Meet Arthur, a 14 year old, male neutered, Sphynx cat. He is one special and lucky kitty if you ask me. You see Arthur didn’t start life with his current cat dad. He was actually rescued by him 5 years ago at the vet clinic, but I’ll share more of that story in just a bit.

I don’t know too much about his past with his previous pet parents but in a nutshell this guy is high maintenance. So much so that his previous family decided they could no longer keep up with his medical demands and surrendered him.

This breed in itself, the Sphynx, is high maintenance because of the care needed to keep up with their skin. Where most cats do not require bathing, this breed needs regular baths and ear cleaning, up to once weekly! Owners also have to be careful with sun exposure and cold weather so it is not uncommon to see these kitties wearing sweaters, and as you can see Arthur wears these so well.

Yes, the beginning of Arthur’s story was a very sad and disappointing situation, but on the bright side we were able to find him a new family who picked him up when he was at a low point in his life and needed all the love and care he could get.

Trust me when I say finding a new home for pets in need, with medical conditions, and in an older age group is not always as simple as how Arthur found his new amazing cat dad.

It was like fate, really!

So what’s his story?

Well, it all went down March of 2016. Arthur was in at the clinic with his original family and they decided they could no longer care for him, so they surrendered him to the clinic.

Coincidentally, his future new cat dad was in for a visit with his sister and a different pet.

Let’s just say we have a really good relationship with Arthur’s new cat dad and family and they are amazing pet advocates and pet parents.

In conversation with staff, Arthur’s situation came up and they were asked if they wanted to see a hairless cat that had been surrendered. Well, I don’t know about you but who wouldn’t want to see a hairless cat? Of course they said yes, and Arthur was taken into one of the exam rooms to meet some new friends.

It turns out Arthur was very drawn to his future cat dad. Once taken into the exam room Arthur just gravitated to him and preferred to hang out with him while they were in for this unexpected meet and greet visit.

In true vet tech form, his tech gently offered to send Arthur home with them if they wanted him; however, there was a caveat. You see as mentioned above Arthur came with medical baggage.

Arthur had developed a sore on his hock that was caused by him sitting on a metal heating vent, but it was not healing very easily. Because of this he had to ‘live’ in a cone when he was home alone to prevent him from licking and chewing at his wound. In uncomplicated cases these wounds tend to heal within a couple weeks with some oral medications and at home care, but this was not the case for Arthur.

Well, despite the caveat and this complicated hock wound, Arthur went home with his new cat dad that day. His new cat dad was determined to get this kitty all healed up.

Doesn’t sound so bad right? Ha!

Over the last 5 years Arthur has been in and out of the vet clinic for this ‘hock wound.’

At the beginning, it was medical management in hopes that it would heal on its own with some time. However, this thing was not healing and any chance Arthur had without the cone he would go straight for it and open it up again.

There were now questions of behavioral issues contributing to him not leaving it alone so he was tried with different medical approaches in addition to supplemental treatment modalities such as laser therapy.

This guy was at the clinic weekly, and sometimes bi-weekly for his laser therapy for at least a few months! He had creams and ointments, oral medications, hypoallergenic diet options, holistic treatments and just when we thought things were improving something happened where he was able to get to the area and we were back at square one.

The next best thing that was decided on was surgical intervention for a skin graft. Arthur was referred to a veterinary surgeon, one of the best in town. Surgery was done and guess what? It didn’t stick! So again, we were back at square one and wearing a cone all day, every day.

Everyone was a little confused and frustrated but the saga continued to figure out what to do for this handsome kitty.

The next option was hard. It’s one that no one really likes to suggest or decide on but in reality it is not as bad as we make it out to be. Leg amputation. This was recommended because maybe there was some hyperesthetic situation causing pain that resulted in Arthur chewing at his hock.

As hard as that was, the appointment for surgery was booked.

Surgery day came and pre-anesthetic bloodwork was recommended prior to proceeding. It was a very good thing we went ahead with the bloodwork because this revealed some concerning values with Arthur’s protein levels which could complicate surgery and healing after surgery.

The decision was then made to hold off on surgery that day, so back we went to the drawing board for new treatment options and ideas. More laser therapy, amino acid supplements, and the cone life it was.

I think at this point everyone was a little defeated and things remained status quo with just day to day management of the hock.

As time went on, the hock became less of a focal point and Arthur’s dad started to consistently mention some changes with his stools. He was noticing that there would be some streaks of blood noted occasionally and sometimes stool quality was a bit off.

This sparked the conversation of diets. Maybe we should try him with a gastrointestinal diet to see if his stools will improve?

And because Arthur’s dad is always up for new recommendations and treatments we ventured down the Royal Canin gastrointestinal diet road.

Fast forward a few months later, I get a message that Arthur’s hock is doing great! And he is living his best cone free life! What?! Mind blowing!

Note to self and everyone else out there: Never under estimate the power of yet another diet change!

Now that Arthur’s hock was no longer a problem, of course there was something new this kitty needed to stir up so we are currently navigating through some new health obstacles with this dude which we can leave for another day.

If you head over the my instagram page, follow along and you will see some more fun facts about Arthur the Sphynx kitty, some new updates on his adventures, and much more related to all things pets and vets!

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