I was recently observing the antics of a one eyed cat called ‘Blinky” (honestly) and then later the same afternoon I was discussing the potential hind-limb amputation of another cat suffering from partial paralysis (no ironic name for this little one). It got me thinking about how readily our pets can adapt to setbacks that owners may at first think insurmountable for them.

Veterinary surgeons frequently retort that if you put two pieces of cat in the same room, it will heal together. As pet owners it’s in our animal’s interest not to transfer some of our own beliefs when we assess and plan treatment options.

Domestic pets are indeed much more complex, emotionally capable creatures than science first realised. We still however owe it to them to not bestow all our human vanities and frailties upon them i.e. not to over anthropomorphise. Three legged cats and dogs are numerous throughout our community, frequently achieving similar feats of agility as they did before their loss of a limb.

My client was stunned to have seen her cat rapidly scale her boundary fence. I explained that in a few weeks she would be running up trees like that. I even had a feline patient get run over by a train a few years back. It completely severed one hind leg, fortunately crushing off blood vessels at the same time. She walked home to her owners, over a few back fences and was presented quite calmly on the exam table in front of my astounded eyes.

A surgical tidy up of the stump and she was tearing around happily within two weeks, never to venture near the railway track again.

There are physical factors for these feats such as their light weight (my rotund Burmese “Yoda” not withstanding), and their use of all 3 remaining limbs to ambulate and spread the load. Similarly however there are important mental differences. They do not suffer from having preconceived hang-ups about their appearance.

This is evidenced when a poor unsuspecting (here I go anthropomorphizing again) Moggy or two has been shorn of its knots here at our clinic and returns home resembling a miniature lion. They fortunately suffer no mental scars.

My other injured patient Blinky will cope just as well minus an eye. At worst she might be a little jumpy when approached from the left and occasionally run into objects on that side.

Her finely tuned reflexes, hearing, tactile abilities and sense of smell will compensate very well. She may even keep hunting (bad news for bird lovers) with just the occasional 2 metre leap falling 1 metre short, landing nimbly and uninjured.

Whatever you do fellow pet lovers don’t assume that loss of a body part has to lead to loss of quality of life for one of your little furry children (oops). A slight inconvenience is a far better alternative than euthenasia. Kind regards, Dr Alex Melrose.