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Nine-year-old Rascal was adopted by Cerise and her husband Jim when he was two years old. He shares his home with 16-year Jinxy, 4-year-old siblings Gyoza and Gnocchi, four-year-old Ozzy and Missy, and 2-year-old Princess. All cats are rescues.
Rascal was extremely independent and somewhat untamed when he first joined the family. “We accepted and love him the way he was and is, and over the years gained his complete trust, love and loyalty,” said Cerise.
A mysterious leg injury
About two years ago, Rascal had some sort of mishap. Neither Cerise nor Jim witnessed the incident, but it appeared that he seriously injured his left hindleg. “We noticed a limp, progressing to where any short walk was difficult as he couldn’t put any weight on his left foot, and in fact drug it along,” said Cerise. He subsequently developed an open sore wound on the bend of his hock. Cerise and Jim also noticed Rascal’s “good” right leg appeared to become affected, most likely due to him compensating loss of functionality from his left leg. They later learned that he had developed arthritis in his “good” leg. After a couple of vet visits, it was determined Rascal probably had a torn or ruptured achilles tendon. They consulted with a veterinary surgeon just before Thanksgiving 2021 to obtain a treatment opinion and assess whether Racal needed surgery, or if other options existed.
The surgeon didn’t think Rascal was in a lot of pain. She told them that even with surgery there was no guarantee of ultimate recovery: Rascal may have a limp, degree of severity unknown, and quite possibly a recurrence of the injury. Surgery would require rigorous after care follow-up, including eight to ten weekly visits to change bandages, treat any infections; re-cast, perform PT, etc. Rascal would have to be crated at home and wear an e-collar for eight to ten weeks.
“We both knew all of this would forever break Rascal’s spirit,” said Jim. “He gets so stressed being crated and driven in a car.” They asked about amputation, but were told Rascal would have to lose five pounds before any surgery could be performed. The extra weight could put too much strain on his useful leg. Finally, it was quite likely doing nothing would result in both legs ultimately failing. To Denise and Jim, that meant that Rascal was staring end-of-life square in the face. “It was just a matter of quality of life, and when.”
Radical improvements with the Assisi Loop after only five days
They felt, and the vet agreed, that as long as Rascal was playing, eating, being social, and not appearing to be in pain, that he had good quality of life. That became Jim and Denise’s mantra: maintain and increase his quality of life. “How to decide Rascal’s treatment plan was like flipping a coin,” they said. “One side was that we felt woefully incapable of providing the necessary forced care Rascal required to recover from the surgery option. The other was Rascal’s fiercely independent spirit, and physical size and strength. When pushed beyond his trust level, which we worked years to obtain, Rascal can be frighteningly dangerous and we would risk forever losing his trust.” Flipping that coin felt like a no-win situation.
“Until we found the Assisi Loop,” said Jim. “Of course, it didn’t take us just a few days to come to this astute clarity – rather, a number of weeks/months or so to observe Rascal’s progress, research, torment ourselves, decide & devise a plan, and procure the necessary care materials.”
Denise and Jim put a plan together. “We designed the plan around several components: The first and most important being Rascal’s daily pattern within the household.”They took into consideration that there needed to be a regular daily playtime and exercise routine, which would help him improve and provide us visual feedback of progress.
They determined the frequency of Loop treatments, medications, and homeopathic therapy that were all part of his treatment plan. Finally, they understood that there would be both an acute phase of therapy (upon which successful improvement is achieved), followed by a maintenance phase of (most likely) lifetime therapy. “It helped that there was a full time Cat Daddy present to administer therapy during day, with the Crazy Cat Lady to administer medications in daily feedings,” said Jim.
“Placing the Loop either directly on top of the leg or under the blanket Rascal was lying on was never an issue if you follow one rule,” said Jim, “never put the loop on the first 15 minute after your patient lies down. Make sure they’re really going to take a good nap!” That, combined with medications, and homeopathic drops worked together over time to result in radical and impressive improvements to Rascal’s leg functionality
Initially Rascal had a minimum of two with a goal of three Loop treatments each day, separated by at least 30 minutes between sessions. “Ideally, we put the loop on both legs individually, but considered it a bonus when we put the loop between both his hind legs, one over the other, while he slept on his side (perch, couch, tower, floor) – anywhere he was obviously going to nap for at least 30-60 minutes (often).”
After just five days they saw noticeable improvement. “He was more active, playing and feeling much better and his open hock wound was beginning to heal!” The acute treatment phase lasted almost four weeks. “By that time we couldn’t recognize the old cripple! Rascal was moving around much faster, even some running, scratching ears with both legs, sitting naturally on both hind legs (classic statue), instead of healed over to one side (lady side-saddle), playing up a storm and even wrestling with brother Ozzy!”
Rascal is currently in the maintenance phase. “We give Loop maintenance treatments three to five times a week,” said Jim, depending on how Rascal is walking. They treat both his left leg injury as well as both legs for arthritis as well as his physical left injury. He still receives Tear Repair Drops the same day he receives the Loop Therapy.
“The Assisi Loop is simply Amazing, stress free to use and apply, and simply stated works,” said Denise and Jim. “Seeing him be able to walk around and be the happy, playful, talkative, loving boy, he used to be, we know without a doubt we know we made the right choice. Thank You Assisi!”
How the Assisi Loop Works
The Assisi Loop, created by Assisi Animal Health, is a non-pharmaceutical, non-invasive device provides targeted pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (tPEMF™). tPEMF, which was first studied in the 1970s and is FDA-cleared for use in humans, uses low-level pulses of electromagnetic energy to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms to help relieve pain and swelling. This therapy can benefits cats with pain associated with arthritis, pancreatitis, wounds, or post-surgical swelling as well as many inflammatory conditions. The Loop is well tolerated by most cats. In fact, many cats really enjoy receiving Loop treatments. Because the Loop stimulates the body’s own healing process, rather than introducing a new substance (like a medication), even a sensitive cat body can handle it easily.
Backed by scientific research
A two-year double blind study at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine looked at using the Loop as part of pre-to-post-operative treatment to reduce pain and accelerate recovery in dogs undergoing spinal surgery. The results of this study undeniably show the Loop’s ability not only to reduce pain, but also to help the injured nerve tissue recover faster.
For more information about how the Assisi Loop, Assisi Loop Lounge or Assisi DentaLOOP could help your cat, visit http://www.assisianimalhealth.com or contact Assisi Animal Health at info@assisianimalhealth.com, 866-830-7342.
*FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, which means that I was compensated to feature this content. Regardless of payment received, you will only see products or services featured on this site that I believe are of interest to our readers.
I’m glad Rascal is finding some relief.