So today was the horrible day, March 19th. We had to take Simon to the vets
to have his leg amputated. Of course Simon gave us a terrible time trying to get
him into the carrier. We were both stressed because of the situation and this
just made it harder. I ended up having to put his leash on and hold him in the
car. Then it hit me what we were doing and the tears came. I had held it
together before that day and I knew what we were doing was the best thing for
Simon but still it was so hard.
We arrived at the vets and met with the surgeon who told us what was going to
happen, what to expect and how to prepare for when Simon came home. She was
really great. She answered any questions we had and put our minds at ease. She
told me that Simon was going in at 10:30 so I could give them a call around noon
to see how he was doing. When I called, they had started late so Simon wasn’t
finished yet. The surgeon was going to call me to let me know how things went.
She called at about 1:30 and told me that everything went very well. Simon’s
blood tests were good as well. The surgeon said that the cancer was not bone
cancer but it had started around the cartilage in his arm and then went into the
soft tissue. The surgeon also said that this kind of cancer is usually caused by
some sort of trauma like a broken leg. Simon has never had a broken leg or any
other trauma so I was wondering how this could have happened. Could it have been
from Simon lying on the bathroom wall that stuck under his arm all those years?
Just a guess, but to think that this could have been avoided really bothered me.
The good news was that Simon would no longer have any pain in his arm. He was
scheduled to come home on Thursday.
Of course, being Simon and not liking things on him, he chewed through his IV
on Wednesday night. The vet thinks he did that because he was still in pain.
They said the last time they saw that it was a dog that did it. I told you Simon
was a dog in a cat’s body! I think he was annoyed and didn’t like the IV in him.
So because he pulled that stunt they wouldn’t let him come home on Thursday. I
didn’t find this out until late Thursday afternoon. I had already gone in to the
vet’s office to say Hi to him and see how he was doing in the morning. I didn’t
want him to think we abandoned him! He looked so cute. He was curled up in a cat
bed with a ton of blankets on him. He was all sleepy but opened his eyes when I
started to talk to him. I opened the cage and petted him and told him I would be
back later that night to take him home. I couldn’t wait! Later that day I got a
call from the vet’s office. They told me the story about Simon chewing through
his IV and said they wanted to keep him another night but the only problem was
that it was Easter weekend and they were closed on Friday. So he had to be taken
to the emergency clinic to stay there. This was a total disappointment, but I
knew this was the best thing for him. I wouldn’t want him home and have him in
any kind of pain or suffering because I was selfish.
I picked him up Thursday about 6:00 pm. The vet tech brought him out to me
and apologized because he smelled like pee. Apparently he wasn’t using the
litter box and was just peeing wherever he lay. I didn’t care. I was just so
happy he was going to be ok. He did look pathetic though. He didn’t realize what
had happened and kept falling on his left side because there was no arm to hold
him up. I got him into the car and drove him to the emergency clinic which was
close by. The whole time I talked to him and told him what a good boy he was. I
told him “Your mama’s boy……Your the best boy”. I have been telling him this and
whispering it to him in his ear for years. He always stops and listens to me so
I thought if I told him all the things I usually say to him it would make things
better for him. I was trying to ease his worry and stress. We got to the
emergency clinic and they put us in a room to wait for the vet. The vet had to
access Simon and to read the notes that my regular vet sent over. While I
waited, I talked to Simon and got more and more upset. I hated leaving him
there. He looked so sad and pathetic and here I was leaving him again somewhere
else. Of course by the time the vet got into our room I was crying. The vet was
very nice. Dr. Adel was his name. He talked to us for a minute and had a quick
look at Simon in the cage and left again. I tried to pull myself together before
he came back. It didn’t work. Dr. Adel came back and gave me a quote of $600 for
a 2 night stay. I was shocked!.....$600 to stay there for 2 nights? I wish I had
looked at the calendar before I scheduled Simon’s appointment for amputation.
