Feta Goes to Physical Therapy!

Even though Feta Cat is now some 6 months post-amputation, as noted in our previous entries, she has really been struggling with the use of her remaining hind leg.

However, physical therapy is a pretty fancy (expensive) treatment for a shelter cat, so we spent a lot of time trying to do what we could at home. Primarily, we tried to help her with stretches and with practicing the use of her leg.

Unfortunately, the vast, vast majority of online PT resources are dog-specific, which was our first challenge. Even more challenging were Feta’s own particular limitations. How far could we push “passive range of motion” on that stiff leg without hurting her? Were there additional underlying physical problems (such as nerve damage) that might be making it actually impossible for her to do some of the things we saw online? What movements would be the best for helping with her specific weaknesses?

When it ultimately became clear that Feta’s leg was getting worse, not better, I offered to sponsor her physical therapy myself. With the assistance of the fabulous Tripawds.com community and the amazing Maggie Moo Fund:

the shelter (Liberty Humane Society) set Feta up with an appointment at Westfield Veterinary Group, an amazing practice that had been extremely helpful with an earlier case of theirs, and the Maggie Moo fund covered the cost! Thank you, Tripawds Foundation and supporters!!!

So, off we went to the vet for our initial evaluation and personalized (cat-inalized?) physical therapy prescription.

The vet started by pinching Feta’s foot and toes, trying to gauge how much sensation she had in the foot. While she did not seem to have much reflex to pull the foot away from pinching, she did seem to be able to feel (and disapprove of) what the doctor was doing. This is a good sign!

Next, the doctor tested her range of motion, which was significantly less good. For whatever reason (and certainly compounded by months without use), the muscles in Feta’s back leg were extremely tight, leading to very little flexibility in the hock and, in particular, the hip and stifle joints (the one between the hip and the “elbow”).

Next, Dr. Fellen used laser therapy to work on relaxing some of Feta’s tense muscles and, hopefully, reduce some of the pain she detected in Feta’s leg and back. (Animals are very stoic, and cats especially so, so it can be very difficult to detect pain if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for. And, despite experience with dogs and horses, I didn’t know how to evaluate a cat! But by feeling particular areas around Feta’s spine, Dr. Fellen was able to figure out areas of discomfort. This is another reason that evaluation by a professional is so important – wouldn’t it be awful to know that your pet had been in pain and you didn’t even know?)

Although she didn’t like the pressure of the laser wand, the warmth of the laser treatment must have eventually begun feeling pretty good to Feta, as she relaxed and started happy-purring while Dr. Fellen worked. (Note: cats can also purr when under stress, but her body language suggested that in this moment, they were happy purrs.)

Next we moved on to exercises and massage, which poor Feta liked significantly less. As I was holding her and being instructed how to do the exercises myself, I didn’t get a lot of photos, but it was great having individual, customized instruction on what she specifically needed for exercise and what would best address her particular problems. I will write more about them, and share some pictures/videos of our practicing, in future posts.

For Feta, the most important things for her right now are stretching and exercising that leg, to get the muscles looser and more relaxed, and getting her re-used to the sensation of weight bearing on the leg, even if it’s not done in perfect form. Towards both of those aims, we are to start every “workout session” with 5-10 minutes of gentle massage, “passive range of motion” stretches, and heat (if possible) to loosen the muscles, coupled with forcing her to walk actually using that hind leg (rather than jutting it out stiffly in front of her as she crawls).

In our next post, we will talk more specifically about the stretches and exercises we are working on, as well as how Feta is faring with them. Stay tuned!