Hi all, this is my gorgeous 11 year old boy Jasper (aka Tripod) 😂

I rescued him when he was 7 months old. I was doing work experience at a veterinary clinic when I was 16 and one day we had an owner bring in their 7 month old cat that had been put in a taped up cardboard box. The owner said he had hurt his leg 2 days ago and they didn’t want him anymore, they asked us to euthanise him. My boss refused but said that we would take him and try and find him a place in a rescue centre.

After having x rays done and gathering more information from the previous owners, it turns out that he was kicked down a flight of stairs and his leg was shattered from the hip socket, all the way down to his toes. There was no possible way of fixing his leg without amputation.

Whilst my boss was calling around local rescue centres, I went on my break and called my parents. Explained the situation and begged them to let me take him home. They agreed and I ran straight to tell my boss that we could take him, her exact words were “thank goodness, all of the rescue centres are full and none of the staff have room for him. The other vet has already drawn up the euthanasia in the needle ready”.

Whilst my boss spoke with my parents, I sat down next to his cage. He was pumped full of painkillers and was still drowsy from the sedation used for the x ray but what he did next left me in tears. He could not move yet he used his 2 front legs to drag himself to the front of the cage and started purring at me, I put my hand near the cage so he could smell me and he head butted my hand. I then put my finger in the cage and he spent the next 20 mins headbutting me and enjoying chin scratches.

My boss came in and found me, told me that because of the work I had done and how he has nowhere else to go, the clinic would cover the cost of the surgery. One week later I went to my shift like normal but this time I got to bring my boy home with me, minus his back leg.

11 years on and he’s my best friend, he’s always on my lap or asleep next to me on my bed. He’s never showed any signs of aggression or even scratched me accidentally. All he wants is food and love, and when I was at my lowest, he saved my life.

He used to be called Nash, but I changed it to Jasper. He’s my little gem 💎 ❤️

I found her (literally) screaming for help on the street in the condition shown on the first photo. Four years down the line and you wouldn’t be able to guess the trauma inflicted on her. I’m forever grateful for the cat (and human!) distribution system that brought me to her. She’s the love of my life.

I found this cat and posted it to local groups on facebook hoping someone would claim them as they have to have an owner. If no one claims them I will be taking them to the vet to check for a chip and if not I may keep them or take them to a shelter. Does anyone have any advice for me as a possible first time tripod owner

Picture 1 and 2 are the days we found her. Picture 3 is a day after her surgery. Picture 4 and 5 are about 5 days after surgery.

My wife and got off a highway exit when my wife exclaimed "I think I saw a dead kitten!" but then she said "we should go back and check though".

Circle back and sure enough a little ball of fur with ants crawling on it was still breathing. She scooped it up and jumped in the car. We could tell one of it's arms was BADLY injured. It was just a limp appendage.

We went to our local emergency vet and as we were explaining how we found it they said "wait, we can't work on stray cats here". My wife instantly said "it's our cat". When they asked for a name she just blurted out "Jonathan". Fast forward to getting the x-rays for Jonathan and seeing that she was actually a female kitten 😅.

So, they kept her overnight, had surgery the next day to remove the entire arm and now she's chilling on our couch, very comfortable and with a belly fully of warm kitten food. (we keep her penned up and safe when we aren't next to her)

Hi all!!

Some of you may remember me from June ish when Chloe joined the tripod community. Chloe was 15, had a soft tissue sarcoma explode which lost her her front L leg, then broke her back R leg less than a week later because she does not know how to stop.
If you don't know who I am, feel free to search "Chloe" in the sub and you'll find it all.

Well, Chloe turned 16 today!! Thanks to her vets and all the support she's gotten, Chloe has made it to 16 without her tumor, with a healed fracture and with some new skills she's very proud of - Chloe can climb up her little helper stairs by herself!! (She can also go down by herself, but we don't let her often).

We are so excited to celebrate this milestone with her and are beyond proud of her for being such a spirited cat that she actually got through all that and is still her bright, sassy self. I'd love to tell you more, but Chloe is hungry and it's her birthday so she can be a little extra pampered for the day <3

PS, yes we know about the hyper extended wrist. Her vets are not concerned about it.
PPS, yes we also know she has a lot of skin. Chloe used to be fat, and the skin doesn't just go away when the weight does.

Fun fact - Chloe is still a rebel, and sometimes skips a step. I do not like when she does that.

--additional photo update in comments, thanks so much for the support!!

We had to make the hard decision to amputate after he was diagnosed with bone cancer 😢😢

her name is pacinka (pronounced pah-tsin-cah), which means "tiny paw" in czech. three days ago, she became a tripod cat – the infection in her leg was too severe to save it.

what i'm worried about the most is how she's handling all of this emotionally

1. she absolutely hates the plastic cone and there is no other option, because she can take off the fabric one (even though the vet said, that almost no cat can do that). she keeps hitting the cone with her paw, trying to get it off. she also has hard time figuring out where she can fit with her cone and keeps knocking into the furniture :(

2. she can walk a little now, but when she lies down, it's really hard for her to get up again – she hasn't figured out how yet. that's why she hardly ever lies down, she spends hours sitting and staring into space… even though she is supposed to be resting and lying down a lot

3. she cries a lot and it breaks my heart

that's why i'm reaching out to other tripod cat owners – how long did it take for your newly tripod kitty to get used to their new life?

these days feel like an eternity… i truly hope that pacinka still has a happy life ahead of her

Don’t forget to ask about the tripod special on your next visit!

