’t with the steps? I think it is a per cat on what kitty does and what you have to do or should do to provide a safer way up and down!!

Purrkins isn’t counter surfing he is going to his favorite lookout spot to layabout;)! A royal pain to move in our little kitchen to open drawers the fridge the oven to use the micro you have to slide the steps out of the way !! This makes Purrkins happy, so Purrkins wins! We will be working on a human & Purrkins friendly route this winter!!

We Celebrated  Purrkins 1 year Ampuversary July 27th !!

We are way late posting I had this in my drafts but never got to post it! Life took a significant turn!  We did celebrate his big day!! We have been MIA for family health issues & more dreaded Cancer!

I know it is strange for some people to celebrate the day we have taken off a limb!! However, that is not exactly what we celebrated! We celebrated a year of Purrkins!!  A year our little man learned his new life on 3 or actually it is a year of Purrkins showing us what a Tripawd Kitty CAN do!! Not what he cannot do;)

I never thought I could love this little guy any more than I already did!! But I absolutely do!! I love him even more!! We got thru this past year together stronger and wiser!

Purrkins is still Purrkins with one less limb so what? Purrkins doesn’t mind he happily hops on like nothing ever happened!

We have lost 1 more lb a total loss of 3.55 lbs! YAAAAY unreal we have got the weight off!! WHOO HOO!
I do worry about the too skinny since we had cancer but we will do what the professionals think is best.

Doesn’t he look great! We think so;)

We will forever monitor his food intake & weigh him on a regular basis; there is no other way to ensure he stay’s at a healthy weight! The loss of weight has been amazing to see it has made a HUGE difference in how he is getting around !! To be clear Purrkins got around great anyway before the weight loss, but we knew going into the amp we had to get the weight off! We did notice before his weight loss his one remaining leg would quiver, too much weight on that front leg! He is so much more active it’s wonderful to see!!

I wish he did act like he had three limbs for our sanity purposes!

Purrkins is paying us back by racing around the house, jumping up on everything ZOOM ZOOM & ZOOM ZOOM which is great to see but also worrisome!! I have literally caught him 3 times from slipping off of the kitchen table! He needs suction cups on his feet! Or I have to carpet my kitchen table next?

He races around & does not let a missing leg slow him down, in fact, he is more active & more confident. I am just so thankful to have been right there and my instincts kicked in like they did and Grabbed him!!!! I know I am more reactive because of losing a cat to a fall!

Purrkins tummy hair is almost all grown back in already

Wouldn’t be great to be a cat for a day!?!?

Not a worry in the world!

We saw Dr. Matt for our tune-ups & not surprising Purrkins needed Chiro adjustment being Monkey on 3 does come with consequences. I suspected he was off he looked uncomfortable to me again & we actually had an incident that has not happened before Purrkins pooped outside of his litter box (normal poop noted)!! He peed in the box and pooped right outside of the box 2 X !! I knew something wasn’t right!!

His pelvis was out way out of whack further than it has ever been & his atlas. He had his acupuncture done, and Purrkins is back to being the same monkey & back to pooping in the box!

We went for our CBC recheck to the traditional Vet & to check his teeth! He scraped the tartar off his teeth and bought us six months before we need to do the cleaning !!

The Vet wanted to wait on his CBC for a couple of weeks to a month! Since we did our Dr. Matt appt on Friday and went to see him on Saturday, he said we would likely get a false reading from the stress!! He is right; we didn’t think of that we were trying to get to these appointments with the time we had! We can return in a couple of weeks to a month and run in for a blood draw and head right back home !! This vet is just 10 minutes away!

Here is to many many many more years of hopping on!!!

Much love & appreciation !!

XOXOXO

 

 

 

CANCER FREE & Hopping on!

PURRKINS IS CANCER FREE!

We wanted to update Purrkins blog for anyone who does not do the forums and for family and friends.  If you saw the forum news disregard our blog update;)

Purrkins had his 1-year restaging check-up at MSU
We are in the clear!! YAAAY Purrkins is STILL CANCER FREE !!

