About a year ago, I read the book “Be More Dog.” My husband ordered the book and never actually read it. I ended up reading it and felt an immediate connection with our lives and our 12-year old cat, Tag. I found the little guy at a local adoption event and was able to convince my aging parents that they needed a handicapped cat in their home. After their deaths, Tag became my responsibility and a welcome addition to our home.
My husband and I live and travel full-time in our RV with our tripawd 12-year old cat Tag, Comet our 5-year old silver tabby, Abby our 13 year-old yellow lab and Whiski our 12 year-old yorkie mix. We’ve been living on the road for almost 2 years now and until just last month, things have been pretty good for Mr. Tag. I read the book, “Be More Dog” just a year ago, when we began our journey on the road. I had a tripawd who had never had amputation, but little did I know we would be heading towards surgery just a year later.
Tag was already a tripawd before we started this journey and was born without his right hind leg. He lived these past 12 years with no problems at all, running, jumping and just being a normal cat, minus his hind foot. He has really been a happy, self-sufficient cat until his age caught up to him.
About a month ago, Tag began having issues with a fistula forming at the base of his stump and his bone would poke through the hole when he was active. We were 1600 miles from home and had to visit a local vet during the Covid pandemic to find out that we most likely need to amputate the leg. We debated the surgery, not knowing if we would be causing him undue pain for the remainder of his life. Should we amputate at his older age?? We took a few weeks to decide, and it just seemed silly not to keep this old guy happy and healthy.
The vets we spoke to seemed to think this surgery was no big deal, and that the healing process would be short. We decided to do the amputation and found a vet a few hours away who specialized in surgeries and amputations. Tag just had his surgery two days ago and he’s on the way to recovery, with more travels in his future! He’s a fiesty, head strong kitty who loves to ride on my lap in the car and gaze at the open road! I can’t wait until he is running and jumping again!
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Oh you guys! I’m so touched that you read our book and although NOPAWDY ever wants to join our community, we are glad you found us to share Tag’s story and lean on us if you need to.
How cool that recovery is going well! I love that you found a competent vet too. Doing so on the road isn’t always easy as you discovered, but it sounds like you have a keen sense for these things. Great job 🙂
We can’t wait to read more about Tag and your travels with the critters! Jim and I had huge smiles on our faces when we read that you’re nomads too. Feel free to reach out or post an URL to your blog so we can follow along. Maybe one of these days we can meet up on the road somewhere.