Cat with broken pelvis - recovery time?

[Blogdog]

Our poor little cat was hit by a car on Christmas Eve and has broken her pelvis. She is currently in our local pet hospital and they are taking it day by day.

Have any mumsnetters experience of this? Just wondering how long she is likely to be in hospital and what the recovery is likely to be when she gets home. She is young (just over a year old) and was healthy before the accident.

my neighbour’s cat was hit by a car and I found him with a broken pelvis. He was in the vets for a while and crated for a short time when he came home. He took weeks to recover rather than months.
However, it did affect his speed I think, and when he started going out again he was hit by another car and killed. It was very upsetting, a beautiful young cat, so I would think seriously about keeping your cat indoors once she recovers, as she may not have quite the speed and movement that she had before, and that could be critical when navigating road.

I'm a vet and it totally depends on the exact location and type of fracture. Have you been told it should heal well with conservative treatment or wete you advised to have it repaired surgically but couldn't afford it/aren't insured?

Mine was stuck in a dog crate for making it impossible for her to climb or jump for weeks. Maybe 6-8? The vet was going to put her down but she managed to go to the toilet. She got a reprieve and she lived for many, many years after.

Thanks everyone.

@Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr they have told us that they don’t think it needs surgery although they seem to be adopting a bit of a wait and see approach and it sounds like it is crazy busy there at the moment as it is the only out of hours service in our area and most vets are closed for Christmas. It’s been very hard to get clear information. They’ve said she’s in a lot of pain at the moment so they have her on methadone and want the swelling to reduce for now. We have insurance so that’s not a problem, we just want her to have the best treatment possible.

@SirVixofVixHall yes I think you’re right re keeping her indoors as the road we live near is very busy. She loves going out though and is well known in the neighbourhood so it will be hard. I’d hate for her to get hurt again though.

@MugginsOverEre that’s really helpful, thank you. She won’t like being crated but whatever it takes…

@ToriCostner I’m so sorry to hear that, your poor cat. Is she in much pain?

Well the good news is in that our case our cat healed really well and is back to herself nine months on. We were advised initially by the head of our vet practice (lovely but old school) to just take her home and crate her for a few weeks and she should heal ok however she was in a lot of pain and it was really difficult to watch her dragging her leg behind her to get to her drinking bowl.

After a day or so of having her home she suddenly became very poorly and I took her back into the vet’s - they were worried she had some internal bleeding but the scan was clear. The vet on duty that day was much younger and said in her opinion we really should consider surgery so we went to a specialist pet hospital and they operated to set her hip.

Within 24 hours of the surgery she was like a different cat - still in a lot of pain but could bear some weight on her leg and was much brighter. We had to crate her for six weeks (which she hated) and maxed out our pet insurance but honestly it was well worth it - she is now as if nothing ever happened - has full mobility and can reach 60mph (or at least it seems) if she spots a mouse in the vicinity.

Have you been given a treatment plan for your cat? I hope she is in good hands and will be back to herself soon.

@ToriCostner Do you mean urine or faeces? If he has gone more than 12 hours without passing urine, he MUST be checked by a vet to see how full his bladder is.

If you mean faeces, then that can wait a couple of days, then again, he must be checked for possible constipation.

@ToriCostner how is your cat today? Hope he has managed to pass urine/have a bowel movement.

@ToriCostner is it not possible to get some help with vets bills? here I think the blue cross / rspca help those on a low income with treatment at their centres. I had a cat who broke his hip/leg and needed surgery but he did go onto make a good recovery.

I’ll have my fingers crossed for you. Hope there is good news tomorrow.

@ToriCostner how did the visit to the vet go yesterday?

I totally understand the helpless feeling x

@ToriCostner wonderful news!!! I’m so happy for you both. Hopefully he’s turned a corner now and will be back to himself in no time. My own vet says it’s incredible how well cats can heal (and my own little cat is proof!). So hopefully it will all be good news from here on.

Super news! Keep us posted on his progress :)