We are hopping into our 1-year ampuversay!
YAAAAAAY no cancer showing up ZIP! YAAAAAAY🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎆

X-rays & ultrasound unremarkable, bloodwork was good, but we have one ALT off, it’s only off by three numbers, but it has doubled since his last recheck, Oncologist wants to recheck it in one month to see if it changes one way or another.  I emailed our Dr. Matt his reply

 “The ALT  is one of the leakest of liver enzymes and can fluctuate.  I absolutely would not be alarmed by this and would say let’s just recheck it in a few months and monitor a trend.”

So that’s the plan:) Dr. Matt is the best & don’t be alarmed;) You think he knows us?;)

Purrkins has mild tartar on his teeth so we will need to get those cleaned! We can tie in the CBC with his teeth cleaning!

MSU Oncology would like to check Purrkins every six months for blood work and x-rays, we will now go to a yearly ultrasound! YAAAY & YAAAY & YAAAY!

We are SOOOOO RELIEVED & SOOOOOO THANKFUL!

We stopped at Starbucks for a Purrpuccino to celebrate on our way home! We did bring one home for Saxton too:)

Purrkins has the naked belly again!

Clipper crazy ugh yeah!

The appointment at MSU takes a toll on this household! Both the boys and both the humans! I do not know if there is a be more dog or cat in these scenario’s because that does not apply to these appointments?!?  It is stressful for all!

We have the stalking behavior and hissing and swatting when only one goes to the Vet! One kitty, in this case, Purrkins comes home smelling not like Purrkins! See Saxton stalking him? UGH, Cats & their senses!! That does not smell like my brother?!?!

We usually avoid that entire mess by taking them both! Our mistake we left Saxton at home!

We are so happy to be spacing these appointments out further and further!

I do have to say we treat Purrkins & Saxton as we would human children!  There is NO way we feel we can not recheck him!?! He had cancer (low-grade sts) we took it off!  If something else goes wrong or shows up, we will catch it and hopefully be able to help him! If he were a human child, we would do the same thing, and none of us would like it,  this is the same scenario in our book!

Purrkins sleeping this was him the entire day after the appointment! What I’m not showing you is we looked about the same way;) It takes its toll!

This journey is not easy by any means! It comes with a lot of worries and believe it or not it comes with a lot of great life lessons! Slow down and enjoy do not take anyone for granted! Life is too short for all of us! Be grateful for every single day! We sure are!

Purrkins is hopping into his one year ampuversary the 27th!? One year already ?!?!?

A lot lighter too:) See the difference?

We will keep this PAWTY going!! Even upside down;)

THANK YOU ALL for the pawsitive thoughts and prayers! For cheering us on & going with us!  Tripawds & the members! Well, it just does not get any better, the support, understanding & love!  

It means the world to us!

Love, Gratitude & Hugs to ALL

 

 

 

 

Hoppy Birthday

Purrkins & Saxton celebrated their 7th birthday on June 30th!
We had a little pawty for them with gifts, hats and special food;) The pawty hats did not go over very well;)  We did get a shot of Purrkins in his before he tried eating the string! 🙄 Cats 😉

They got their favorite Yeoww catnip toys and a huge fish they had fun digging in the bags and tissue paper. If you have cats and they are reactive to catnip these are the best catnip toys! Yeooow, the boys, smell them in the box when they arrive!

Purrkins would eat Tuna every day if his mom were not so fussy about what he ingests.

Special occasions Mom bends the rules this was one of those occasions!
They both had Tuna & Salmon for supper! They had little unlit cat candles too LOL.

We have been working on a new disc for core strength with Purrkins. I showed pictures in a previous post, it came with instructions for dogs, and we are just following those;)

Cats can do these too! Here is the proof;)

We go for our 1-year restaging appointment on Friday to MSU oncology! UGH

We are asking the Tripawd Nation & family for pawsitive energy and prayers for the 7th at 8:30 am.

Back to the reality of this all on Friday! A day I absolutely dread!
I will bury all of my fear and anxiety for Purrkins sake!

When we get the all clear again, we will go back to breathing & hopping on!

As you can see Purrkins isn’t worried about a thing!

