Getting back to “normal”

Things have been pretty great lately!  Kender got her stitches out last Thursday (5 days ago).  I went against “doctor’s orders” and took her cone off then, too.  My vet was on vacation and the other was in surgery when we went in, so the one vet I don’t like/trust looked at her incision before the techs removed her stitches.  She wanted me to keep her cone on because it was a little scabby still.  But you could tell by looking at it that the scabs were ready to come off.  They were mostly just held on by being stuck in the surrounding fur.  Plus she was starting to act really depressed the few days before getting the stitches out and hardly eating.  I think being cooped up AND not being able to groom herself was taking a toll on her.  So off went the cone and boy was she happy about it!  I put some coconut oil on the scabby parts a couple times a day to help.  Kender took care of them just fine.  There was only one spot that looked a little red underneath when the scab came off, but it wasn’t raw or bleeding or anything…just red.

The next day I let her into the backyard for a while.  Talk about a happy kitty!!  All she did was lay on the “sidewalk” in our side yard, soaking up the sun.  But she was chirping away and rolling around so happily before settling into a spot for a bit.  And I only checked on her every 5-10 mins to make sure she was safe.  I don’t know what I’m worried about, but feel the need to check on her to make sure she’s okay.  The dog will go peek around the corner at her every now and then too 😉  Good boy!  Now she cries pitifully at the back door a few times a day, begging to go out!

She claws her way up on the couch no problem now.  She hasn’t gotten back on the beds since that first time I posted about it.  But she didn’t get on the beds that often before either.  I made some makeshift steps up to where I had her food pre-amputation.  I have no idea if she’s getting up there to eat or not, though.  It’s lower than the couch, so she should be able to get there.  But just to be safe, I set her up there a couple times a day.  And when I find her napping in her recovery room, I’ll put the food in there and shut the door for an hour or so.  I can’t leave her food down with it open or the dog helps himself to a tasty treat!  Hopefully I’ll catch her eating in the other spot someday soon so I won’t have to worry about that anymore!

One thing I’m not crazy about, is she’s starting peeing on things again :/  She had that problem a few years ago.  After every possible solution I looked up failed and the vet made sure it wasn’t caused by health issues, we ended up putting her on Prozac for a while.  And it worked!  Then we weaned her off the Prozac and the only time it would become an issue would be the few times I neglected to clean the litter box for too long.  I’ve been even more diligent about the litter box since her surgery, scooping at least twice a day, so I don’t think that’s the problem now.  She’s also used the main, covered litter box a few times that I’ve seen for myself.  She’s peeing on anything left on the floor of the bathroom, which is right across the hall from the litter box.  So it can’t be that she doesn’t want to walk all the distance to the litter box…it would be the same distance to the bathroom as to the litter box.  I think it’s likely more psychological at this point.  In the meantime, I’m being extra diligent about nothing being on the floor in there.  I hope she doesn’t start doing it elsewhere if she can’t find anything to pee on in there.  Aside from how frustrating it is under normal circumstances, it frightens me if she ends up needing chemo, since the drugs pass through urine in the first 24-48 hours after treatment.  I have 2 small children and can’t have her peeing chemo drugs all over the house!  I should have the results from the immunohistochemical staining this week to confirm a diagnosis…trying to remain hopeful that amputation alone was sufficient treatment for whatever she has!!