We had a cat many years ago, something happened to Morris that made his right front leg unusable, it just sort of hung there. We thought maybe he got it caught in the log pile, maybe one moved and trapped his leg.
Anyway the only recourse was to amputate it...it was incredible how well he recovered and how quickly.
He ran just as fast as before, played just as hard and he lived to a ripe old age of 18...still miss this guy too!
I know you feel sadness, I remember that too, I cried and cried saying he'd never be the same and it would hurt him so much but none of that was true, you'll see.
Sher