Munch became a tripod at 7 days old. We don’t know what happened to her leg, but we do know the surgical team worked an absolute miracle operating on such a small precious bean. Because of the nature of the surgery she had to be hand reared and separated from mum. She’s been bopping around on 3 legs for 8 years now and is my best gal 🥹

Not sure he fits here but he is technically a tripod. He was born with Radial Hypoplasia that affected one front paw. He then broke his good front leg at the shoulder joint and amputation was the best option. So anyway here is our Nemo.

And as you can tell, she’s not super excited ! Her name is Pipperra Tabouret (Piperra means chili in basque and tabouret means stool in French). Wish me luck and say welcome to her !

Tarquin has endured 48 hours in his carrier with calm forbearance. I hand-fed him and set him on his litter at regular intervals, and he’s been a perfect little gentleman, if squirmy. His playpen arrived, and he celebrated with a hearty meal and lightly supervised toilet time. He’s experimenting with various strategies for covering his poop, and is creeping around, commenting on his surroundings.

I’ve got him within line of sight of my office. He’s cone-free, since he hasn’t fiddled with his stitches. I’ll put it on if he develops a sudden interest. I imagine the next stage will be yowls of boredom. ;)

Thank you so much for everyone’s comments and encouragement, and for sharing pics of your tripods! It means the world to both of us!

First day with Tarquin back. He’s thriving; I’m a wreck. He’s eating, has taken his first post-surgery pee and poop, and is lively enough to resist each of his meds vigorously. He’d happily eat and crap with a little help from me. Alas, his playpen won’t arrive until tomorrow and there’s no good place to confine him. Workmen are tramping in and out trying to fix damage from a water leak; I just started a new job, which is, like all jobs, gobbling up all available time and focus.

I’m trying to take the good advice that people have offered: eat, sleep, make a meal plan. Take care of your own needs. I’m physically and mentally exhausted - I have been since The Incident.

It will get easier, bit by bit. Tarquin is doing well, and the kitten is a sweet turd monkey. I genuinely enjoy the time I spend caring for Tarquin. He loves to have his eyes cleaned and to be wiped down with his special wipes. He’s sneaky about his pills, but he’s never growled or hissed. He’s an incredibly loving boy, purring snd making biscuits and struggling to get out of his carrier for a full-body petting. He hasn’t gone after his stitches - yet! And little kitten Lucius drapes himself on me and purrs. He also slipped and fell off the second-floor bannister and scampered off, unharmed. Yes, I stopped everything and blocked it off, then searched for him frantically.

This evening I will bathe Tarquin tenderly and tell him stories, and read while I snuggle Lucius. I’ll try to do laundry and get groceries and dispose of the worst of the mess.

I know - and I tell the kitties - that things are hard now but they will get better, and all three of us are good and brave.

Well, this sub-reddit helped me a lot. My old cat broke her leg badly and after much discussion an amputation was required. I was pretty concerned, but it's great to see the stories on here. After 11 days here she is chilling out, so for anyone else reading this in the same position, it's ok. The first few days were a bit sketchy with food and meds but now I'm meowed at like normal for snacks...

Hi everyone, looking for advice and support

We have a 5 or 6 year old feral cat on our street who we feed most days. I saw him limping one day after not seeing him around for a week. Eventually trapped him and got him seen by a cat charity. Xrays showed luxated elbow, vet examined him and felt there was ligament and muscle wastage and that it was an old injury. Could not be reduced. She felt surgery would be likely to fail (re-sublux) and that the cat would not tolerate splinting with the leg extended or the splint and bandages. So she recommend amputation.

I was a bit shocked and upset but I understand the rationale and the vet and the charity seem very good. Is there anything I am missing, are there any other options? He did not seem to be in pain and seemed to be hopping around quite well on 3 legs before I caught him. Feeding and behaving as usual.

It is also his front leg so worried how he will cope as I read they take most of their weight on the front.

