The Most Expensive Cat
My poor cat Sam has a gimpy hips. A few months ago he shattered his left hip, either he was hit by a car (that’s what the vet believed), or something might be genetically wrong with his hips considering he didn’t look like he was hit by a car (our hypothesis). Thus we paid $1,500 for his surgery and from what we could tell he was much better. A bit limpy but still our Sam.
Fast forward to yesterday at our new vet. We took him in for a check-up because he’s been out in the “wild” that is Los Osos for about a month. The vet examined his right hip and was confused. She couldn’t understand why his right hip had now become atrophied, so x-rays were involved. Ug. Apparently his right hip socket was folded over on itself and basically just plain funky. More surgery for Sam & more money out of our wallets. Ironically, when Sammy was missing we decided to continue our pet insurance for Raz and also sign up Courtney, we didn’t think Sam would return. However, I’m sure the insurance wouldn’t cover the surgery. Oh well. Poor gimpy Sam. It’s such a mystery as to what’s up with Sammy’s hips! He’s not in pain at the moment & that’s a good thing. I just feel bad for my sweet Sammy.
I came across your page when I searched for ‘expensive cat surgeries’. My 14 month old cat is going to need hip and knee surgery very soon, and I was wondering if you could tell me more about Sammy’s surgery. What did they actually do to his hip? How long did it take him to recover? There should be a support forum for cat owners that have to fork out thousands of dollars to keep their kitties around!
Hi,
Thanks for the comment on my blog. Sammy had femoral head resection surgery on both of his hips about 6 months apart. With the first surgery the doctor stated that he probably was hit by a car. Both my husband and I doubted that because Sammy didn’t look like he has been hit by a car (no, other damage except the hip). But, the surgery was a success and Sammy seemed to be getting better. Then 6 months later he started limping with his other hip. We had just moved, so we took him to another vet and this new vet didn’t know exactly what to make of this new hip condition. Both my husband and I suspect that Sammy has some sort of genetic disease.
Anyway, Sammy’s recovery time was very minimal. With the first surgery he stayed at the vet for a week because the surgery was over Thanksgiving and we were out of town. When he came back from the vet he was his usual self – running around and being silly. He had stitches but chewed them out at night while at the vet, so the vet didn’t need to do a follow up to remove the stitches. We were told to keep an eye on him and basically he will limit his activity. We had to give him antibiotics for a few days. With the second surgery he was only at the vet over night, so when we picked him up he was in much more pain then the first time. We had to give him antibiotics as well as pain medication and another medication for swelling. All these were liquids and we just squirted them into his mouth with a needless syringe – Sammy’s a pretty easy cat, so this wasn’t too difficult. After a couple days Sammy was hobbling around like he usually does and playing with his two “siblings”. Right now, Sammy is doing great. He can jump up higher then he used to and is running quite fast.
Hope your kitty does okay with his surgeries. Keep me updated!
Karen