Severe leg issue

 I rescued a 3.5-legged kitten when he was 7 weeks old. He is now 6 months old. I talked my husband into us keeping him because I had so many "what ifs" and guess what? They are coming true! My biggest one...was, what if this leg starts hurting him or causing him trouble and he gets thrown away, or neglected, or euthanized because of it. Not only was he missing part of a hind leg, he also was born with extra knuckles on his front paws. No extra toes just knuckles, leading me to believe he may have very well been born without the back one fully formed. Also at 6 months old he is only 3 pounds. I am working on his weight, but he is also still very small. He eats great, drinks great, and is well on his exams, other than recently, and it was just gunky eye and a small temp. Most people think he is 12 weeks old. I will get photos of him uploaded soon. I think he's just taking his time. We are so attached, I cannot imagine anything happening to him. He follows me everywhere, sleeps with me all the time, and as ran and climb up my lap as I type. I'd be lost without him.

I am here because he was obviously the runt of the litter and he has been sickly, but on a good bit of meds right now that are making him look and feel so much better! He had gunky eyes for a while and now it's completely cleared up. He is also on 24 days worth of antibiotics, and working on his 103 temp. 

Well, his leg has decided to atrophy and he seems to be in pain and having a lot of trouble with it now. Sometimes he gets a good walk going, sometimes he spins a little trying to stay up, or walks kind of drunk, and sometimes he just falls over and you can tell he is so confused and annoyed, because he used that leg as a support/peg leg every time he walked and now it is failing him.

I work at an animal hospital and I am confident in the doctor at our practice that is seeing Cricket. He says he will do much better with the leg completely gone, and I can see that, but I can't help to be so nervous. Anyone who has went through this recently who can help me? I am waiting at least another month if able, to get his temp down and finish this round of antibiotics first. 

I don't have any experience in this, but until someone stops by who does, I thought I'd post these two links.  They are fairly recent and both discuss some of what's involved by people who have been through it.  Since you work in a vet's office, you might already know this, but just in case, here are the links:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/314271/my-cats-leg-amputated

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/305916/leg-amputation-please-help

I think it's wonderful that you've given little Cricket a home and know from reading your other threads that he couldn't have found a better one.  He sounds completely adorable and like a total love bug.  

It sounds as if Cricket has some genetic issues? How are his other limbs? Any neurologic issues with them?

I agree that having a partial limb more often leads to complications like pressure sores and arthritis from not using the limb properly. Because of this, it is often better to do a full amputation.

Another option would be an artificial limb implant. This is a new approach and I honestly haven't done a lot of research into it. But, the implant is anchored into the leg bone. It basically becomes an extension of the cat.

Many amputees are so much happier after they have their limb amputated and you never even notice they're missing their limb!  They zoom around and play like crazy.