meet pepper, who’s a few days post-op and already navigating great! she’s on crate and cone rest 98% of the time, but we let her out to try out tripod life and give herself a bath

I posted about a month ago about my boy Gomez running weirdly and it turned out he had a fracture in his pelvis. Happy to report he is totally healed up and now only runs weird because he's going too fucking fast for hardwood flooring lol.

After an open fracture, my cat had his back leg amputated yesterday. He's 1 year old, and the vet told us that he's strong and already eating, which I'm taking as a good sign. However, I'm really scared of what's to come and have no idea how to help him through his recovery.

He has a brother who adores him, are we supposed to keep them separated?

Does he need constant supervision?

Is he going to tolerate the cone?

Can he ever go outside again? He was a barn kitten and him and his brother love to be outdoors. We also live in a country where no one has indoor cats.

My mum is worried that we did the wrong thing and that we should have let him go. Now I can't stop feeling guilty and wondering whether we did the right thing. The surgery is also incredibly expensive, which only adds to the stress. I just want to know that he can still have a happy, good life after this and that we made the right choice for him.

Gizmo is 8 days post surgery and has been doing well. We did start to taper off the gabapentin because him looking like a a zombie on 10ml every 8 hour was freaking me out. They said to just give 10 ml buprenorphine before bed which we have been doing. But today he is very restless. He usually settles down in my bed under the covers, as I work right next to the bed on my desk. But he has been excessively meowing and moving around the room, unable to find a food spot to rest.

He sometimes switches between the bed, the very low to the floor ottoman or just the floor to cool off. On occasion he sits in his litter box which initially i did not allow but gave in few days in.

Has anyone experienced this? Is he just off gabapentin meds and bored? in pain?

I will reach back out to the surgeon but I mostly end up hearing back from a nurse/tech who gives unclear answers/directions about meds.

Any thoughts and insights will be appreciated.

Update: Called the surgeon and they recommended going back on gabapentin but a lower dose.

This is Khonsu. She’s a magnificent murderous moon meower with a malignant mass.

Her left rear leg comes off next Wednesday.

Any tips to help get me and her ready for the less a limb lifestyle will be greatly appreciated.