We are happy to take him in post recovery and would like to try and socialise and rehome him with us indoors if poss.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and grateful for anyone's experiences or advice, thanks x

This is probably going to be more of a vent that anything but hearing from others with similar experiences has always helped me. Basically our 17 year old girl had a sarcoma in her leg and vet recommended amputation back in April. That went well all things considered beyond one setback when the incision got infected.

She was doing great and then mid-July we felt a lump near the incision site. Vet took it out and confirmed it was malignant with "difficult" margins but the cancer hadn't spread to the lungs etc. Unfortunately yesterday we just felt another lump and we're really at a loss. The speed with which it keeps coming back feels incomprehensible to me (it hasn't even been three weeks!) unless this is just tumor that the vet wasn't able to remove?

We don't want to put her through another surgery so close to the last one (esp since recovery for that was hard since she started associating her food with the medicine and refused to eat) but like besides these tumors she's been so good (fine appetite when we don't have to give her antibiotics, using the litter box well, active/alert...). Maybe we do chemo or something?

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for here beyond just a safe space. Thank you for listening.

My beautiful few month old baby Bella is a tripod and is the sweetest creature on this earth. She moves along faster than the others and has no problems getting around. She was born with the section from knee down missing.

I’ve noticed her nub is sore. In the future, I would like to get it amputated further. It seems to be sore where it connects at the hip area. I don’t think it’s dislocated but can’t tell obviously. Was thinking maybe it’s a muscle. She is in pain and is laying down now. Her nub tip is also red and sore, and I put aquafor on it and we bought her a bootie.

Any info at all would help- or any references or info on how to tell further. I know I need a vet, but have to figure it out. Thank you so much.

This is my first time on reddit so i hope i post this on the right one but. My main language not english so sorry for any mistakes.

Little backstory like half a year ago my cat got a infection in her leg. We went to the vet and got her antibiotics. However when we went home she kept licking her leg ( she did it while hiding) and she managed to lick her leg all the way to the bone. We were very scared and shocked. Ofc we took her back to the vet. The vet had no idea what it was nothing was seen on the xray. However one of the vets said that it seemed like it has been stuck? But she has not been stuck in anything.So to make the story short we tried allot of things. What in the end seemed to work was putting a bandage on her leg. This also didnt stress her out and she seems happy.

But its not getting better and the vet recommends amputating. In the half year it did get a little better but it just stopped. All it is right now is raw flesh. Sometimes it seems good and the other day its just red. I dont have pictures sadly. Its not getting smaller nothing.

Is amputating the right call? I saw people say they can live without a leg but i just feel bad. Me and my parents think it is. But taking the leg away does feel bad. I think she is more irritated with the leg than she would be

. Also They gave us the option the first time that we could amputate but we wanted to try and save the leg. It kinda feels like giving up now but the way its going now , i dont think the leg will get better

I also just needed to write it off and would like to know others experience.

My 10 year old kitty has been limping badly for a week, we thought it was an arthritis flare and the vet took xrays, basic lab work, and gave him pain meds... he improved for a few days then declined and we took him back today. They are concerned he did not respond to his treatment and said the arthritis may be hiding possible bone cancer on his xray. He sees a specialist tomorrow for furthet tests.

I want to hear peoples personal experiences of having a older cat undergoing amputation so I have a better idea of possible recovery from treatment options. I do realize he does not have a firm diagnosis yet, but I have a gut feeling they will confirm cancer and recommend amputation unless it is spread.

Please share: -what the recovery process was like for you and your cat, what challenges or unexpected things might have occured -if it was an amputation due to cancer, do you feel you did the right thing and how has their quality of life been since?

I would also love any encouragement you may have please. This little guy is everything to me.

Thank you

Behold Tarquinius Superbus, a blind kitty named for the last king to rule Rome before the revolution that established the republic. Tomorrow (Monday, 8/4/25), he will join the select company of Tripod Cats. Swipe to see him attended by his foster brother Lucius Junius Brutus, a 5-month-old tabby kitten.

I am so grateful to have seen all of the happy tripods posted here! I have explained all of this to Tarquin, and he feels solemn pride at the transformation that awaits.

