E. coli and MRSA and amputation... oh my!!

*waves
I haven't been here in quite sometime but wanted to drop in for some encouragement/support.

I rescued a 10 month old cat from a high kill shelter in Los Angeles on April 1. I had not yet met her - just saw a photo posted by a rescue group and was able to have another rescue pull her.

She is just sweet as can be and God knows what the poor little girl has gone through in her short life! She has a 6" healed scar on her right stifle. She came into the shelter with sores that healed and when I got her, had an open wound on her left hock. The shelter had been treating the wound for a month and my vet has been aggressively treating it for another month without success.

We did a culture last week and it ends up she has E. coli and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). No wonder it hasn't healed. So this is just one of her two issues - albeit the most urgent to treat right now. The other, is that they did xrays and there is damage to the left rear leg also - the cap on the end of the tarsus has evulsed and there is damage to the achiles tendon and the bone. My vet is good friends with an orthopedic surgeon and he agreed to see her for free today!!

He said he could try and repair the leg but that it would be 2-3 months of confinement, that her leg would always be lame anyways, arthritis issues later, etc. Plus the MRSA is a huge concern. So we decided to amputate her leg tomorrow (Thursday). I understand that tripods adapt very well and this will take care of both the damage to the leg and the MRSA.

I feel bad - I wish we could save it - but I understand this is going to be the best thing for her. I was holding her on my chest tonight, letting her groom without her e-collar, and I was just stroking her little paw, knowing it will be gone tomorrow (later today). It's just so sad.

I'm not sure what I am looking for - my head knows this is the right thing, but my heart still hurts. Has anyone else had to deal with anything like this?

Oh my goodness, such a tough start for a beautiful girl.

I had an orange cat exactly like her. Baby K started life with a broken leg. Had to have a pin inserted to fix it.

My heart hurts for you and this kitty. It must be so stressful for you. But fate brought her to you. You are doing right by her with the input of the vet.

I will be sending up prayers for you and her. She sure found the right person to love.

Please let us know how she is.

Aw, sorry your kitty has to go through all this, but she is one lucky girl to have you!
Our kitty, Mr. Doodles had to have his front leg amputated at age 16, he had a tumor.
I put up several videos on youtube.com of him, recouperating from the surgery:


You kitty will need your love and support after the surgery. She will be up and trying to walk within a day or two. She will do excellent, I promise.

Just keep loving her, she is a lucky girl!

A friend of mine had to amputate a leg on one of her older kitties due to cancer.... and he is doing well and adjusting to life on 3 legs. to you and lots of that kitty will be just fine.

I have never had a three-legged kitty, but to echo the other posters, yes, I've always heard that they adapt very well.

This kitty is very lucky to have found you! I wish you the best of luck for a successful surgery and speedy recovery! I also thank you for posting about this problem. To date I had heard of MRSA cases in dogs, but not in cats, and your info could prove useful if anyone else encounters this problem.

Oh, what a very sweet baby and so lucky to have you in her life!

I read a few months ago about a MRSA eye infection in a senior kitty with a reoccuring ear polip. The infection moved from the ear incision to her eye. The thread is no longer on the forum and I simply can't remember the treatment. I know she is OK now but it took a very long time for her to be OK. The incision was not healing, the stitches could not hold the tissue and when the vet tested the area, it came back positive for MRSA.

I really think you are doing the right thing for her! Lots of prayers for a speedy recovery!!!

Marina

We had a cat that came to us with 3 - 1/2 legs (she was missing 1 foot). We have no idea howShe had and sucessfully raised a litter of 6 kittens. She is a wonderful kitty & had no problems getting around. It seems to me that the cats that come from the worst background, usually turn out to be some of the best cats.

I understand how difficult it can feel. We recently had a cat at the shelter lose an eye to a sever infection. It was horrible to think of her living without her eye, but to her it's like she never had it in the first place. They just don't think the way we do, and I guess it makes them better at dealing with adversity than people are.

Thanks everyone!!

It helps to see other cats on videos. Interesting about the stitches not holding, Marina, cuz that is exaclt what happened when they put tried stitching it and putting her in a cast for a week!

The vet just called and Wilma made it thru surgery just fine! She is going to stay in the incubator for the next 48 hrs so they can watch her closely. He is still concerned about the MRSA traveling up the leg so they are going to keep her longer then they would normally so they can give her the MRSA antibiotics in the IV. I just pray that the infection is under control now!!

I'm going through the same thing, no MRSA though. I brought my cat in to the vet because he started limping and thought he had pulled a muscle or something. I left the vet with a fibrosarcoma diagnosis, the treatment being amputate the hind leg. Talk about a shock.

I got him when he was 4 mo. old. He's 16 now, good health, starting to drink a little more water, his kidneys are getting old. I don't know what to do, put him through the stress, pain of surgery or not. Complicating matters, I travel 13 days or so per month with work and I live alone.

I stopped at an animal hospital to ask some questions regarding the treatment, the vet tech said to me that if it were her cat, at 16, she would not put the animal through surgery.

Any advice? I know cats can live quite well with 3 legs.

