The Diagnoses Part 1

For those of you who have been keeping up with my sick kitty, we had a "break through" this week.  Something finally got diagnosed and is no longer a mystery! Woohoo!

A little over a week ago, our little guy started limping on his right hind leg.  It seemed like just another thing to add to the list of problems and questions.  We ended up switching vets and I actually made a list of his symptoms and all of my questions because I'm ready for some answers.  I'm not Scooby Doo; over a month of mystery diagnoses is too much for me.  The limp went on the list and it is no longer a mystery!

Sir Santa Paws has a condition called Congential Patellar Luxation, which is common in small dogs and very large dogs, but a little rare in cats.  Essentially, the kneecaps in his back legs have a tendency to dislocate and spontaneously go back into position.  He was born with two "bum knees," but it went unnoticed because he was so little.  In cats, this condition shows up normally in the first year as their bones are growing and finding their adult positions.  For our little kitty, this means that his knee caps don't quite fit.  The vet assured us that while its uncomfortable for him, it's not painful and he will learn to walk without his kneecaps, so to speak.  It has been a little sad to watch him take three steps and have to lay down and stretch his legs (to pop his knee cap back in), but over this past week he has begun to run, jump, and play again.  Just today, he resumed stealing things from the kitchen table! It will take time for him to return to him normal kitty lifestyle, but he will be ok.  When he gets older, he will most likely have arthritis, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

This is how he sits when he's putting his knees back in place. STRETCH!

So there you have it, we have a "handicapped" cat.  I know that there are some people who would right away decide to euthanize such a cat and simply buy another one.  People who don't want to spend money as the cat gets older, and people who simply want a healthy cat. I know that there are people reading this right now saying, "this is dumb, it's just a cat."  Well, he's OUR cat.  The first little extension of my family and I loved him when his legs work so I'll love him when they don't.  The shelter we adopted him from rescued him from a  kill shelter in Philadelphia.  When we adopted him, this became his permanent home. Permanent.

How could you resist this face!

Anyway, we're still waiting on some results to determine what in the world is going on with his skin, but we're becoming more optimistic now that one mystery is off the table!