My kitten broke his hip. We’re not sure how it happened, but he’s got a couple of small fractures up at the head of his femur. The vet gave me some options, and I’m wondering if anyone here has been through anything similar with a pet.
Option 1 - Get an orthopedic specialist to put some pins in there and somehow hold things together better. The vet didn’t go into detail about this surgery because he said it was quite expensive and I honestly can’t afford to spend thousands on my cat.
Option 2 - Do a surgery to make his hip into a shoulder. “Femoral head osteotomy” is the surgery, and I’ve been trying to research it a little. Cheaper, probably easier on the cat, but still a major surgery.
Option 3 - Since he seems to be running around and playing and not in any pain, leave him be. His limp is pronounced, and the joint is limiting his range of motion a little bit (he doesn’t really sit on that side much, and he can’t reach up to scratch his head with that leg), but he’s not acting weird or squeaking in pain. the vet said the injury is already showing signs of healing and scar tissue, since it happened almost a month ago now.
So for now I’m going with option 3 because the idea of putting my little cat through a major surgery just seems a little drastic if he’s not really hurting. But I’m wondering if anyone else has had a pet go through this sort of surgery, and how the recovery went. It’s breaking my heart to see him limping, and if something I could do would help him… I want to help him.
My cat had a dislocated hip. I took him to the vet and had him treated for the infection he had at the same time, but we didn’t treat the hip. Doc told me it would form a false joint and that although Scrubby would have a somewhat stilted gait, he would be fine.
So we left it, and he was. He seemed a little sensitive about having that area bothered or touched, but otherwise, he has fine.
If your kitty is moving around okay and the vet sees sign of healing, I’d let it go. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to get worse; at this point it’s probably bothering you more than it is him. Good luck either way.
Best,
karol
I think he will be fine if you let him be. Particularly if he is not in pain. Nature is well on its way to taking care of this for the little guy, and he won’t know that he isn’t supposed to limp.
I am a huge animal lover and I always have had animal companions–two mean cats and Edwina the Four Pound Wonder Doggie, currently. But I would not hesitate to put a pet down if it needed a medical procedure that I could not afford or would be overly invasive (major surgery, cancer treatment). I just wouldn’t.
I watched my MIL torture her beloved dog by keeping it alive with chemo et al. I couldn’t do it to a pet; it just ain’t natural. So when Rudy the cat (our first pet) got cancer at 15 we put him down. Crying all the way, but we put him down. It was the right thing to do.
I believe that a huge part of the contract we sign as pet keepers is to provide our animals with honorable and pain-free death at the right time. The hardest part of the deal for sure, but the most important part in my view.
Edit: sorry for the soapbox thing. It wasn’t called for here by any means. It is something I feel very strongly about and I got carried away.
Can sympathize with how you feel. Our doc “Mac” broke his Anterior cruciate ligament (same thing that takes football players off the field and puts them in the used car lot). Was limping, put no weight on the foot and was in pain when you touched it.
One look into those dammed brown eyes of his and the wife and I loaded a couple bales of credit cards and had surgery performed. After that, came the physical therapy for 6 weeks. He made a complete recovery, and the only sign of any damage at all is that he sits with his left leg sticking out.
(Had a dog that broke her leg and after surgery, sat with leg sticking out. She had puppies and they all sat the same way.)
Hope all goes well. Sounds like option 3 is best bet. Your cat is not in pain, is mobile, and seems to be able to (with small limitations) to do what cats do. Surgery is very expensive, your pet will hurt after it is over and we opted for it only because the animals would have been hurting or crippled if we had’nt. Best of luck
We lost our 11 year old Newf recently, and he lived with bad hips damn near his whole life. Hip dysplasia is horrifically common in giant breeds, and Angus’ hip were 100% out of socket for most of his life. However, we went through hip replacement surgery with another Newf and… it was bad. I swore I wouldn’t do it again, so we didn’t.
Angus also blew out his ACL a few years back, but aside from a bit of a limp, he made do. Scar tissue forms around the problem joints and almost creates a new socket (hips). There was a study of this in German Shepherds a few years ago but I have no link.
Long story short? Do what is best for the animal, not you. What I mean is, don’t let your emotions overwhelm your common sense. Use your vet as a resource, and feel free to get multiple opinions if you’re unsure.
My friend did this for her kitten. It was quite successful. She’s now a big beautiful cat. You should be aware, though, that the cat will likely get arthritis in the joint eventually.