Cat started limping this afternoon

[alfiethekittycat]

Hi I am the owner of a wonderfull male 5 year old cat called Alfie, He came in this aftenoon after being in the garden for only 20 minutes or so limping, it seems to be the front left leg/paw that is the problem,
No visible signs of injury and not swollen, He is happy to let us examine it although he does look sad ( I think so anyway)
Not sure if I should contact out of hours vet, what with it being a sunday, obviously this would cost alot more than going tomorrow which i cannot afford but if I have to then so be it,
Just wondered if anyone else had experienced this with their cat, Ive looked online and it could possibly be a sprain but not sure if he needs immediate vet help, If it was one of my kids at least they could tell me what happened.

My cat was limping and I phoned the Sunday vet in tears and panic. Took her in the next day, no appointments but the lovely receptionist just said come. Given some tablets for her. I think it was a mixture or her arthritis and being asleep for so long she had seized up a bit.

HTH.

Thank you for your reply coventgarden How old was your cat?
Alfie is only 5 so hopefully not arthritis just yet.
I just feel so helpless, he is under my sons bed asleep at the moment, he has been there most of the afternoon although did come down for some water at which time we examined him again,

She is nearly 16 .

My kitten(when she was around 5-6 months) used to do this all the time.
Front paws(left and right),back paws after the first time they used to get better by themselves after a week, god only know's what she used to do.

To be honest I am hoping it is just a sprain, maybe he landed funny when jumping off the garden table, Just not sure how long to leave it before taking him to the vets, Ive read stuff on sites that say a sprain will heal itself and sometimes taking them to the vets if you dont have to can be very distressing for the cat, He defo doesn't like the vets and has to have a towel put over him when he has his yearly injections, although he is a very placid cat at home.
He has just eaten and is now sitting on the kitchen table looking very sorry for himself,
Guess i'll just see how he is in the morning,

If he is not too distressed and otherwise doing reasonably well he will be fine to leave until tomorrow and see the vet then. High on the list of possible causes would be a cat bite on his leg or foot - they can be quite hard to see though. If this is the case he will probably need antibiotics from the vet to stop it becoming an abscess.

Thankyou for your comment beautifulgirls
I do not think it is a cat bite as he was alone in my garden, very rarely see any other cats nearby and on the odd occasion they have ventured into my garden Alfie makes a very loud noise and I was in the kitchen the whole time,

He is still limping and holding his paw slightly up when sitting although not as much as earlier I don't think, he has just been padding on me which he has always done ever since we got him as a kitten, I usually try to distract him from this as he is a big boy now and sometimes it can hurt but let him this time, He was using both paws to do this and didnt seem in too much discomfort,

I will see what tomorrow brings,

Hi Thankfully Alfies limp has got better day by day, seems that it was just a sprain or twisted foot, gonna let him out tomorrow, he is desperate to get out but wanted to make sure all was ok first,