My cat has been hit by a car and in the emegency vets overnight

[Toocold]

I am so sad, my poor cat went out from 4pm-8pm, I tried to get her in way before then due to fireworks and no luck, went to pick up dh, and dc's from swimming and found her howling on the door step, took her straight to the emergency vet, she has a fractured jaw, is missing teeth and possibly brain swelling, I am so upset, she has a cat flap and we try and keep her in at night, the one time she didn't come back and this happens, we live in a quiet village. A neighbouring garden had fireworks when she was out, I am guessing she ran in front of a car scared trying to get home. The vet will ring in the night in need be, but at 7am otherwise. I am not sure why I am posting, feel I need others like me will understand how awful it is.

Yay she's home! That's such good news.
And deep down you know it's a good sign that she's dishing the filthy looks already...

Brilliant news that she's home
Hoping the good progress continues

Very pleased she's home, Toocold. That will be as good as any physic for her.

It is fantastic she is home, we have had one vet visit this morning and have to go back to another this afternoon as the receptionist mucked up and sent us to the normal vets (they tried to call but we had just arrived as we live 20 mins away) so back to the vet hospital this afternoon to check her tube and change her bandage. She has licked her lips but not eaten anything yet at the offer of tuna, will try cheese and marmite later. She has been up the stairs whilst my back was turned and whilst she is dragging her back legs a bit she managed that, she is shut in the living room at all times (bar the stair incident) and all corners and underneath things are blocked!

She is more with it today and looks less dopey, they have given extra antibiotics as she has terrible breath indicating the start of an infection. I have arranged for the dc's to be at friends after school, tomorrow we will be in for a tiny bit before karate and then the weekend my mum is still coming to cat sit as we were meant to be away, thankfully locally so depending on the situation I will be back and forth, my lovely mum has said she will take over for a bit to give me a break. We had so many animals growing up and she rescued hedgehogs and grass snakes so even if I just go for a few hours Toocoldkitten will be in good hands and give her time to recover away from noisy children.

I apologise for my terrible grammar, I am very tired and this is a bit like my stream of thoughts!

No apologies necessary - you must be shattered with all that's happened on top of everyday living.

Is she still on pain meds? Oh - and has she used her tray at all since she returned?

She is just on Metcam, and in addition to that has eye drops, and two lots of antibiotics.

She went for a wee in her litter tray this morning, she headed for the front door when she first got up as she usually hides under the trees in our front garden for her morning wee, obviously it will be a while before she does that.

She is currently dozing on a blanket on the sofa and I am trying to be as quiet a possible, I need the laptop charger but it is in there, shall have a hunt around the rest of the house first. Funny the things we do to keep our cats happy.

Sounds better- but I wouldn't feel the need to be too too wary if I were you. I've always found cats to be much reassured by normal household activities going on. (Although I'd probably hold back from heavy hoovering if they disliked it or DIY banging etc.)

We have been back to the vets, the tube has been removed, they are allowing her 48 hours to eat, if she does then just weekly check ups if she doesn't then readmitted to be fed via tube again I assume, poor thing. I am hoping once she is acclimatised to be home and no vet trips tom she will eat. I have to syringe in her medication, not looking forward to that.

Cozie, I hovered yesterday before she came home and cleaned the house in preparation. I am unsure whether to let her have the run of the house like normal now the tube is out or whether to keep her in the living room?, I think it will normalise things for her if she does but worried I won't be able to reach her under any beds to do medication!

hoovered not hovered..though I have done a lot of helicopter kittening!

Is she showing any signs of wanting to roam the house?

Yes she has, she wants to leave the living room, well did earlier, was miaowing at the closed door, fast asleep on a cushion on the living room floor at the moment.

It's a difficult one. I appreciate that you won't want to haul her out from somewhere if she goes to ground (How often will you have to give the meds?) but on the other hand, she's been through a lot, she's been in a place where there were (presumably) at least the smells of other animals and she might want to reassure herself that Home is still Home. (Have a good explore of the place.)

You know her best, I think.

One thing I would do, though, is be careful to establish safe places for her - ie rooms where she's not going to be given meds or hauled out by her scruff.

I think, on balance, I'd let her explore if she wants to if only to let her satisfy herself that things are still OK in the house - and see how that goes.

Your call, I'm afraid. (And others posters may have different views.)

Cozie, I hadn't thought of it that way, wanting to reassure herself, brilliant advice thanks. She just needs three lots of medicines but can be done 15 mins apart this eve so will do that and then let her roam. Thanks again

Glad to hear she is wanting to potter around, that has to be a good sign.

