Hi, We adopted a 1.5 year old Siamese female kitty – Wanda. Her right rear leg amputated . Her amputation was just 3-4 weeks prior to her adoption. Her first week with us was uneventful and spent in a closed room with food, water, and her cat-box. She is able to walk, jump, climb, purr, and “make briskets” with her paws, loves attention, a very sweet and curious girl.
After her first week, she experienced her first “convulsion”. She was laying next to me, 10 PM, and she suddenly started flipping around for aboutn 3-5 seconds. She immediately recovered, but looked confused. A day or two later, we found her with an injury to her belly, between her left leg and where her right leg was. We thought she caught it on something, and felt guilty. Also, we had a camera in the room so we could keep tabs on her activities. The wound was heeling well.
A couple days later, we found her under the bed. When we got her out, the wound on her belly was much worse. $1,400 vet bill to stich her back together. On reviewing video recordings of the previous night, we witness her acting normally, then suddenly jumping, flipping and then “attacking” her stomach area, biting, and then running away.
We believe she is experiencing phantom pains, and attacking the perceived “phantom”.
She is recovering, heavily sedated on pain meds, and we are trying to find a solution to ease her pain.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Yes. Unfortunately, what you describe is fairly common. You will find plenty of feedback from other tri-kitty members reporting similar activity in this discussion forum, and more information and helpful tips in the Tripawds News article about cats walking backwards.
This isn’t uncommon unfortunately. Have you talked to your veterinarian about it? What did they say? It’s important to get it treated so you can minimize and eventually eliminate the episodes.