I posted some time ago about us perhaps adopting the neighbor’s cat, but now I can’t find the goddamn thread to revive it.
Anyway, this is pretty much gonna happen, pending review of the vet records they have. They’ve sold their house and are leaving the end of this month for Florida. So we will have a new 3-year old tuxedo named “Kitty”.
They went on a house hunting trip a couple of weeks ago and we took care of her while they were gone. Anybody who read my other thread knows I was concerned about taking on a cat that likes to be outdoors, especially since we do RV travel in the summer. But while she was here, we bought a harness to see if she would tolerate it, and were surprised when she offered no resistance and didn’t try to escape from it. So that’s a load off our minds.
Now a problem that I’m hoping any vet types might be able to help with. When she came to stay with us, she was hopping on three legs. They had taken her to the vet, who told them they could find nothing wrong on x-rays or physical exam. By the end of our week with her, she was putting normal weight on the leg, and this past week she’s been climbing the back fence and doing her usual outdoor thing.
Then this morning, she went out to do what cats do outdoors and an hour or so later came back obviously in pain and on three legs again. WTF? We got her inside, but it seems even walking on three legs is causing her pain, and right now she is under one of the beds, which isn’t a good sign, IMO. The vet is closed for the weekend, but I’d like to get some opinions as to what could be wrong. She’s had tests for cancer, and her stool tested for parasites, giardia, etc (mainly because there was some blood in her stool). Dislocation? Repeated muscle tear? I can gently press her lower leg without issue, but when I get to her shoulder, she starts flinching.
IANAV, and I’m not sure there’s enough info for anyone to make a specific diagnosis, but under the category of “it couldn’t hurt” advice, check out the reviews for Cosequin for Cats on Amazon. It’s basically just a Glucosamine/Chondroitin formulation made to be palatable to cats and easily sprinkled onto wet food. Other than helping heal joint pains, it’s also said to help with some urinary issues by building up the bladder lining.
Recheck those ex-rays, talk to the vet. A three year old cat shouldn’t have arthritis type hobbling… There’s no way to tell over the internet but it sounds like an injury to me…
There are congenital bone and joint diseases cats can get, though. I can’t remember off the top of my head anything specific in the front limbs.
Is it the same leg as before?
Perhaps it is not a serious injury, and after a few days of rest, she’ll bounce back.
It doesn’t seem like something urgent (for now), but perhaps keep the cat indoors until Monday, with restricted movements, and if she’s still the same or worse, take to the vet by then.
Whatever you do… Do not give human pain medications or any drugs to the cat.
Yeah, same leg. This is actually the third time, which makes me think it’s a recurring injury; the first time wasn’t as debilitating, but the last two have meant hopping on three legs, and she seems to be in more pain this time. We’re not taking her back to the vet that the present owners are taking her to, but rather to the one we used to take our cat to. The records need to be transferred, but if I don’t see some improvement by Monday, we may have to take her in anyway. I foresee her becoming an indoor cat in the future, despite her inclination otherwise.
Hurray for taking her, I know that you have missed having a cat.
Personally, I vote for making her an inside only cat. Its very possible that she hurt herself somehow and jumping over the fence reinjured her leg.
Do be sure to take her out for harness walks before you go out in the RV with her. You want to be sure that she won’t squirm out of the harness at a rest station.
She’s such a compliant and easy-going cat. Loves being around people. Brought us a still-alive mouse a few days ago as a present. She didn’t fight the harness at all and wore it for about an hour on three days with no struggles. Most cats would try to bite (or at least struggle to get free) if you touched a sore area: not a whimper from her other than to pull her leg back a bit. We even cut her nails, having no idea how she would take such handling. All this week she’s been jumping up and down from things. She was on the garage roof for a while. Indoors, she’s been chasing the little feather thingy I bought for her, with no sign of being lame. I’m wondering if she jumped after a bird and fell out of a tree.
Too bad there isn’t a 24 hour vet in your area. I have a regular vet, and really like him. But sometimes it helps to know there is an emergency option.
I wish I knew something that would help, but I don’t. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Kitty gets better.
It’s not imaginative, I know, but she answers to Kitty, so no new name. Their other cat is named “Tom”. :rolleyes: Frankly, I’m surprised that the little girl isn’t named “Girl”.
I would take her to the other vet and see if they can’t find anything. If it’s a repetitive soft tissue or tendon injury, it’s not going to show up on xray. If it’s a bone or joint issue, those should. I’m not exactly confident the xays were as thorough as they could have been, it depends on what the neighbors were willing to pay for. Sometimes people only agree to one view when two are in order. If they’re still using film, they might not have been clear enough to find a stress or other small fracture. If your vet has digital xray, and does two views all the way from toes to the shoulder, you can be more confident to rule out bone or joint injury if they still don’t find anything.
As to the trimming nails - that’s cool, but letting an outdoor cat back outside after taking her first defense away isn’t such a good idea. Especially if she’s not used to them being trimmed, she’s going to slip, slide, and lose her grip on things without those little needles to dig into stuff. It makes falls much more likely, and losing a fight with another cat or predator inevitable. When indoor/outdoor cats or ferals come to the ER, they’re the only ones we don’t trim nails on.