The money was a big worry. I was not working so we only had one income and the
amputation already cost over $1,000! Well what could I do? I had to leave him
there. I asked if I could call to check on Simon later that night and was told
no problem. I called later that night about 10:30 and was told that Simon’s
blood count was 21. He was resting but wouldn’t eat.
The next morning I called again thinking I could take him home. I was told
that if I took him home it wouldn’t be in Simon’s best interest. His blood count
was now down to 19 from 21. The vet was very concerned. He thought that maybe
Simon was bleeding internally. Normal cat’s blood count should be about 30 – 40
and Simon’s was 19. Not a good sign. I was beyond worried. My fear was he was
going to die. I started thinking that maybe I should have just left him and
given him pain pills for the rest of his life. Why did I have his leg removed?
They ended up giving him vitamin B shots hoping that this would help. I was told
that if his blood count went down to 15 he would have to be given a blood
transfusion. Still I was very worried about the cost of keeping him there but
knew that it was the best thing for him. I asked again if we could come visit
him and was told Ok but only if it wasn’t busy. We got there and had to wait
about an hour to see him. I couldn’t believe how busy it was! Dr. Adel talked to
us before we went to see Simon to give us his current condition and answer any
questions we had. When I saw Simon I couldn’t believe it! He looked SO much
better than the day before! He was lying down but when we approached and started
to talk to him he purred and stretched for us. I was very surprised at how good
he looked. They were doing wonders for him.
We woke up Saturday and scheduled Simon’s pick up at 10:30 am. When we called
we were told that Simon was sitting up and doing very well. His blood count
stayed at 19 so it looked as though it was staying steady. Dr. Snyder came into
the room with Simon. He didn’t look like the same cat! He was alert and checking
things out. He had on pink bandages with hearts all over them…he looked so cute!
Dr. Snyder told us he was sitting up, eating out of her hand and doing much
better. She told us she spent the night with him as she understood what Simon
was going through……she had a 3 legged cat at home. You could tell Simon really
liked her. When she left the room he kept looking out the door for her. We paid
our bill, which in the end turned out to be $420. It was worth it, they took
great care of Simon.
We got into the car and Simon sat on my lap with a blanket around him. He was
a bit uncomfortable and seemed very scared to be in the car. We got around the
corner of our street and Simon started to squirm. I thought it was because he
knew he was almost home. It was because he had to pee. I didn’t realize he peed
on me until I got out of the car and my leg was soaked. As I carried him up the
stairs to the front door he kept peeing. I ended up having to hold him on the
porch while he peed as I didn’t want him to pee in the house. I praised him and
told him he was a good boy so that he didn’t think he was in trouble. I know,
crazy, but it wasn’t his fault that he peed because he was either scared or just
had to go! I remembered that the vet tech told me that he had been peeing where
ever he lay. I certainly hoped that was going to change now that he was home! We
put him in the separate room that we had set up for him but he wasn’t having it.
He was trying to get out of the room, trying to jump up on the computer table
and wanted to walk around. We ended up calling the vets a few times because we
didn’t know what to do! We had been told to keep Simon calm and in one area with
everything around him. The vets got a big laugh out of it because they said
normally cats after having surgery just want to lie down and rest, but not
Simon! So the vets said if he wants to walk around and be out with the other
cats let him go. He went out and laid down in the living room with the other
cats while they came close and smelled him. He not only smelled like pee but of
medicine so the other cats didn’t stay with him long. I tried to wipe him down
with a wash cloth and with wipes that you get at Petsmart for animals but Simon
didn’t like that too much. I got some hisses and growls to leave him alone. He
used the litter box shortly after getting home so I knew things would be ok in
that department. Thank Goodness!! Both Ian and I would hover over him and try to
figure out what he wanted. We pretty much walked behind him if he got up to
move. It was quite comical now thinking about it but we were so worried about
him and what he wanted or needed.
