Cat injured but not broken leg, what to do?

[Traalaa]

Our cat has hurt his right front leg. He's clearly not in huge amounts of pain, but is limping and reluctant to put his weight on it. No visible sign of injury, but I think he's hurt somewhere above the knee joint. When it first happened he slept on his chair and didn't go far. In a day he was putting weight back on it and a lot happier, then a day later back to his old self, no sign of a limp and running around. Then another day on, he came in limping again. So clearly not broken, but strained, twisted, or maybe a muscle pulled. What do we do??

We thought keeping him in to give it time to heal best so shut the cat flap. In spite of putting the old litter tray out, showing him where it was, the poor thing's just wee'd all over his cushion. It feels cruel keeping him in, but is that the kindest? We haven't taken him to the vets yet, as it's obviously not broken, so not too sure what they could do for him.

Take the poor animal to the vets.

And it is possible that it is broken, it isn't always obvious without an x-ray.

Take the poor thing to the vets, if it's not broken (which it still could be) he might still need treatment or pain relief.

Take it to the vet. Poor thing is in pain. If he's limping and reluctant to put weight on it then he is in pain.

The vet can checknitndefinitelynisnt broken. They can check for torn ligaments. They can check it isn't infected.

They can give an injection of pain relief which will last several days, and give you pain relief drops until it's better. They can give antibiotics if needed. Cast it if it is broken, wrap it if it's sprained, lance it if there's an infection - if it's a cat bite then often there's a deep wound with no visible sign outside, but it can fill with pus and need draining.

Cats are extremely good at hiding minor injuries. Please get it checked out properly.

Cats hide pain very well so they might not appear to be in much pain to us. Please take him to the vets.

Pretty obviously you need to take it to the vet so that pain relief can be given. You say you don't want to be cruel but knowingly letting it suffer pain is cruel, its practically the definition of cruel. Why would you think posting here is likely to get you better advice than seeing a professional?

You are being cruel not taking an animal that is clearly in pain to a vet. How do you know that the leg is not broken, cat's are very good at hiding how injured they really are.

What everyone else said!

Our cat was limping but had no visible injuries - we waited a couple of days and it didn't get better so we took him to the vet. They confirmed there was no break or infection and gave him painkillers. Also prescribed a week of rest (i.e. keep him indoors) - although we felt cruel keeping him in, it was for his own good! And he managed to escape a few times anyway.

I won't repeat what's already been said. I just wanted to add that weeing in strange places (like his cushion) can be a sign of distress, so he may well be more injured than you think. Also, there is actually quite a lot a vet can do in terms of pain relief, physical examination and x-rays if necessary.

Crikey! Please believe me when I say that we adore our cat and really would never let him suffer. I'm assuming his leg isn't broken because he's clearly not in pain (leapt on the table today and ate my yoghurt, so clearly not a lot wrong...!) I would have taken him straight to the vets if I thought he was in pain but as I put in my post, after a day of limping he was fine again and running around like a kitten. The relapses are troubling, so clearly on balance it's not something that's going to fix itself and we will take him to the vets. Thanks for quick responses. We will take him to the vet.

If he's limping and reluctant to put his weight on it, he is in pain.

Cats are good at hiding pain/illness so you don't ignore symptoms.

Emma, I do get that, but if he rests/ stays in after a day he's stopped limping and walking around as if nothing's wrong. This morning even with the limp he leapt up onto the table eat my yoghurt and was playing with DS, including biffing him with the leg he's hurt. So yes there is clearly something amiss, but I honestly don't think he's too bad. My slight reluctance to take him to the vets is purely because he gets so upset on the way. It's traumatic for him to go in the car - he yowls, shakes, etc, etc. I'm trying to balance that with the injury. I'm honestly not cruel. I adore him!

Cats are really, really good at covering up pain. My own boy must have gone through a few years - with my mother - with teeth rotting out in his head and yet you'd never have known it. (And if you've ever had bad toothache, you'll know what that must have meant.)

If in the very slightest doubt, you're best to vet, even if the cat is not keen on going.

Good luck when you go.

Thanks Cozie. Your poor cat. Toothache is indeed horrid. I'm just waiting for the vets to ring me back.

Hope vet gets to the bottom of it and he is sorted out soon.

Glad you're taking him to the vet. Cats are so good at hiding pain. It's in their nature because they're predators, so they know the sick/weak get picked off first.

He's probably peeing where he shouldn't because he's finding it painful to manoeuvre himself into his tray.

Poor SB, cozie. Perfect example of how adept cats are at hiding pain. I once had a friend tell me labour/giving birth was less painful than the tooth-ache she'd experienced.

Actually, Cozie you've done me a favour as I'll ask the vet to check his teeth at the same time!

RubbishM, I think the peeing was more of a protest rather than pain as he was playing in the litter tray earlier...

I wonder what caused his limp?

I had a cat who limped very briefly. I am sure it was only because I saw him hit by a car that I looked him over so carefully as when I saw him later there was nothing to be seen. But it bust his jaw and front leg amd broke two of his front teeth and lost two of the tiny front teeth in the top row. I took him to vet who said nothing broken and all finee no treatment! So was relieved but struggled to belive he could be ok just because he wasnt limping and just felt I was wasting vet time and being over precious. Still worried I took to another vet two days afyer that who could feel the swelling starting around the bones. Confirmed broken leg/jaw gave AB's andpain relief advising to keep in for another week or so.
Cats are a law unto themselves!

My cat was limping and sometimes his leg seemed better than others. It turned out he had puncture wounds (probably from his brother!) on his leg which we hadn't noticed and he had got an infection in his joint. Took a long time to clear up and cost us a lot of money (luckily he was insured). I think you are right to take him to the vet. Our boy never showed he was in any pain but vet said he most certainly would have been and we had to give him pain meds for a couple of weeks.

How did you get on with the vet?

Thanks for asking, Natty. The vet wasn't a lot of use in many ways as her view was the same as ours - i.e. not much wrong, definitely not broken. She suggested doing what we're already doing, so keeping him in for a few days to see if that helps. In the end she gave him an injection for the pain, but she said he's clearly not in a lot of pain (he let her examine his leg without stressing). If he's not better next week, she said bring him back and they'll do an x-ray.

Frustrating! Hope he's better now