We will be updating again soon to celebrate our 1-year ampuversary which is on the 27th of this month!

Until our next update ……
Hugs & Purrs

DIY Baby Onesie/T-shirts Cone of Shame Alternative

DIY Baby Onesie/T-shirts
Cone of Shame Alternative

( For Future Tri-kitties this is what we did)

How to make a baby onesie for recovery for a front leg amputation kitty.  Please ask your surgeon before the surgery if this is allowed and get the ok from them!  We did, and we got approval.

The first challenge was what size do I buy?

We looked at weight charts for baby onesies, and I got 03-06 months based on the size chart for Purrkins.  These worked, but they were way too big, they shifted all over. 
 
Don’t go by the weight chart this was not accurate for cats;)

I ended up getting a smaller size 0-3 months onesies and t-shirts. These fit better and shifted less.

I checked the incision 2 x  a day & changed the onesie or t-shirt daily.

I would say 0-3 months size for the average kitty. Under 10 lbs I would look at the newborn size!  (Like human clothes size differs depending on the manufacturer)

The onesie’s I cut the bottom off, I cut both arms off, the limb that was amputated was sewn shut.  The one arm I cut to allow no restriction to Purrkins.

The t-shirts I cut some off the bottom and both arms off and sewed the amputated limb shut.  They both did the job & kept Purrkins from getting to the incision.

Fair warning these stretch like crazy!  Sewing and cutting and writing may not be purrfect.  I promise your kitty doesn’t care & will be happy they are not in a cone!

Amazon has them for cheap or your local Walmart or Goodwill.  If you shop Goodwill make sure to wash them first;)  If you shop Amazon start your search on Tripawds you will be supporting Tripawds to keep us online;)

You will need

  • Baby onesie or baby t-shirt
  • Scissors
  • Needle & thread
  • Optional sewing straight pins

I outlined what I did below – I hope this is self-explanatory

I turned them inside out, and hand sewed the amputated arm shut.

The non amputated arm is optional if you cut it.

I found Purrkins did better with cutting both arms off!

Nothing is perfect as you can see😉

Baby Onesie
Baby T-Shirt

See why I cut the one arm out? Purrkins has no restriction in the DIY onesie

Now I have an excuse to Post how cute Purrkins looked again;)

We recovered in a closet please excuse the bad lighting:)

Hope this helps you and your recovering tri-kitty!

Any questions? Post a comment & I will get back to you!

Success -2.58 lbs

We are so proud we have been successful in our weight loss!!
Purrkins has lost -2.58lbs YAAAAAAAAY !! 🎉🎊👏🏻❣
That is a huge accomplishment here! Saxton is still a work in progress.  We will get there.

Pathetic cries and meows continue, and we continue to make progress with the weight loss. We are almost to our goal weight! Then the next challenge will be maintaining his weight.

Purrkins looks like a kitty to me again. Of course, we think he is Purrfect anyway!

Purrkins always sits with his one leg wrapped around the front of him like in the pictures below, must be the way to balance himself out without the shoulder and arm.

Purrkins loves to interfere with anything I am doing if it has anything to with not paying attention to him!

Helping with the dishes;) More like stopping Mom from putting the dishes away!


The laptop is underneath Purrkins I have to close it when he comes, or he will lay on top of it open!

Which means anything can happen all of which are not good. 😉
Not very helpful to Mom.

Who can resist that upside down mug?

He is my assistant in everything and anything I do. He is a good assistant in making sure I take a break!

Can you see how skinny he is? An excellent skinny;) So handsome!
Purrkins likes Mom’s Back brace! Mom well not so much!

We got a new core exercise tool;). J/Fit Disc It’s huge 26″!

Purrkins was Leary at first, but when I got the Bonito flakes out he did exercises and did not even know it;)

Saxton is always included and does the exercises too because core strength is good for him also, but more importantly, Bonito flakes are being passed out! 😸

Bonito Flakes? I will get those! Ha, that simple!

I was thrilled it took no effort, and they were both on the disc, little did they know!

When people think cats don’t or cannot do??? There is your proof;)


Until our next update, we are hopping into our 11-month post amp…

Hugs & Purrs!