Clubber Needs Your Help for Surgery

For those of you who don't know us, this is Clubber. On April 8th, Clubber was taken to the vet to have surgery to remove a mass that was growing and amputation of the declaw the mass was growing around. The results for that mass have come back as a mass cell tumor, but a low-grade one.

On April 10th, KKM had us scheduled to come in for his first bandage change after his surgery. I addressed at that appointment that from what I could see of his toes, they were red and looked swollen and wet. They took him to the back, cleaned his foot, and re-bandaged it. They said for us to come back in tomorrow.

On April 11th, we returned for another bandage change. They took him back, cleaned it up, and wrapped the foot. They did say it was more swollen than it was the day before. I was told to keep doing his meds and also give him Benadryl to help with the swelling. I was also sent home with an IV bag to use as a boot if it was to rain or if there was mud, to try to keep it dry. Our next appointment was for April 15th for another bandage change.

On April 13th, from just seeing his toes, I could see how swollen his foot was and the drainage coming from it. I then decided to cut the bandage. It looked and smelled terrible. At that point, I decided I wasn't going back to KKM because I had already addressed my concerns with the first bandage change. I took Clubber to another vet on April 15th. That morning, I walked upstairs, and you could just smell the infection. At Monroe, they changed his antibiotic to something stronger and had me soaking his foot twice a day with chlorhexidine mixed with a gallon of distilled water and also doing hydrotherapy on his foot twice a day in the shower. This took the swelling down and helped with most of the infection he had going on.

On April 18th, Clubber was in for his recheck to see how the treatment was going. The vet and I were both happy; his foot looked to be moving in the right direction. That next day, which would have been Saturday, April 19th, later that night, I noticed he had lost some of the stitches and others were super loose, looking to be poking at the flesh. I removed the ones that could have been bothering him or so they wouldn't be snagged on anything. That flap of skin was dead and fell off, leaving the bone exposed. I made sure the area was cleaned, wrapped the foot, and did the same thing Sunday.

Yesterday, Monday, April 21, I sent the pictures I had taken to the vet. They called and had me bring him in. They tried doing a special wrap you would do for a burn victim with medicated honey. They asked if they could keep him overnight. I said of course, so he would have the proper care.

Today is April 22. I picked him up from the vet. They told me when they did the bandage change, more bone was showing. They explained at this point it would be in his best interest to amputate that leg. We had conversations in advance that this could happen, but we tried to do everything we could to save the foot. I am not one to ask for help; anyone who knows me would tell you this, but I'm asking now. We do have care credit, but that card is now maxed out. We are asking for help, even if it's just sharing our post. We would be extremely grateful.