Wampi, some of his nicknames include: Wamp, Wampers, Wampster, & Wamp-meister! Too cute, huh? =)

So every day I've been taking Wampi out of his cat cage to exercise a little bit, and every day he walks a little (limps) and then returns to the stool in front of his cage wanting to go back in. He can't jump up on the table by himself.

Today, I picked him up and he was purrring furiously ... it was so nice. I pet him and held him then sat down on the couch with him in my lap. Almost immediately he went to the edge of the couch, stepped carefully on the box I put next to the couch, then onto the stack of books I set up, then onto the floor.

Yes, I made him kitty steps!

Today, within a matter of 2 minutes he went down the steps, walked about 5 steps over to the stool and meowed for me to put him back in the cage. Who would have ever thought he would want to stay in there?? It is his safe place, true ... but I thought about something else.

I think I got this whole physical therapy thing all wrong.

I've been trying to rehabilitate him. His leg is healing with time (and Emerald's reiki! thank you!) but he needs to exercise it and get comfortable with it on his own time.

Maybe I'm pushing him a little bit too much. I can tell he's in some pain(not horrible though), but he can walk with a limp. I highly doubt the vet is going to say he has to have surgery. I've had my share of traumas, broken bones and surgeries and there is always a period of time to recoup in addition to the initial repair and healing. Especially with joints.

And, he has some sort of post traumatic stress disorder going on.

So, I think taking him out to pet him is a good thing, but I am going to set up some sort of step system (here too) and leave the cage door open. He can come out when he's ready and go back when he's ready. If I had room in our apartment, I would move the cage to the floor to an out of the way spot so he'd feel better, but we don't have anywhere else for the cage.

I know his legs are going to heal, even if he has a little bit of a limp. It's the emotional scars now that I now believe will take the longest to heal. Little bit, by little bit!

Some pics from today:


Here's Wampi just hanging out. He seems really happy here and mellow.


Wampi wonders what the heck I'm doing.


Wampi ventures out just a little bit. He never came all the way out of the cage.


Wampi was meowing a lot here ... I think he was just afraid to go any further on his own. He turned around, and went back inside.


Wampi retreated to the back of the cage. Maybe he thought I was going to take him out again. Poor fella.