I decided to sleep in the living room that night so that if Simon needed
something I would be there. I didn’t want him to hurt himself on his first night
home. I was up most of the night checking on him and making sure he was ok.
Simon of course slept most of the night or cleaned himself. In the early morning
I fell into a deep sleep and didn’t hear Simon when he got up to move into the
kitchen. The next thing I hear is a huge crash and Simon attempting to run into
the living room to get away from whatever made that noise! It was so loud it
woke up Ian. We both couldn’t’ figure out what it was that upset him so but
figured it might have been Simon trying to get up onto the bathtub to get some
water and he slipped. We calmed him down and took him into the bedroom for peace
and quiet. The bedroom has always been his “safe” place. If anything spooks him
or if he hears the garbage trucks he goes into the bedroom for safety.
Things were going ok for the first few days for Simon. He did seem very
uncomfortable with trying to walk in his bandage so we ended up taking the top
part off of him and leaving the white softer bandage on him so that he wouldn’t
lick his stitches. This helped him with walking around. I guess being around the
other cats so much it started to bug him because he started to pee in the cat
beds. We put him back into the separate room so he could be by himself. This was
what he wanted. We put a ramp up to the window so he could see the world outside
and he had me feeding him out of my hand. We also gave him water out of the cat
baby bottle because I knew it would be too difficult for him to drink out of his
water bowl at this time. He had everything he needed around him and was happy as
a pig in poop! I knew I had to get him to stop eating out of my hand otherwise I
would have a big problem. So I put his food right next to him, dry and wet, with
water and his litter box on the other side. He kept looking longingly at the
mushy food and I knew he wanted it but he wouldn’t get up to get it. I figured
if he was hungry enough he would eat it! I went to bed and thought for sure I
would see an empty bowl in the morning. I woke up at 6ish and went into see the
empty bowl….it was still full. The little bugger didn’t eat a bite! I knew he
must have been hungry! Here I was trying to teach him a lesson and he was
teaching me one. Don’t underestimate a cat! SO of course I caved and gave him
his food. He ate it quite fast. He sure was hungry. Slowly I got him to eat out
of his bowl again and he also drank out of a water bowl so I didn’t have to
worry about the baby bottle anymore. He was getting around ok and he also
started to clean himself so I didn’t have to worry about the baby wipes. Things
looked ok other than the cats not coming around him and Simon still having a bit
of trouble walking on 3 legs. This was very hard to see. He would slip and do a
face plant into the floor.
We took Simon back to the vets on March 24th for his check up and the vet
said his blood count was at 24! He was doing very well. He of course got a ton
of loving from the women at the vet’s office. We also scheduled another
appointment for him the next week to have his stitches out. In the mean time we
tried to figure out how to keep Simon from licking and pulling his stitches. We
came up with the idea of putting a baby top on him. We called our neighbour and
got a few different tops that were for her infants to see if this would work. It
did. Simon looked so cute but I knew he didn’t like the tops on him one bit! One
morning I got up and went into the room where Simon was and he wasn’t in his
bed! I looked around and he was on the computer chair peeking out from the back
of it! I was so happy! It was like he was a new cat! He then climbed onto the 3
level cat scratcher and started playing with the mouse and acting goofy! It
looked as though Simon was back to himself! We let him out again with his
brothers and sister and he climbed up on his favourite green chair and went to
sleep. I guess he just needed some time to himself and some babying. He was
eating and drinking out of his bowls, and going to the bathroom and sitting on
the edge of the tub to wait for some water just like he use too. It was so great
to see!
One day we decided to take him outside so he could have a look around as it
was beautiful out. I held him in my arms and then though I would put him down so
he could smell things on the porch. Big mistake! I put him down; he smelled the
recycle bin and then made a run for it! The bugger ran down the stairs, across
the lawn and around the house before I could catch him!! He’s fast on 3 legs! I
guess that was the end of Simon going out without his leash on! So things were
turning out well. He recovered quickly is back to himself!
Just one more visit to the vets….to get his stitches out…..
