4 Years after FHO surgery

It has now been a little over 4 years since Suki's FHO surgery and she is doing GREAT! I moved into a home that has stairs and she runs up and down them with no issue. She also jumps to high places with ease. The surgery was very successful. As far as her movements and activity, it is almost as if nothing ever happened! (Besides the $1600 surgery bill:)....and another issue....)

So the other issue.... Suki has still to this day not allowed her fur to grow back on her stomach, hind leg, and back of her front paw where it was shaved for the IV. She has also pulled out the fur on her own from the other front paw and hind leg. Every vet that has seen her thought it was related to food allergies. So after changing her food many times and spending more money on expensive hypo-allergenic food, it was determined she doesn't have food allergies. I have done my own research on the internet and think it has become a habit of hers. It could have started from anxiety during the surgery/recovery period...and it is now a habit.

The vet said he could put her on kitty prozac or something to take away the anxiety and maybe stop her habit. I am COMPLETELY against giving drugs to my baby. I have found alternative things like Feliway Comfort Zone and Rescue Remedy. I wasn't able to really see if it made a difference because the Feliway runs out very quickly and it's VERY expensive. And then I used the rescue remedy to put in her water...but didn't really see much of a difference. I have read that it's not harmful to her to let her do that...and it's only a concern if you care about appearance. She doesn't cause any bleeding, cuts, etc.... So at this point, I have given up and don't care what she looks like as long as she isn't hurting herself.

If anyone has any tips for me or have a cat that does the same thing, please let me know. I just don't know what to do..... :-\

Over a year since FHO surgery

I wanted to update you on Suki's recovery since her FHO surgery. I has been over a year now. She is doing great as far as running and acting normal. The only issue I am having is that her fur on her back leg and stomach has not grown back at all. :( The fur on her hip where the scar is grew back with no problem. I don't know what to do. Is this normal? I can't find anything on the internet to help me.

5 Months Later..

It has now been 5 months since Suki's surgery. She is doing GREAT! There have been no problems. I am happy to report that she even lost weight. She weighs 12 lbs now. She looks healthier too. Her hair is almost finished growing back in. It hasn't really grown back around her ankle and stomach. I guess I will have to wait longer.

One Month Post-Op

It has been exactly one month since Suki's operation. She is doing GREAT! She has been running around the house like a hyper kid. She'll get into a mood and start taking off running and jumping. You would have never thought she had surgery. You can hardly even tell she is missing a joint in her hip. Her hair is slowly growing back in. The part where the pain patch was ripped off has hair now. She is back to being the annoying little brat she was before.

Look below at the pictures of her. This is when she was recovering right after her surgery in the cage. You can see she is overweight too :( The doctor weighed her in at 14 lbs. She is supposed to be 11 - 12 lbs. She is only 1 years old.

Good News!

I have good news to report. Yesterday I let Suki out of her cage to roam around my apartment. Since I was home all day, I thought I could just monitor her and prevent her from jumping up on anything. Well, she loved it. So now I am letting her roam around outside her cage while I am there. But the good news is that I took her cone off her head. I was going to test it out to see if she would start to bother her scabs and incision area. The doctor said that I could take it off yesterday but I thought she would need it on longer. Well, right when I took the cone off she began to bathe her entire body from head to toe. She hadn't been able to do that in 2 weeks! When she got to the area where I removed her pain patch, she licked it feverishly and bit a little bit at the scabs. I realized she was just cleaning the area and it was okay. When she got to her incision area, she cleaned it and bit off a piece of the scab there as well. But it was okay. It really made me feel nauseous when I saw her do that. But everything is fine. She cleaned the rest of her body and now she is fine. She is not hurting herself at all. So she is cone free!!! Woo hoo!! :) She is one step closer to being normal again.

Right now she is sleeping next to me. When I leave or go to sleep, I put her back in her cage. This Friday she can be 100% cage free (per doctor's orders). I think I might up that to maybe Thursday. :) She seems to be fine and much happier outside the cage.

2 weeks after Suki's surgery

Well, I was so excited to bring Suki to the doctor this morning. She was scheduled to get her stitches removed and the doctor was supposed to tell me that she doesn't have to be confined anymore.

So... I brought Suki to the animal hospital. The doctor removed her stitches and the staples. I didn't realize he was going to have "me" hold her when he did it. She didn't even make a noise when he removed them all. He said her incision is healing well. He told me to keep her cone thing on her head for another day. I told him I have to keep it on longer because she bites at her side where I removed her pain patch. It had removed her hair and became scabby.

And now for the bad news... She has to remain confined in her cage for one more week!!! I can't believe I have to deal with this for one more week. She hates it in there. She cries all the time. I take her out and put her on the patio and she still cries. She is never happy. She wants to be able to walk freely around the apartment. He said she could come out if she doesn't jump up on anything. But, knowing Suki, that isn't going to happen. She is a bad kitty. :)

One more week of her confined.... *sigh*

Also, I have to bring her back in 4 - 6 weeks for the doctor just to "eyeball her". Hopefully, by that time she'll look somewhat normal with some hair grown back.

6 Days after FHO Surgery

Well, last night was fun... Where do I begin!?

I came home last night to find that Suki had chewed the top of the cone that is around her neck. She was able to get to her incision on her hip and she made it bleed. I had to rush her to the emergency room at the animal hospital where I got her surgery done. They took her right into an exam room. Since the room is well lit up, I was able to really see what she did. She was able to get her head up over the cone and chew/lick at her incision area. She made it open up! :( The technician took her in the back and put 2 staples in her. Now she has 4 stitches AND 2 staples. They also gave her a bigger cone so she DEFINITELY can not get her little head out to do any more damage.

I'm very drained from all of this. Ever since I got her home on Saturday (almost a week ago), it has been nonstop with her. I have been cleaning her cage 3 times a day. Every time I come home I take her out of her cage and put her on the patio that is screened in. There is nothing for her to jump on out there. Since she has been really needy lately, she cries if I leave her alone. So, I go out there and read a book (Angels & Demons by Dan Brown) while she lays in my lap. She has never been this affectionate EVER! I love it :)

I can not wait until her incision heals and they remove everything. I want things to go back to normal where she can roam around my apartment freely. It kills me that she wimpers when she is in her cage. The vet said I have to be strong and it is for her own good.