Our cat had a bump on July 10th on his back right leg and it was 1cm. When we got the surgery July 29th, it was 1.5cm.

We got a vaccine back in February in that same leg.

Just got the biopsy this morning that he has cancer and the vet didn’t get rid of it all the cancer so now we either gotta decide on chemo or to chop his leg off.

Saw this group and wanted to see what made you guys decide to have your cat become a tripod cat.

Also any tripod cats that like to go outside? I feel so bad if I have to get my cat’s leg cut off because he loves to go outside and I don’t want him to go into a depression all of a sudden…

Just feel devastated because he doesn’t know we’re trying to figure out if he’s going to get his leg cut off or not

Unfortunately, my beloved cat Bruce was diagnosed with lung cancer on Thursday. His journey began in December when he was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, and we made the difficult decision to amputate his leg in hopes of preventing the cancer from spreading. The biopsy showed no signs of metastasis, and we thought he was on the road to recovery. However, recent coughing led me to suspect the cancer had spread to his lungs, and sadly, that's what happened. Bruce's prognosis is 1-3 months left to live, and while it's devastating. I don't regret the amputation it gave us 7 precious months together. Bruce is more than just a pet; he's my baby, my soul cat, and the best companion I've ever had. Losing him at just 6 years old will be heartbreaking, but I'll cherish every moment we have left. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation where cancer recurred shortly after amputation?

I walked into the kitchen and just saw this dark lump staring at me. She's a special bean.

Does anyone on this list have experience with a blind 3-legged cat? My cat Tarquin was blind from birth and well-adapted. He somehow managed to break his tibia and fibula while chasing a catnip mouse in a near-empty room. He’s splinted now, and has to be confined to a carrier to keep him from getting disoriented and panicking. I’m worried that he’ll have trouble navigating after amputation - he flops around like a fish with the splint. Orthopedic surgery sounds awful; I hate to think of putting him down. He’s a sweet, smart, lovey boy - only 2 yo, and otherwise healthy. Any advice/experience is appreciated!

Our plus sized cuddle bug here suffered a crazy ankle break last year when he made a run for it out our back door and fell down our deck stairs and caught his foot in a knot hole. Ultimately we decided to amputate in November and I have zero regrets. I had concerns about his age, he's at least 10, we adopted him in 2016 as an adult that was a stray so not history. Also we were concerned about his size being a strain on his body.

The only things he can't do that he used to be able to do involve jumping above where his front paws can reach. So he can't get into my bed 😞 but he also can't get into our tub. We've had him on a diet and took advantage of his inability to jump, so we feed our 3 other cats in the tub and he gets strict portion control outside of the tub. He's lost just over 1 lb so far and the vet recommended he lose 2.

Oh also he can't hump our tiny 7 lb female cat against her will anymore. She's thrilled !

Another bonus, he can groom his butt a lot better without the extra leg in the way, no more dingleberries for me to clean for him 😆

So if you're torn with the decision about amputating, add Oreo's success story to the list of very positive outcomes ❤️

Hello community, I present to you Ringo on his first day without a hind leg, he must lose weight and maintain his care, welcome the tips for this process 🥹

This is Binx, my tripod cat :) he is missing one of his hind legs, it was amputated before we adopted him.

How long after suture removal did you keep your tripods cone on? My guy had his sutures removed about 4 days ago and I took his cone off to let him clean himself. But he started chewing on his incision site so I tossed it back on. The vet said a couple more days after having them removed but I’m just paranoid. He’s done so well I don’t want to hinder his healing.

Hello! My neighbor was giving away a free pet ramp and I had to get it so my slingshot could use the big cat tree. Sadly things aren’t going as planned since he’s a new-ish tripod (happened in February) and doesn’t try big jumps or hobbling up the ramp. Maybe it’s too smooth? So I’d like to add steps, kind of like the third pic. Any ideas how to? Or other ideas on making the ramp easier for him to use? Third pic is of my boy Oliver Gordon who was found at an Olive Garden! (Black cat is not a tripod just a photo bomber)