I got Alley when he was only two weeks old. His mother was completely malnourished. She had 5 kittens, two got adopted, two died, and I took the weakest. The mother could not provide enough milk to keep the kittens healthy.
Megan, one of the dogs I had at the time, took Alley under her wing. Alley followed her everywhere, did everything she did, including playing fetch and go swimming (not his favorite). But if she did, he did!
When Alley was five he was sitting on the sidewalk. A man drove up on the sidewalk to hit Alley on purpose and caught his back leg, crushing the hock.
After having the surgery to put a screw in, I brought Alley home. Alley had to wear a cast for a month. After a week he started to act strange. I stuck my finger in the bottom of the cast and his toes were petrified!
I called the vet (of course it’s after hours) and he said bring him by in the morning. I said no. I’m cutting his cast off now! I’m glad I did. His incision was never sown up. It looked like it was still open for surgery and the part of leg below was dead. I called another vet who had to amputate.
Alley survived that ordeal. However, five years later hewas playing and got his front leg caught on a chair where it pinched off the blood flow. Because the front leg was on the same side as the amputation, he would not survive.
I had to say goodbye that night. Alley was nine years old.