I knew it was coming. We knew that Arlo would break his hip just like Theo did. The vet told us we were probably looking at 6 months and then he'd need surgery. That was in July. Fast forward to April, and things are going well, but I had the money saved for when the time came. April brought us some good weather. So we went to the neighbours one night for a fire. When I cam back home to blow my nose (I was sick for 10th time) one of her (high prey drive) dogs followed me. Arlo was on the doorstep when we came up and the dog went after him and he managed to get off the end of the deck and take off. When we came back out of the house, Arlo was on the doorstep and I had no choice but to let the dog go as I was trying to keep him from the indoor cats. He was chased into the bushes and then the dog ran for the driveway and trees. When I came back home afterwards, I saw Artemis in the tree, and I called her down and let her know it was safe to do so. And then Arlo cam to the house, no longer using his back leg. I knew that was it.
I locked him in the house and called the vet on Monday, took him in on Wednesday. She said "yep, it's broken'. Took him in on the 22nd and dropped him off for his surgery. They called later and said they were putting him on IV fluids and I was a bit concerned as to why (this is a small, super busy clinic) and I didn't get much information. He was there for 4 days. Theo was in and out the same day. When I went to pick him up, they had a fentanyl patch on him for pain control and gave me pain pills for him for 6 days. She said he probably wouldn't need any after that because "he doesn't care". And she was right, he didn't care.
I had to lock him in the bathroom because he wouldn't stop running up and down the house and jumping on things. No cares. And he's terrible at using the litter box. Like, he'd get in and poop on the floor. Then try to cover it with air. At least he tried, I guess.
As of now (July) he still has a decent limp and isn't great at jumping, but the hair is mostly grown back and he is now officially an indoor/outdoor cat.
The vet also made a point of telling me how much she loved him.
Comments