Check out the new and improved Tate in action!

Tate Post-Op!
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Update from January 12:
Tate is doing very well post-surgery. He's on "light duty" for three weeks, which means that he's required to be kept from running, climbing, and jumping. He also needs to wear an Elizabethan cone until his stitches are removed, which will be in two weeks. He's given multiple medications daily to help with recovery and pain: an anti inflammatory, a pain med, and antibiotics. Since he was only using three legs before the surgery, there's been no ambulatory adjustment; he moves around exactly as he'd done before. Pre-surgery, he could run (which looks like hopping when he walks) just as fast as any cat we've seen. We have no doubt he'll be just as fast, and jump just as high as he did before the surgery. In fact, we think that not having the stump will increase his balance. He'll also enjoy a pain-free existence. Before the surgery, our veterinarian explained that there were small pieces of bone just below the skin, causing the end of his stump to never heal. It would break open and bleed any time he bumped it on anything. Because the vet removed the stump up to the hip, she was able to pad it with muscle and fat.

No one knows what happened to Tate before he ended up at Animal Control. Our vet only knows that he was missing part of his back leg due to some sort of trauma. It's a good bet, however, that had Tenth Life not stepped in to help, Tate would have very likely been euthanized. Thanks to generous supporters, he's been given another chance at life, and much better quality of it.

(Tate is a part-Siamese, "flame-point" kitten who was admitted to a local Animal Control facility with a partial back leg. The organization just didn't have the money to give him the serious medical care he desperately needed to lead a healthy, pain-free life, so Tenth Life admitted him.

Before his recent amputation surgery, his "stump" caused him a great deal of pain. His Foster Mom reported that, though he played and acted like a normal kitten, Tate was frequently rendered inactive due to the pain caused by his partial leg bumping surfaces throughout the house. He cried out in pain when landing on the stump and he needed relief fast!)