Cat has a limp

[R11zz]

My cat has had a swollen paw and significant limp for a few weeks. There is no sign of injury. The vet gave her antibiotics and the swelling reduced however she is still limping. Does anyone have any ideas what maybe wrong with her. She is eating and going to the toilet fine. It’s just the paw. Her temperature was normal aswell.

What's swollen?

The pad of the paw and a little bit of the leg.

Has she not had any x-rays to check for a break or fracture?

Sounds like vet diagnosed an abscess. My cat has had an abscess for few weeks, it comes & goes. Why not phone the vet who has examined cat to ask for further advice?

I’d always seek further vet advice in a case of no improvement.

Does she have something stuck in the pad? My cat use to get this and it was always from something small from the garden normally stuck in the pad that would then get infected and cause an abscess that would have to be drained not just antibiotics xx

You should definitely go back to the vet as it has not resolved. Cats try and mask pain so the pain will likely be significant if your cat is noticeably limping.

The vet didn’t want to X-ray her. He seemed to think the antibiotics would work. Unfortunately there is no noticeable injury and her pad is unmarked. The vet doesn’t seem overly concerned. We phoned yesterday to say the antibiotics brought some swelling down he thought maybe muscle damage and it would take a while to heal. I just don’t know whether to wait or to force for more investigation?

Change vets?

I would potentially look for a second opinion for a different vet, from my own experience 1 vet said my cat had pulled a muscle, nothing was helping so took her to a different vet where they saw immediately a large lump on her elbow. If you're worried take cat elsewhere x

You could ask for a second opinion within your practice if you’re concerned. Sometimes things hidden by the swelling can become obvious when the swelling has gone down and sometimes things can appear over time. If there is ligament strain then it can take longer than a break to heal but the biggest thing is that you have confidence in your vets. I’m sure they would look again if you were worried.

iirc, the cat needs a strong anesthetic (risky, expensive) to take an xray (expensive, some risk), and broken bones tend to give stronger indications they are broken not just an infection, so if it presents like an abscess, treating it as an abscess makes huge sense. This is how medicine works, for people or animals: 95% of problems are one of 5% possible common diagnoses, so start with the strongest indication what it is likely to be & time will tell if it was correct diagnosis.

I need to phone vet now about my own cat's abscess.
Last time cat had abscess, they gave him a single injection which was like ruddy magic.

Thanks for your replies. Her paw is still swollen and the back of her leg too. She is currently sunbathing and doesn’t react at all when I touch her paw. I think we may have to ask for a second opinion because she doesn’t have an abscess.

She really needs an x-ray if she's not responding to treatment.