Broken pelvis - restricted to a cage.

[Migsy1]

Advice please! I'm looking after a cat who has been in an RTA and has a broken pelvis. She doesn't seem to have paralysis but she is not eating and drinking right now. This happened about 3 days ago and she was released from vet yesterday. She seemed quite happy this morning but is grumpy since I put her into the cage :(. She is on Metacam painkillers. Any idea how to encourage her to eat/drink. Also, she is so miserable in the cage I'm wondering if it is actually any good for her as she doesn't move around anyway as it is too painful for her to do so. She has used the litter tray 2x since she arrived yesterday but not since this morning. She hasn't had anything to drink since then :(

[Rhubarbgarden]

Could you try tempting her with some tuna?

[Migsy1]

Went to Tesco and got some cat milk. She drank that and then scoffed a load of food :)

[Rhubarbgarden]

Great!

[Migsy1]

She seems more settled today but she yowls when she tries to shift position. It is quite distressing to see. She has had some food. I'm still waiting for her to poo but she has used the litter tray to wee a couple of times.
Poor kitty. Why do people who live on busy roads have cats? So irresponsible.

[cozietoesie]

It sounds as if she's in much pain - maybe give the vet a phone on Monday? She doesn't need to be high as a kite or she'd be bouncing off the walls of the cage but there's a balance to be made between some discomfort which she could put up with and enough pain to prevent her pooing and make her yowl. Perhaps that's not yet been achieved.

[Migsy1]

Thanks, Cozie. She is going back to the vet tomorrow so I will see what he says. I'm giving her Metacam at the moment and the vet did say at the time that that was all they could give. I'll ask again though.

[NorbertDentressangle]

"Why do people who live on busy roads have cats? So irresponsible." - I'm sorry but I'm going to pull you up on that comment. We live on a very quiet road and 5 neighbours cats in as many years have been killed on our road.

It's the driver's who are irresponsible not the cat owners.

Another 2 cats from my various neighbours have been on 'cage-arrest' post RTA - I think the meds they are on can slow their bowel down a bit so she may need something from the vet to help her along.

One of the cats who was on cage-rest was a right lively character normally but was quite miserable in his cage and yowled a lot. I would go and visit him whilst the neighbour was at work to keep him company. He soon livened up again when he was allowed out so no long term effects!

[cozietoesie]

Yes- it's a little difficult to distinguish between a pain yowl and the yowl of pure disgust at being caged. The cat's to be seen again by the vet tomorrow, though, so that's good.

[Whatsforpudding]

When my cat fractured her pelvis she was unable to get into position to poo due to the pain, and didn't go for almost a week. She seemed very miserable and was probably very uncomfortable, but she perked up massively after the vet gave her an enema, and then lactulose to keep things moving.

I would definitely persevere with the cage - it really does work, and they soon forget about it afterwards. I kept mine in place for a few days after she came out, just to use at night, and I often found her asleep in there in the day, even though the door was open - so it couldn't have traumatised her too much.

[Migsy1]

She seems quite settled in the cage now :)