I would take your kitty to another vet. Get an X-ray and another opinion. It might not be injury related. It might be a hip problem. It could be a host of things. Until then, I would think bed rest is best for him.
My young kitty just had a nasty fall which started scary but ended well.
I had a rather large ceramic pot/art piece on a landing going up the stairwell. Considering the pot location, size and weight, we never considered it a risk for a cat (and it was safe from swinging doggie tails).
One morning there was a large crash. We found the pot at the bottom of the stairs in a zillion pieces. Zed, the kitten, came to the room and looked a little freaked out. We noticed he was dragging his back right leg and knuckling his paw.
We took him right to the vet and he wanted to take an X-ray of the back and leg. The kitten had already eaten that morning so we had to wait until the next day as they want to sedate him.
The next morning he gets the X-ray. The doctor looks them over and didn’t have great news for us. Two of the vertebrae in his spine were mashed together. His back leg was swollen twice the size of his other leg. I saw both these things on the X-ray. The size of the second leg was quite impressive.
The vet assumed the knuckling of the foot was directly related to some form of nerve damage in the spine. He based this on the X-ray. He said there might be some surgical options down the road (spine or amputation of the droopy foot or leg). For now, the vet said, kitty needs bed rest for 4-6 weeks. He might recover, he might not, and he might gain 50% mobility of his back leg back. After 4-6 weeks we could explore options.
Our biggest hurdle out the gate is kitty poop. Sometimes a spine injury effects the nerves in the bowels - add the fact he is a full rumpy Manx in the mix (sometimes prone to bowel problems).
I opted to also have the X-rays sent to a specialist.
Bed rest? For a kitten? Hmmmm?
We have a large dog crate. I bought a small litter pan, fixed up a bed for him and in the crate he goes.
He shows no interest in using the litter pan outside of playing with the litter. Over the next few days we take him out from time to time and place him in the other litter box. A few days go by and he finally pees. Still no poo though. On the 5th day we get poo! I never thought I’d be so happy to see a big pile of cat poop.
I decided perhaps he’s not using the litter in the crate because it’s too close to his bed and food/water dishes. I go buy a smaller dog crate and we attach the two into a groovy two room cat pad. If he’s got 5 more weeks in the thing, he might as well be comfortable.
About 10 days of kitty bed rest go by. He’s got more mobility in his leg. He’s only knuckling his foot every 10th step. He seems to be getting better. His attitude is great. When I take him out of the crate he’s lovey and playful and wants to run around and break the house. In the crate he’s mostly calm. It doesn’t seem to bother him much - which is weird because normally he’s running top speed around the house 23 hours a day. We keep the crate in the living room so he’s around us. At night we cover the smaller crate (the one with his bed) in a towel and he just hunkers down and sleeps.
The 11th day we get word from the specialist. The problem with the spine is a birth defect - two vertebrae fused together. I suppose not too uncommon given a Manx is a cat with a spine mutation. Considering before the fall he could leap 4 feet in the air from standstill and was often seen doing skate tricks off the walls, the “defect” didn’t effect his movement.
Now that we know we aren’t looking at permanent nerve damage to the spinal cord, we figure it is safe to let him out of the crate.
A week out of the crate he’s almost back to normal. His back legs are a bit wobbly when he walks but he runs just fine.
Two weeks out of the crate and he’s back to doing 4 foot high back flips. I couldn’t be more happy. He’s a great little guy.
Sadly, I’m out a $3000 ceramic art piece (which was given to the family by the artist). I did save it and I think I’m going to glue it together. I suppose it will add to the story of the piece.
