Cat Hit By A Car

[TheCatsBlanket]

On Wednesday morning, my cat was hit by a car, he survived thank god, but has a broken jaw and two missing teeth which were obviously knocked out by the impact. We took him to the vets as soon as he found his way home, and they operated immediately. Has anyone else been in this situation, and if so did your cat make a full recovery? I know it's only a short time since he was injured, but I can't stop worrying that he might be brain damaged or just not be the same cat as he was previously. He's eating little amounts and drinking too, but has been sleeping all day and night. He has a check with the vet this coming Monday and I'm sure they'll answer all my questions but until then, I suppose I'm looking for some reassurance from others who've been in the situation.

My cat had wire in his jaw. He need a GA to have it removed!

We also had to keep the sticky out bit clean. Did it look like this?

What if your cat has swallowed it? Should they X-ray him to check?

I'd definitely be demanding better answers.

Do you have pet insurance? A lot of the insurance comes with access to a vet helpline, could you ask them for advice?

@musicalfrog

Can you get a second opinion from another vet?

I have an appointment with the clinical lead vet on Friday morning, she is off until then. If i get no joy, I will definitely seek a second opinion from another vet.

@SciFiScream

My cat had wire in his jaw. He need a GA to have it removed!

We also had to keep the sticky out bit clean. Did it look like this?

What if your cat has swallowed it? Should they X-ray him to check?

I'd definitely be demanding better answers.

The 'sticky out' bit I only noticed by accident the day after the operation as it was so small - no bigger than something between a pin head and match head. I wasnt advised to keep it clean.
I can't imagine he would swallow it, how would it even go down without a struggle? If anything he'd have spat it out and I'd have found it on his blanket but there's nothing near where he's been sleeping 23.5 hours each day.
I will be demanding, in a firm non hysterical way, on Friday when i have appt with head honcho

@thereinmadnesslies

Do you have pet insurance? A lot of the insurance comes with access to a vet helpline, could you ask them for advice?

No, I don't have pet insurance the cost per month would be about £70 for all 3 The cost of the operation isn't the issue, it's that I believe the orig wire must have been far too loose and has somehow come out, so I think they ought to rectify this at their expense. I cant imagine a cat already in pain would rip out a taught wire, through his skin without some sort of evidence on his mouth

@TheCatsBlanket my cat was run over earlier this year. Weeks upon weeks of cage rest after two operations but touch wood is as good as new now.

Hope the meeting with the head vet goes well today

@thereinmadnesslies the appt with head vet is Friday 30th at 10.15....I hope to get a positive outcome, and keep going over in my head what to say.

Good luck today OP

The update is as follows....Nice lady head vet actually looked in the cats mouth and said "the wire IS still there, look" so I put my glasses on and sure enough, could see a thin wire behind the cats lower canines, and under his tongue. She couldn't see the sticky out, nubbin bit, under his chin though, as it's really small and also is obscured by his fur - she could however, feel it.

The obviously stupid, and not very good locum vet that I met with on Monday, clearly needs to have some sort of refresher course because I have spent the last 3 days asking people on MN and elsewhere if they've ever been in similar situation, Googling "how does a wire come out of place" etc etc, and also being very concerned that poor Puss's jaw isn't going to heal, when all along the wire was in place.

I know it's not an easy thing to see (now that I have seen how inconspicuous it is) and I certainly wasn't going to try poking around in the cat's mouth, but the vet should have known what to look/feel for.

Anyway, I am relieved that there won't need to be another operation, and that I don't need to fight for a refund etc and now we're back to "the wire will remain in place 4-6 weeks"

What a faff though, I think they need to send locum vet to Specsavers.

one of my rescue cats was relinquished to rescue because of a similar accident that the previous owners couldnt afford the vet bills for. Hes absolutely fine and a brilliant cat. He is very much a homebody though and i do wonder if hes slightly brain damaged as he is really quirky and not scared of anything

That's a relief OP. I really couldn't understand how the wire would have come out. I'm glad it's still there.

Did they not shave the chin of moggie? As you can see from my photo My cat has his chin shaved. The other bald bit is injury from being hit by the car. Took ages for his whiskers to grow in again.

Anyway having the chin shaved helped me see the wire sticking out.

Good healing to your cat.

Phew that’s good news, sorry you had to go through all that stress. Hopefully you can make sure that the follow up appointment is with the head vet not the locum.

How's he doing OP? Hoping he's over the worst of it.