26lb fat kat potential rear leg amputation? 8 years old. good idea? experience?

He has a very aggressive form of cancer, caused by his shots He's 8. Sadly he needs to either get the leg amputated or get put down. 

at first I was like "NO WAY" no tripod kitties they should just live a happy 4 leg life never get their leg chopped off unless it's some kind of physical injury. I've read around that cats adjust well to 3 legs, but how about a fat cat?He's the largest the vet has ever seen, ever. He was 28 pounds a year ago, so he's lost weight which is good, but he's still a big, dense monster. I'm worried with three legs he can't support his weight. Any experience with fat tripod kitties? 

DON"T FORGET TO VOTE

nobody?

Depends.  What is the prognosis if the leg is amputated? 

Hello!

I say you go for it - is it VAS (vaccine associates sarcoma)?  If so, I would like to point you to the VAS Cats Yahoo group, which I am a member of:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline_VAS_Support/messages?o=1

My cat Jill is five months post amputation for osteosarcoma (bone cancer), so hers is not vaccine related.  She is doing simply amazing.  Now, she is not overweight, she is 10 lbs, but I am also a member of Tripawds.com, which is mostly dogs, and there are dogs on there that are even over 100 pounds that do AMAZING on three legs.  These animals recover like you wouldn't believe.

Do they think they will get all the cancer with the removal of the leg?

Please visit these websites for great resources as well as Jill's blog - I have tons of pictures and videos from her recovery so you can see what the journey is all abuot - if you go to the very beginning of the blog, I have pics from the very beginning.  Please let me know if you have any questions at all.  Now almost 6 months post amputation I would never hesitate at ALL to amputate.

Her blog is: http://jillsjourney.tripawds.com/

Erica & Tripawd Kitty Jill

There are many, many cats that do just fine on three legs. Really, they adjust surprisingly well. I would go ahead with the amputation. Your cat is young but sounds like he is very overweight so a diet change would also be recommended. It will take time for him to lose weight though and the weight will make his recovery a bit more tricky. Still, I would give him a chance with the surgery.