Cat with a broken leg

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This morning Whiskers hobbled in after a tense night waiting for him to come home. Rushed him to the vet. As soon as she examined him she deduced a fracture due to having been caught. (which is in hand as far as legalities are concerned, the man down the track from me was only recently found guilty of trapping and killing feral cats in the area, the charity who took action against him have been informed by my vet and are going to go back down there to see if this time too he has left an abundance of evidence against him lying around).

That was this morning, since then Whiskers has been installed in an anteroom away from the other cats, with his leg in a special bandage, under strict orders to stay indoors for a month.

Is it normal for him to be rolling around and howling at his leg ? He is all purry and calm when I stroke him, but the second he tries to get up and move to another bit of floor he flops all over the place (even if he doesn't actually put weight on his leg), yells his head off and tries to bite the bandaged leg.

Is that par for the course ? Is it less pain and more the upset of his leg (as far as he is concerned) being trapped in alien "stuff" ?

I may be over reacting because it is distressing to watch and we are all upset because of the injury as well as the manner in which it was caused, but it would be really nice to hear from people who have dealt with this before to get some idea what sort of behaviors I can expect in a pastoral, as well as medical sort of way.

sorry that should say "caught in a trap".

Poor baby! withought knowing exactly what has happened to him today its hard to say im afraid. it does sound like a pain response but....

did the vets knock him out to xray & bandage his leg? it could be a bit of a reaction to the anesthetic drugs making him feel out of it (hence why he calms down when you stroke him)

what have the vets given him in the way of pain relief? when is his next dose due?

have a quick check of the bandage if he will let you, make sure its not too tight on his leg, are his toes sticking out? are they swollen?

if you are still worried i would ring your vet and ask if there is anything more in the way of pain relief he could have to settle him.

sending good healing vibes his way.x

mad4mainecoons

Yes ! He was given a sedative, for the examination and xray , and then an anti dote once he had been trussed up.

She hasn't given him pain relief, I did ask, but because he is such a lively (some would say daredevil) cat she wants him to be aware of the pain to keep him off his leg. His treatment plan is antibiotics, kitten food (because of the higher protein and minerals that help heal bones), TLC and a return to the vet if he hasn't peed by morning.

I have to check his pads which are poking out to check for circulation, so far they look fine.

I wish I could call my vet, but she's shut. I'm calling first thing though. She is fairly used to me being more of a wuss than her other clients so she's probably expecting it.

Unless he hasn't peed by the am, in which case I'll be camping out in front of the studio to be first in the queue when she arrives tomorrow morning. In a flap.

Well it looks like it is "my leg is covered in alien stuff" angst rather than pain.

This morning I can that when he tries to move he ends up rolling\falling over, flopping around, glowering at his leg and shouting at the bandage, but it looks far more like "I'm cross" rather than pain.

Really hope he gets used to it soon because he has at least a month of this ahead of him and I'd hate for it to be traumatic and bandage phobia inducing for the full time of treatment.

Now steeling myself to convince him to take his antibiotics. Am making soothing noises to myself about the lack of need to have skin on the back of my hands.

how is he today? have you managed to get the antibiotics down him hands still intact?

it may be an idea to see if you can borrow a puppy cage for him, this will help keep him contained, its what we often reccomend when sending cats with fractures home.

i see her point about withholding pain relief to make him rest (but tbh its a pretty old fashioned view) and if you confined him to a cage (or even just one room) then he would be resting. but poor chap! he has a broken leg fgs! even with a support bandage that will hurt! hissing at the leg is very commonly a sign of pain. i would at least discuss it when you next get him checked over.

but he is your cat you know him best, just try to think up some ways to keep his mind active while his leg heals.

Antibiotics down no problem, thankfully she appears to have prescribed special tasty ones.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear her views are old fashioned, she is lovely and very thorough, the best vet I have ever in terms of careful diagnosis and fabby bedside manner, but we are in a very rural corner of Italy and I don't doubt some things haven't caught on yet.

He is less cross at the leg now, the angst is very much focused on trying to chew the bandage off, but I'll give her another ring and broach the question of pain relief again. Cos I really would prefer if the edge at least were taken off, he is already trapped in a small room inside instead of being outside and playing. Cat Nip does not appear to have traveled over the alps yet so I can't even provide a deeply interesting mouse to help take his mind off his sore bits and boredom.

I think the big cage sounds like a good idea, I have found him off his blanket seven times and I don't know if he is choosing to lie on cold tiles on purpose, or just trying to move and then being unable to get back to the bed. If he were in a big cage he could at least come downstairs without me worrying that the other cats might accidentally hurt him by trying to play with him. That way he'd have company and not be so lonely.

I just know once the antibiotics kick in and the pain eases off he is going to have a very strong opinion on this month inside business. He is very much a Kevin age and attitude wise. I am braced for high volume, relentless whinging by the end of next week.

Oh well at least if he can't move much and is on kitten food I can get some meat on his bones, since spring sprang he has been more interesting in charging around chasing mice that getting two square meals a day and is a bit too skinny for my liking.

The kitten food is a big hit, he almost licked the pattern of the plate, so at least he is getting a little joy in his life in some small way ( =