Well, Feta Fans, we have some frustrating news!
We have been religiously working on our kitty physical therapy exercises, but we have seen almost no improvement in even her assisted “walking”:
So, as soon as I could after adopting her, I carted Feta and her dog-brother Rascal into Rascal’s vet, who specializes in orthopedic issues and rehabilitation, for a full evaluation.
I was hoping our vet would examine Feta, recommend some different exercises (swimming?) and we’d be on our way. But no such luck!
I of course began by telling them about the initial PT visit and the exercises we’ve been working on. I also sent them the videos we have of her movement and changes over the last several months.
Instead of advising continued PT, the vet(s, since two were consulted) strongly suspect that funky back leg is paralyzed, and they are not convinced she has “deep pain” sensation in the leg/foot. (This is a bad thing.) They said that continued physical therapy was unlikely to produce any results (as we suspected, since it’s been a month with almost no progress) because of underlying nerve problems. They recommended either just leaving her as is, since she seems happy enough, trying a wheelchair, and/or taking her to a veterinary neurologist.
Well, leaving her as-is is not an option, since if anything she seems to be growing increasingly uncomfortable, and I’d really, really, really rather keep her as a “tripawd” than turn her into a “bipawd”! Ack! So, even though it’s a bit of a moonshot, we’re going ahead and booking her a visit with a veterinary neurologist at a specialty clinic in NYC.
Further evidence that there’s no such thing as a “free pet”!
