Poor kitty :-(

Seth and I have two wonderful cats, Emmett and CharlieWe got them in January from a rescue in St. Louis. Charlie was only 6 months old when we brought him home, but we don't know how old Emmett is (based on what the vet told us, he's at least 4, but probably more like 6-8). Emmett was rescued from a cat hoarder and was in very bad shape when he was found. When we brought him home he only weighed 6 lbs and had a lot of trouble eating. Over the last 9 months he's come a very long way. He's now at a healthy weight and eating well, and he has lots of energy and loves to run around and play.

Charlie is a stinker. He loves to eat and despite our best efforts to control his portions has developed a bit of a pudgy belly. He is very sweet boy and loves to snuggle and have his belly rubbed.

About two weeks ago, we noticed that Charlie was limping. We thought he just had a minor injury or irritation on his paw so we figured we'd give him a few days and see if it got any better. After about a week of no visible improvement we made an appointment for him at the local vet's office. I brought him in Saturday morning and the vet decided he needed to take some x-rays.

Well as it turns out, poor Charlie has a fractured hip. It seems he has a disease that results in a deterioration of the bone at the top of the femur between the ball of the hip joint and the length of the femur. Our vet said that it could be genetic or a result of a previous injury that he could have incurred as a kitten before he was rescued. So since he had a weakened bone, it could have been just about anything that caused it to fracture.

The bad news is that it probably won't heal on its own since the bone is so weak. The only real solution is for them to operate on his hip and remove the ball of the joint. They'll file down the bone to make it smooth and Charlie will have a "floating hip". Apparently cats have enough muscle mass in their hips that he will still get along okay with his leg not actually attached at the bone. The vet said that while he probably won't use it for a month or two after the surgery, eventually he will start to use his leg again. And most importantly, he won't be in pain like he is now.

So tomorrow morning Seth is going to drop him off at the vet for the surgery and he'll probably be able to come home on Tuesday.

And now, some super cute pics of our Charlie Prince (and his brother Emmett) :-)