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Cat RTA - first 48h after surgery

3 replies

BotBotticelli · 08/07/2022 19:04

My lovely little cat (18 month old black male, our lockdown baby lol) was hit by a car on Weds night, came home dragging his hind legs on Weds AM. X ray showed femur completely snapped in two, right up by the hip joint. Vet operated on Thursday (femeral head ostectomy - -Google it!) to remove the ball from the ball-and-socket joint in his hip completely. Sent him home in the afternoon with a massive scar, a cone and 2 types of painkillers, and an order to be in cage rest for 4 weeks but to get him out several times per day for gentle walking round the room, no jumping.

last night he was quite perky, walked around a bit, ate some wet food and some mackerel with tablets hid inside. Did a couple of wees and slept in his cage all night. This morning he came out the cage in his own accord for food. Ate half a packet of wet food, then went back to sleep.

since then he’s barely moved at all. Won’t stir even for his favourite treat foods. Won’t eat anything. Asleep all day. We have taken to syringing water into his mouth as I am worried about hydration. He’s had his 2 gabapentin pills today which could be making him sleepy (I called then vet and that’s what he said). No idea how to give him his daily dose of Metacam painkiller tonight as it says only with food and he won’t eat anything.

I know he’s had major surgery and I guess a lot of sleeping is to be expected. Does this tally with anyone else’s experience of a cat who’s been hit by a car and had a major opp?

i have held an appt at the vets in the morning in case he doesn’t perk up overnight.

he purrs if we scratch his head or kiss him. And he’s breathing regularly. Just asleep.

OP posts:
Toddlerteaplease · 08/07/2022 20:32

We do this surgery on kids. It's massive. They have a epidural! He could well be aneamic as femurs bleed a lot. Might be worth seeing if he needs an iron supplement.

Sunshine288 · 19/08/2022 23:11

Hi @BotBotticelli hope your baby is recovering well!! Our ginger boy Leo had the same op a couple of days ago. Although his was to fix a problem with his hip which he was apparently born with but we have only recently noticed he started limping (he’s about 18 months too). Just wondering how the recovery process went?

On day 2 of crate rest and seems to be going okay so far (mainly sleeping). Interestingly we haven’t been told to let him out the crate to walk around so that is something I’m going to ask the vet about!

nettie434 · 20/08/2022 00:25

My friends' cat had that operation after he was also hit by a car. They were very worried about him being in a cage as he is a very determined cat who spends a lot of time outdoors. He definitely was surprisingly compliant and rested and slept a lot for the first couple of weeks. It was different once he began to heal and tried to get out of the cage! He had to be on complete cage rest for 6 weeks as he had a fractured pelvis too.

This all happened about 5 years ago. Now I don't think anyone would ever guess what he went through. He's even made it to being a 'senior cat' (7+).

It's good that you've got a vet's appointment on hold but, fingers crossed, this is just your cat recovering from a major operation.

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