Saturday, August 06, 2005
Wampi Gets His Cast Off ... The Good & The Bad
Well, first off, I have good and bad news.

The Good News is that Wampi got his cast off.

The Bad News is that the break in his leg is not completely healed, but it is as "healed as it's going to get" with the cast on. Keeping the cast on longer would cause the leg to atrophy.

So Dr. Cohen said it was time to take Wampi's cast off and it is time to start slowly getting him to use his leg. He showed me the x-rays of both his legs that they did yesterday and the x-rays of both his legs that were taken right after his surgery on June 10 at the Animal Medical Center.

The back right leg is the one that was shattered, had a bone infection and had to have surgery to save his life. It's doing great now.

The back left leg is the one that was broken near the joint and although they recommended surgery for it too, they said keeping it immobile with a cast might help it heal. Dr. Cohen explained to me that the joint had small fractures and it was dislocated. The fractures were preventing the joint from going back into place properly making it very painful and most likely he would develop arthritis and have a limp. (He told me the exact technical name of the injury and I forgot ... I'll ask him on Monday for those of you medically-minded types who would like to know ... I want to know ... can't believe I forgot!)

Wampi will be reevaluated in 1-2 weeks to see if he is making progress with regaining the use of his leg. Dr. Cohen said that this leg was a candidate for surgery too (yes, the AMC vets told me this back in June) but he might very well do ok with out it. I told him we couldn't get the money for surgery for that leg too and we still didn't have it ... he knows we are fund raising to pay off the first surgery. He seemed cautiously optimistic that Wampi would get control of it himself but just to "wait and see".

The next 2 weeks I will be spending a lot of time working with Wampi encouraging him to use his leg. I also have some pain killer drops that I can give him to help him work through the next week. I think he will really need them. I will post photos every day of his progress.

Here are the pictures from yesterday:


My daughter is fascinated with Wampi & vice versa. Here we are waiting in the lobby of Urban Vets for the vet to see Wampi. The hand belongs to my neighbor April, a wonderful friend and Wampi supporter who walks with me to the vets office since I can't push a stroller and carry Wampi at the same time.



Wampi was nervous and shaking waiting to see the vet




This is the x-ray taken on Friday at Urban Vets. The back right leg had the surgery and you can see there is a steel plate, 9 screws and a long pin keeping the bone together. The other one is the one that had the cast on and you can see that the joint is out of place and doesn't quite look the same as the other good joint on the steel plate leg.




Up close of the steel plate & screws.





Up close of joint on the leg with the cast.





Dr. Cohen (veternarian in beige) starts taking off Wampi's cast while Jamaal (vet. technician in blue) holds him still. They both said it was ok to include their photo on Wampi's website.




Getting the cast off.




Getting the cast off, con't.



Wampi is getting upset and meowing a lot here.



He kept meowing and meowing. I felt so bad for him.



At this point, Wampi got really, really mad. He started meowing and screaming and it was quite upsetting so I stopped taking pictures. I wanted to stay out of the way so they could do their job quickly and Wampi would calm down.



Wampi takes a few steps out of the cat carrier after the cast is off. He was in a lot of pain so I picked him up and put him back in the cat cage. He meowed and meowed and was pretty upset. He wouldn't use the newly liberated leg...he probably felt scared to put any weight on it so soon.
posted by Cam at 10:25:00 AM |

14 Comments:

Blogger Emerald said...

Yay Wampi!! Cam, now that Wampi's bones have mostly healed, may I send reiki for his further recovery?

Saturday, August 06, 2005 2:16:00 PM  
Blogger Jane said...

It must be unusual for him to have all his legs free, I hope that he will soon get used to it and continues to recover.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 2:19:00 PM  
Blogger Stacy said...

I sure hope that he is not in a lot of pain. He looks scared to death to walk on it. Hopefully he will start putting preasure on it. Glad that he got the cast off.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 2:38:00 PM  
Blogger Cam said...

Send the reiki on over, emerald! =)

Stacy - I think he is in some pain ... he is scared and nervous to use it. He'll probably have arthritis in it too.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 3:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Poor Wampi! He looks terrified. I'm glad he didn't need a new cast, at least, so he won't have to go through getting it taken off again.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 5:24:00 PM  
Blogger The Lazy Iguana said...

Getting the cast off war probably painful.

But it is off now. Now to see how the leg does.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 8:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I bet Mr Wampi begins moving around and becoming more active in spite of the stiffness. It's a natural thing and he will also be happy to be more mobile again, things to be inspected ya know.
Fun to look at friends and pals on the website. Imagine if they all came over at once to visit Wampi, parrrttteee time!

I will also monitor and donate if more surgery is needed.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 11:29:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations Wampi and Cam. The bad news must have been a bit disheartening, but Wampi has come this far, and I'm sure with you there Cam, and with all the good wishes coming Wampi's way the only way to go is forward. It'll take time for Wampi to adjust to his new freedom, but I'm sure he can do it. Time is a wonderful healer. And Cam, as everyone here has said, if more surgery is needed, we'll all always be here to help out. (Still got more scarves to sell yet!) Love & hugs to both of you.

Sunday, August 07, 2005 8:24:00 AM  
Blogger Robb WJ Ellis said...

I have visited this blog a couple of times and am struggling to belive that someone would throw cat out of a window 6 storeys up...

I am a cat lover and always have been.

I wish Wampi all the best as he comes to terms with living with his long-term injuries.

Take care.

Sunday, August 07, 2005 12:30:00 PM  
Blogger Cam said...

I know ... it is horrible. Makes me sick whenever I think too much about it.

Sunday, August 07, 2005 1:54:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Wampi looks so scared. I can't see how someone could hurt such a pretty kitty.

Sunday, August 07, 2005 5:38:00 PM  
Blogger Stacy said...

Hope Wampi is doing better today, since cast has been off now for 24 hours.

Sunday, August 07, 2005 6:54:00 PM  
Blogger Cam said...

yes! Wampi is doing sooooo much better today! He's still spending most of his time in the cat cage but he walked a little today! I just posted some pics of it all. =)

yay!

Sunday, August 07, 2005 8:32:00 PM  
Blogger RenaRF said...

Hi Cam. I found your site through BlogExplosion and being the owner of two totally loved kitties myself, I couldn't resist sending you something via Paypal. It looks like you're close to your goal and I think that's great.

Best to you and to Wampi... What a great story!

Saturday, August 27, 2005 6:28:00 PM  

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