Need some advice - Knee surgery

tamgirl99

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Hi everyone.  It's been a long time since I posted here, but I'm in desperate need of some advice.  I'm not asking for medical advice, just your opinion on what you would do.  Sorry in advance for the long post!

My sweet girl, Emmy, is a 1.5 year old abyssinian and on October 6th, she somehow fell from the top shelf in my closet in the middle of the night.  It's about an 8-foot fall and the floor is tile.  She brought down a few things with her and I have no idea what happened since I was asleep at the time.  About 6 hours after it happened, she appeared to be okay but was showing some signs of pain in her back left leg, so off to the vet we went.  The vet did a thorough exam and felt the pain was limited to the knee area, but since there was not real drawing going on, thought it was likely just a bad sprain.  She said if it wasn't better in a week or two to bring her back.  Two weeks later, we did just that since there was no improvement and things were actually a bit worse.

At the second visit, two weeks after the fall, we saw a different vet there and she took x-rays.  She didn't see anything on the radiograph but sent it off to be read by a radiologist.  She examined Emmy and also felt the injury was contained within the knee.  The radiologist report later came back without anything noteable.  At that point we were referred to the orthopedic specialist (aka vet board certified in small animal surgery). 

At that visit, about 3 weeks after the fall, the vet reviewed the x-ray and showed me a small white fuzzy area that is likely the result of a tear to her ligament.  He examined her as well and again agreed that the injury seemed to be limited to her knee.  He talked about surgery being an option, but felt we needed to try conservative therapy first and I agreed.  He put her on an anti-inflammatory (I also started her up on fish oil, glucosamine and HA) and wanted to see her back if there was no improvement by the 6-week point. 

At about the 5-week point, Emmy's regular vet's office, vet is a feline specialist, called me about another issue and at that point I updated them on what had happened to her.  I hadn't taken her to them initially after the fall because they were full that day and are a 30-minute drive.  So instead I took her to my dog's vet (also see cats) right down the street.  After letting them know about Emmy, I got a call the next day saying that my vet wanted to see her before we did surgery as she had concerns about it.  So we made an appointment.

At that visit, she reviewed everything and also agreed the injury was in the knee, but she was really worried about putting her through surgery since cats are so different than dogs and it's such a rare operation for them.  She recommended we try laser therapy to see if we could get any improvement and I agreed.  Well, we just finished our 6th and final laser treatment in the series and unfortunately, there is still no improvement.

At this point, I really don't know what we can do other than to go ahead with the surgery, but I have to be honest, I'm absolutely terrified of putting her through surgery.  It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about it.  Not only the concerns with the surgery itself, but having to leave her there alone and terrified overnight and then the long recovery that's going to be required where she'll have to be kept in a crate for weeks.  This will not be easy for a young abyssinian!

I go back and forth about it every minute of the day. My vet is currently doing more research and talking to other feline specialists to see what they recommend, and I hope she has some comforting advice for me because I'm going crazy trying to make a decision.  She is walking/running okay, but there is a noticeable limp when she walks.  The concerning part for me is that when she walks on unstable surfaces (i.e. soft couch), she won't walk on that leg at all.  It's now been over 9 weeks since the fall and I just don't see it getting any better from here.  If I had to guess I'd say she has about 70% function in the bad leg and to me that's just not enough if this is as good as it's going to get.

So any thoughts or experiences you can share that might help me make a decision on what to do for her?  Thanks in advance!!!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Boy, I see your dilemma.  She is young, and full of energy anyway, let along being the energetic breed that she is.  How long would she need to be "off her feet" if she had the surgery?  What is her future if she doesn't have it?  Is she in pain?  Will the ligament eventually repair itself? 

I guess these are all questions that need answering.  But maybe after your Vet consults with the other feline specialists, there will be an entire other avenue to explore. 
 
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tamgirl99

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Actually, my vet called me back late yesterday and reassured me that we were at the point where we needed to proceed with the surgery.  She also had an aby that had fallen and had very similiar symptoms.  She waited about 6 months giving him every chance to heal and he never recovered so she went in and stabilized the knee (extracapsular repair which is what Emmy would get). She said a month later you never would have known he had an injury.  So, I'm also hopeful that surgery goes as well for my baby. If nothing else, she made me feel a lot better about this decision.  We've scheduled it for next Tuesday since that was the earliest I could get her in.  Poor baby is going to have a terrible Christmas. :(

Thanks for your reply!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Well at least you've got another "example" now to follow.  And they can tell you how they kept their's "happy" while recovering, huh?

Good luck!  Keep us posted
 
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