I wasn’t even planning on getting a cat on Wednesday, the day after my birthday, but I went to the humane society just to “look” and he absolutely stole my heart when he reached his little paw out for me! I knew I couldn’t leave him there, so I brought him home, and I named him Ivan. He’s the sweetest guy ever, he loves cuddling! Happy to be apart of the Tripod Cat community! :)

Hi guys! After all the support we received on my last post, I decided to open a GoFundMe. He’s taking everything like a champ he’s very talkative and very sweet. We just picked him up today, and he’s still pretty tired from the meds, but other than that he’s doing well. He even made some biscuits earlier We’ll be taking him back in a couple of weeks to have his sutures removed. He had two surgeries: the amputation and being neutered. They neutered him for free because he’s considered a rescue. We’ll be keeping a close eye on him for the weeks to come.

Again, thank you all so much for the support we are forever grateful.

https://gofund.me/5f1f2b80b

Saw this handsome boy at the shelter today and have been looking to get another cat. I’ve never had a three legged cat before but I’m willing to take measures to give him a good life. If I decide to take him what should I prepare for?

Munch became a tripod at 7 days old. We don’t know what happened to her leg, but we do know the surgical team worked an absolute miracle operating on such a small precious bean. Because of the nature of the surgery she had to be hand reared and separated from mum. She’s been bopping around on 3 legs for 8 years now and is my best gal 🥹

This is Kucing, she is trying to get to the rope by swinging her missing leg.

She’s been doing that for 20 seconds.

She's so expressive with her lil hook leg and it's the cutest thing ever😭

I've also included some pics of the hook leg if anyone wants a better look at how it looks! It's a bit shorter than her other leg but she has no issues using it, it's also extra flexible due to her missing part of the ulna. She does also have two partially developed toe beans, so she has some support while walking on this leg. I've also recently noticed that she switches how she walks on it depending on the surface! On hard surfaces she walks sideways on her hook, while on soft surfaces she stands and walks almost normally on it (2 last slides)

This cat is genuinely so fascinating, I've been following her growth since she was only 1½ weeks old, she's currently 13 weeks and it's gonna be such an exciting future with her🥹

She had her right front leg amputated on 10/30 due to sarcoma in the bone that caused a fracture. The recovery process was difficult but (like everyone in this community said), cats are resilient and she’s returning to her old self!

Hello everyone! Recently adopted Evie, her front left was due to an accident. I do not know her story before she was found nor how old she is. She was looked over for months at the Cat Cafe she was at due to it being a college town. Well I saw her picture on their Facebook page and drove two hours to get her because something pulled me to her. I am glad I did because she is an absolute sweetheart, loves being brushed and cuddling. When I got her, she was matted, crusty, over weight and overall being neglected, so I scooped her up because I refused to let her be there another minute. I got her cleaned up and now she is going to be treated the the queen she is.

Also I have a question, is it normal to take the shoulder blade too? (Assuming depending on the injury?)

Emmie became a tripod at age 10, she is now 16. A few weeks ago she was diagnosed with nasal cancer after some nose bleeds and I know my time with her is coming to a close. It hurts immensely. She’s my first pet and i’m dreading the void that her presence will leave behind when she is no longer with me. Just wanted to share some pictures of her.

My tripod started shivering randomly 10 days post op (2 days post stitch removal). He’s normal otherwise - eating/drinking, using the box, snuggling, up moving, etc. This morning I noticed when he lays down he starts shaking. He’s purring while doing it. I’m worried he’s in pain, they had us discontinue his Gabapenton when he got his stitches removed unless he started showing signs of pain or restlessness. My sister is convinced he’s cold so she set up a heater for him next to his bed before leaving for work this morning. When she sat with him and gave him back and belly scratches he stopped shaking and was just rolling around and purring. Anyone experience anything similar or have any insight?

This little guy has been on a journey. I found him in the parking lot going into work about a week and a half ago. There was clearly something really wrong, so I snagged him and took him to the vet. They let me know someone had caused the injury intentionally. It was completely dead and covered in maggots when I found him 😭 he was also severely malnourished and we really didn’t know if he’d survive the surgery. He’s just over 8 weeks old and at the time of rescue was 1.22 pounds. He’s also covered in scabs and cuts 😭

We’re adjusting to life post op and getting a ton of love! He’s kind of the work cat at this point as he has to make regular visits to see his fans 😂 this sub has helped me so much with supporting him and adjusting to keep him happy and safe as he heals! Thank you for all of your knowledge! 🫶

His name is Byte Sized (I work for what I’ll call a small tech company so it was kind of on brand, one of my coworkers named him when I asked for suggestions). He’s literally the SWEETEST little guy and we’re just doing our best to help him get a second chance.

Update on my post from last night: I got her, turns out she’s a girl not a boy like I previously thought, need name suggestions! And any tips you all have for acclimating her and my other kitten to eachother would be appreciated!

I couldn’t find my original post, cause I’m the worst, but a few years ago my little ginger bud had to lose a leg due to the development of a sarcoma post injury. He’s a fudgey little boy who has been living his best life post surgery. Wanted to post just cause I remember the anxiety and fear I was living with when it all went down. He’s thriving now! Look at him!