Sorry to hear about this,

All I can offer is an account of a cat with three legs.

Years ago, a buddy of mine resued a 5 month old cat near the motorcycle shop where he worked. The vet thought her leg was deformed before she was born and amputated the leg, leaving her with one hind leg. He and his wife took very good care of her.

She lived to a good old age.

She was a happy, indoor cat although he would take her outside, on a leash and harness, one of her specialties on these "excursions" was catching grasshoppers when they jumped, very effectively

As you said, a cat with 3 legs can manage quite well, with a little care. However, it is still a tough thing to deal with, I hope all goes well.

Steelymark - you may want to start your own thread - I don't want your post to get lost in mine and I know you will get great feedback from everyone here. It is a very personal decision as to the surgery and it depends on the health of your cat. If she is otherwise healthy and the prognosis is good if you amputate, I might go for it. Whatever you do, I would probably get a second opinion just to be sure. Good luck!
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Now for Wilma.......
I got to go see her tonight and she is doing great! She got up on all threes to greet me! The incision is pretty amazing to look at. She is swollen and bruised but she was all loving and the techs said she was all sweet to them too this afternoon. It must feel soooo good to be rid of that leg.

She keeps ripping out her IV catheter so they gave up on that and are giving her subQ fluids and antibiotic injections - not ideal but what can you do? She is eating well and she may actually be able to come home tomorrow (which I am both excited and scared about!)

Here is a not so good photo, but the others I took might be a little too graphic for here.

Oh sweet girl. She has been through so much. And still so loving. Continued vibes for her full recovery.

I can understand your fear of bringing her home. Take it a day at a time. Your vet is there for you and we are here for support!

Wow, what a brave and wonderful girl! I wish her a long and happy life on three strong, healthy legs. She's so lucky to have you.

Many vibes for her!

Finally have a chance to give an update on Wilma.

She has been doing really well - each day she seems more bright and alert and the incision site has been looking great.

She saw the vet yesterday and he said everything look good but noticed some fluid accumulation and said to get her moving and start decreasing her pain meds to every 12 hrs vs every 8.

I let her out for about 40 min when we got home and she was moving around just great, then gave her the pain meds, put her back in her cage and left for a couple of hours. When I got home she was walking backwards, could barely stand on her good leg and kept falling all over the place and crying. And her amputation site was even more swollen than earlier with a big golfball size lump on it. >:-o I called the vet and he said that it is a seroma (fluid filled pocket), and to keep her quiet and bring her in in the morning.

I dropped her off this morning and am waiting to hear - I hope she is ok!!!! Worried....

O gosh, the poor girl. Hopefully, this isn't too much of a setback. I am sure these things happen in amputees.

It took a good amount of courage on your part to proceed with this. You are Wilma's hero.

I am continuing to say prayers for her. She is also a brave girl.

Please let us know how she made out today.

Thanks Farley.

Not particularly pleased with the vet at the very second but it is probably that I am just tired and frustrated. He never called me yesterday to even tell me what they did and then when he called this AM he seemed annoyed I was even asking. Maybe I am just being neurotic.

So I guess he sedated her and tried to drain the seroma with a syringe - just got out a bit of clear fluid - no blood, no pus or infection, so he said it's healing and to just leave it alone and it will go away. He said he does not know why she is having trouble with her other leg now and that we do not know what happened to her and if there is damage to that leg too. I'm like, well you're the vet, shouldn't you look at it?? He said it's going to take 4 months to completely heal - first I had heard of that length of time.

He said to get her out and walking and the fluid in the seroma will reabsorb. Wilma will be happy to hear that but it's going to kill me to watch her hurting. I had knee surgery a couple of years ago, so you'd think this would all make sense to me.

It is so hard to watch our friends in discomfort. I would trade places with them so fast if it would make them feel better...

Maybe she is having trouble with her other leg due to the extra work it is doing to compensate.

Continued prayers for Wilma and you. I know how you feel about vets sometimes. Mine is great, but once in a while I don't get all the info I would like.

Wilma's been doing pretty good, walking around on all threes, eating great and playing with my other cats. I have her in a large crate in the living room and let her out when I am home so I can keep an eye on her. Tuesday her incision seemed a little red and smelled kind of "chemically". Called the vet and she said no worries as long as it wasn't oozing or anything and to just keep my appt for today. So I dropped her off at the vet this AM so they could put her under anesthesia to remove her sutures and staples.

I just called to check in and they said she had "a reaction to the sutures" so they want to keep her there for a few days to let it drain and keep an eye on it. Not sure what that all means but I'll go visit her after work and talk to the vet and get more info. Poor thing - this just never ends!

I hope she is going to be ok!!!! I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the MRSA!! Does anyone know anything about suture reaction?

Thought you'd like updated pics - she loves her "brother" Jack, who is a feral.
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Poor little girl, I am praying it has nothing to do with MRSA and that she heals just fine! She is adorable! Do you know what kind of sutures the surgeon used?

In the case of the kitty with MRSA I mentioned in my earlier post, the surgeon used two layers of sutures (internal and external) after the MRSA diagnosis.

for little Wilma!
Marina