Henry (the cat) is about 3 years old. About a week and a half ago, we can home to find him limping around the house, only using 3 legs and not his right back leg. He didn’t seem to be in pain, so I picked him up, checked his paw for anything strange, and put him back down. He walked off without the limp, using all four paws. This happened the next day as well.
Last Monday (a week ago) he started limping again, but this time he looked like he was in pain. He acted scared and refused to put any weight on his back leg. So we loaded him into his carrier and took him to the vet. We dumped him out of his crate, and he walked around the vet’s office without a limp (of course). The vet poked and prodded his leg for a while, and told us that he may have strained a muscle, and we should give him some drugs to reduce any swelling and keep him from jumping around too much. So we did, and everything was good. The vet also mentioned that Henry was the softest cat in the world (or something like that). The last time he went to the vet, a different doctor said he was “perfect.” He’s a good guy.
Last night, I got home and he was limping again, but he didn’t look that scared. He was just walking around on 3 legs. I picked him up and cradled him on his back (with his belly up) so I could look at his paws. My right hand was under his butt, and his back was on my right arm. Using my left hand, I extended his hurt leg and I felt a very noticeable “pop” in his hip with my right hand. It felt like he had a dislocated joint and I just popped it back in. He didn’t act like I had hurt him, and when I put him down he walked away on all four legs like nothing happened.
I’ve done a lot of reading since then about Hip Dysplasia, but Henry doesn’t seem to have anything that is that severe. I guess we’re going to take him back to the vet, but I’d like to hear any advice people may have about this situation, what questions I should ask the vet, or anything else.
Thanks.