My cats have always gone off their food if they've been messed around with, so maybe once she's feeling more settled she'll get her appetite back.

Well she slept under and on my daughters bed last night and then saw me and scarpered she was grooming herself last night and seemed quite content but then I had to try and get medicine in and she hissed a lot and was not pleased.

She has licked a tiny amount of cream this morning from a bowl under my bed, I will now probably forget it is there and wonder what the hell the smell is. She is refusing to come out from under there at the moment and even if I needed to grab her I couldn't as it is a huge bed. I will leave her be for a few more hours and maybe try fish later.

I don't know what to do for the best as she has clearly had enough of being messed about with but I can't get any medicine into her at the moment. My head is telling me to leave her be as like timtams cats she loses her appetite when messed about with and I really don't want to cause her any more trauma by trying to syringe medicine into her throat, it mostly went over her face as I can't hold her jaw and it was hit and miss when she hissed. I am thinking she no longer smells (I suspect that was the tube) and seems comfortable so should leave it until this evening at the earliest, what do you all think?

I'd leave her and get on with things - but what are the timings of the meds? (Some them have to be fairly precise.)

There isn't an exact time, two lots of antibiotics just twice daily and one lot of anti inflammatory which she has almost finished the course of. I can imagine she doesn't have an appetite, I wouldn't with a sore jaw and just had a tube removed, she last had a feed at 2pm yesterday so I would hope she'd eat a little by tomorrow morning.

The vet initially said bring her back Sat if she doesn't eat, then changed it to Fri as Sat is emergency vet, I am tempted to just pay Sat if need be, can claim it back via insurance, in the hope she'd be really hungry by then!, but have already spend a huge huge amount that'll take goodness knows how long to come back but at the same time do not want to distress her further.

This is all a massive learning curve.

Anti inflammatory is once a day and she had it last night...well we attempted to in between hissing.

If you eat meat, how about an end of week roast? Fresh and moist roast chicken often does it and I've found that Seniorboy would almost kill for some roast lamb. (Meat cut up fine and doused in a great amount of plain roasting juices. (You do the roast in foil, forego gravy for yourself, and collect and skim the juices at the bottom of the foil. I even put some juices down in the freezer for appetite titivation - it's the nearest thing you can get to beef broth these days.)

As to the meds? You'll just have to get her and do it. I'd still recommend that you do it in a place that doesn't matter to her though - eg not the kitchen or the bedroom. They have long memories.)

Are you mushing food up for her? And warming it up a bit helps to bring out the lovely aromas (ahem), which might pique her appetite.

Getting meds in is a nightmare sometimes. Not sure if the jaw prevents this or you're already doing it this way, but this worked (tolerably well) for us with a cat who was very, very fed up with being poked and prodded (this also only applies if it's via syringe):

• Get her on a flat soft surface with a towel on it. We used the couch or the bed.

• Keep her the right way up (ie belly on the ground), you can put a towel over her and burrito her up a bit if that helps, but keep her head sticking out.

• Try to stay very very calm (this, ime, is the hardest part).

• With your syringe hand, approach from behind so she doesn't see it coming as much, and get level with the side of her face. You'll still have to hold her still but I found it easier when they're in a semi comfortable and normal position.

• Without using your hand to touch her jaw, just use the end of the syringe to find the gap in her mouth just behind her top fang - it exists even when their mouths are clamped shut, but does take practise to get good at finding it. You don't need to poke the syringe through the gap too far - I find it easiest to find the fang, then move along, you'll feel the empty space, just nudge in there.

• Angle the syringe backwards so it's pointing down her throat. And go!

Thanks all, I don't eat meat but will try anything! she isn't a lover of any type of food except Dreamies. I have to go on the mammoth school run now but will attempt when home, I am hoping she will hear the kids voices and appear, she usually does but I suspect is not keen today.

Have you a supermarket or store nearby that sells hot barbecued chicken? That's normally 'acceptable', cut up fine. (Appreciate that it might be too much for you to cook a joint.)

I am so pleased to tell you all, I put her medication in a bit of tuna brine and tiny bits of tuna in a syringe and initially she hissed at me and then lapped it up, I put some tiny bits of tuna and brine on her leg whilst she was grooming and she ate some little bits and licked the rest. I know tuna brine is not the greatest for cats but right now I will try anything. I have a real aversion to fish makes me gag, but I love her so much I just got on with it. I am so, so pleased.

She has also let me clean her neck wound with salt water and groomed herself at the same time.

Thank you again for all of your help. I will keep you updated.

Glad to read she has eaten something, hopefully she will be on the mend now.