Pandora came to us last weekend as a stray cat. She actually found her 
 way to our neighbors house but they know we work with animal rescue, 
 so they showed her the way to our house :-) I took her to my vet a few 
 days later to get her vaccinations, check her stool, and have him go 
 over a few concerns I had about her. The first problem we found was 
 roundworms and tapeworms, which she has since been dewormed for. The 
 second problem was a paralyzed tail. The third problem was significant 
 limping on her left hind leg. My vet recommended to do x-rays on her 
 back/pelvis/leg to determine what was going on. Once x-rays were done, 
 we found that she has a misalignment in her lower back that is causing 
 the paralysis of her tail- but the real problem was her left knee. The 
 x-ray showed significant differences in the bone between her left and 
 right leg. He felt we should do an exploratory surgery to rule out 
 osteosarcoma (cancer of the bone) or an ACL tear. The surgery was done 
 this morning, and we found that she had severe arthritis and scar 
 tissue all throughout her knee. It seems to have been a bad injury 
 that was not properly treated. The decision was made to amputate the 
 leg approximately 3/4 of the way up the femur to remove the damaged 
 joint. It was a difficult decision, but I knew her only other options 
 were a lifetime of pain medications that will only help for so long- 
 or euthanasia, as it wouldn't be fair for her to suffer with constant 
 pain. The surgery went very well and we expect a full recovery. 
 Animals can adapt extremely well to amputations, and hopefully once 
 she is healed her quality of life is going to be the best it's been 
 since before that injury. We are so grateful for the donation.