At this point, restricted movement indoors is the way to go for the weekend. An ER visit isn’t necessarily called for, her injury isn’t life threatening and it sounds like she’s handling the pain OK. If you can keep her confined to one room where she can’t do much climbing or jumping, that would be best. If she’s amenable to the confinement for the weekend, consider keeping her inside until her nails are sharp again so she can go outside without being a target or risk slipping and falling.
I inherited my grandma’s cat who is now 13-14 yrs old. When he was 2yrs old, he fell 30ft off her rear deck and landed on the concrete patio below, but not on his feet. He landed on his hip/tailbone and actually broke his back. My mom rushed him to the nearest vet’s office, but the bastard coldly told her that he should be euthanized, without even examining him! My mom told him money was no object but he still refused to offer any treatment.
My mom refused and called another vet’s office located another 30 minutes away. That vet told her that it would be VERY expensive to even run the tests to see if there might be a surgical option ($1000+). But he was kind enough to recommend a veterinarian who had just started a mobile practice (RV converted into a vet’s office) and would be much cheaper and she could offer more flexibility and routine follow-up care if he could be saved.
Long story short, she was able to save him. My mom kept him immobilized in her garden tub for a month while he healed.
About five years ago, he stopped eating and could hardly move. I took him to my vet and the way his spine/back bone healed was now causing pressure on his spinal cord. For the past five years, I’ve had to take him in for a steroid shot every 4-5 weeks. The day after his shot, he’s good as new…
Perhaps if ‘Kitty’ has some sort of muscular or bone injury, it might be treatable with something as simple as a steroid injection? My vet is awesome and only charges $15 per visit, but I’m sure most charge more. In any case, I thought it was worth mentioning.
Thanks. I belatedly thought about the nail trimming being a bad idea after she hurt herself. :smack: We only did it because at about five each morning she starts kneading the bed covers, which is both annoying and destructive. Oddly enough, this morning she seems to be walking without much difficulty. We’ll still take her to the vet for a complete checkup once we have her other records. And yeah, she’s going nowhere this weekend.
Now if we could just get her to use the litter box with regularity. I’ve never seen a cat hold her waste as long as this one does.
Not sure if this will help you, but my oldest cat Baby hurt his leg several years ago jumping down from a window seat. It seemed like he was hurting in his shoulder - took him to the vet and nothing wrong was found. Vet said maybe a pulled muscle. Baby limped for awhile but eventually was fine. A year ago the exact same thing happened to the exact same leg - didn’t go to the vet but just watched him and within a few days he was fine. Now up to just a few months ago - Baby was just walking along and suddenly started limping. His leg was bent funny by the foot and yet it was his shoulder that he favored. He went 3 legged at that point. I hustled him to the vet and Xrays showed nothing. Vet said he probably broke the leg - hairline fracture - as well as over-extended the ligament at the back of the leg. So he was put in a cast for 3 weeks. When the cast came off his leg still bent but he walked just fine - no trace of limp. The vet said the bone has probably healed but the ligament may never heal. It’s been I think about 2 months now since the cast came off and no sign of limping. So maybe your kitty has done something similar to mine, with the repeated injury? Might help her to immobilize it to allow healing even if Xrays show nothing. Certainly helped my cat - and he handled the cast just fine - took one day to get used to it, and I blocked off the stairs while he was in it. So just a thought for you.
…a thought on the litterbox - maybe change the litter type?
I think they may be my grandparents, reincarnate. We had a dog named “Pup”, cats named “Mama Cat” and “Kitten”, and until I started kindergarten, I thought my name was “Baby” or “The Baby.”
I’m glad to hear you’re taking the cat to a new vet. You’re a good man, Chefguy.
I cannot recommend Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh Walnut-Based litter enough. I’ve had cats for 30 years and have tried pretty much every brand and type of litter ever made. I’d be skeptical if someone told me a cat litter could be all-natural, biodegradable, clump so strong that it won’t fall apart when scooping, completely absorb and eliminate odor, have no dust, not track through the house, actually get my cats to use the box even when it’s dirty (they can’t smell it — seriously!), and never have to be dumped out and replaced with all new litter because it scoops so thoroughly (you can forever just top it off as needed), but that’s what I’m telling you about this litter. You may pay a little more for it, but it is worth every penny.
Chefguy, good luck with your new overlord. Keep us posted about her condition, please.
I’ll second (third?) the recommendation to make her into an indoor kitty. I’d always thought it was next to impossible to transition an outdoor cat to a happy indoor lifestyle until we tried it in desperation after our wildest kitty got into his last physically damaging, expensive-to-treat fight. He settled in amazingly well after about a week of indoor-only living. I’m convinced that adequate cat furniture is key - we put up enough cat trees that everyone was assured of a private hideaway when they wanted one, and we made sure there was a wide enough perch at every window that at least two cats could look out at the same time.
Shayna, does that litter have a pretty fine texture? I’d gotten a sample of the non-clumping type from my pet-food store, but I didn’t like the pellets because it was really hard to sift. If they have a clumping type and it’s unscented, I’d like to give it another try. Chefguy, that litter might be more dirt-like, which might be a less jarring change for her. You might also try to add actual back yard dirt until she gets used to the idea that the litterbox is the place to go.*
We tried mixing some yard dirt with litter, but there was no change. She’s gotten better about using the box and I think she’ll fall into line. Pictures will come when we’ve finished the transition of cat, records, etc., but she’s very similar to this one.
