Cat on crate rest

[KittenKaboodle]

Our sweet little DCat has broken her pelvis. She had surgery on Tuesday and came home on Thursday evening. She is on strict crate rest for 6 weeks. She’s young (2 1/2 ish - we don’t know for sure) and very inquisitive and energetic. At the moment she’s just sleeping lots and our main battle is keeping the bloody cone on her, but I think as the weeks go on she is going to be climbing the walls (or the bars). The cage is in our living room, where someone is most of the day, and we are giving her as much gentle attention as we can.

How can we keep her entertained without getting her too excited? Unfortunately we can’t raise the cage up to window height, but we are trying WindowSwap on my iPad (along with HD fishes - cat TV in general winds her up too much). What else can we try? She is a catnip addict but the vet told us to avoid catnip toys while she is healing.

Thanks!

(ps that’s soil on her litter tray - she’s an outdoor cat through and through)

Any suggestions? She managed to escape the cage earlier when my partner leaned in to pet her, and ran round our living room 🤦‍♀️ This is day 4 of 42. Advice greatly appreciated!

No advice, but she's absolutely gorgeous OP!

I wouldn't try too hard to entertain her - let her sleep away as much of her time as possible.

I'll be honest - when mine was on crate rest I let her out just in one room, very closely supervised for up to an hour a day. She was spinning circles in the crate, so it didn't seem any worse to let her wander round a bit. I literally supervised her like a toddler though, and made very sure not to let her jump at all.

And I gave up entirely by 4 weeks when it became apparent she was fine (but I didn't let her outside for more like 3 months because I was so scared she'd jump off a wall/out of a tree!)

I remember with our cat we actually gave up after a couple of weeks. We didn't let her out of the house and we did confine her downstairs, but once she felt better she was getting so stressed and upset in her crate that the vet said she was more likely to do herself more damage if we tried to keep her confined. Have you been told to make sure she doesn't get constipated? We gave ours sardines. Such a sacrifice for her!

We have just done 4 weeks of crate rest followed by 4 weeks confined to a room for one of ours. In some ways the room part was the worst as she was feeling better and scrabbling like mad at the door to come out. When she was in the crate she was on drugs that made her a bit dopey and feeling a bit rough so mostly slept. We gave her lick-e-lix (mixed with drugs) on a lick mat to give her something to do and lots of fusses in the cage.

Thank you! Reassuring to hear that your cats made a good recovery despite them having a different idea of what was best for them than you 😊 It feels like a long road from this point. Love the suggestion of using lick mats - she is very food motivated so that I think that would work really well. And thanks for the sardines tip - we weren’t warned about that but it is an issue and we’ve now been advised to give her lactulose (she’s eating well and wet food). That’s not helped by the fact we’re not sure she’s ever used a litter tray (she grew up in a neighbour’s garden and has steadfastly ignored the one we provided for her before her accident) so she is miaowing plaintively to go out.

Will also cut ourselves some slack. We are very novice cat owners and feel anxious about her being bored or depressed or risking her long term recovery.

Marshie is on week 3 of 12 weeks crate rest following hip replacement surgery. I'll be honest it's hell as times, we're having to give him a sedative on a night or nobody is getting any rest. We've organised work so somebody is always at home with him. Our surgeon was very strict about the need for crate rest or he could damage his new hip. He comes out on a afternoon for cuddles but isn't allowed to walk outside the crate until his first check up next week
It does get easier as they get more used to it, we have bird TV on a tablet but it's not easy at times

@Iamme2023 Oh bless him! Isn’t he gorgeous .. and looking like he is far too important for his present surroundings. I don’t envy you with 12 weeks (though I think we’re looking at 12 including 6 with increasing supervised house access.). Alas madam won’t sit quietly on a lap so her options for getting out the cage are more limited. We have ordered a lightweight puppy playpen (with roof) so that we can move her round the house more easily and give her some different views.

Sending Marshie good wishes for a speedy recovery and getting out of that crate for a walk about next week, and you strength and much 🍷 !

@KittenKaboodle We are lucky that he loves cuddles, he is use to wearing a harness so he has that on when he comes out, just incase he decides to try and run for it. Today he was sat with me for about 2 hours, mostly napping but he now thinks he's better so once he's napped he does try to escape. Hope you find a solution to help keep your dcat occupied and happier soon x

Cat tv on you tube entertained ours a bit on crate rest. And licky mats - kept him a bit occupied with cream/paste treats to lick off.

These things:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/LickiMat-Fish-Shaped-Feeders-Boredom-Reduction/dp/B089DPPHNN/ref=asc_df_B089DPPHNN/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=534969309350&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4020733342435846722&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006756&hvtargid=pla-995722063113&psc=1&mcid=8435c2637c7b3cf1802822e2c4f2db20

My high generation Savannah shattered her back leg in 3 places at the beginning of October last year and had to do 6 weeks crate rest and then 4 weeks room rest. The collar came off after the stitches were removed which helped, and we allowed her out for 5 mins morning and evening with the vets ok. The thing I think she appreciated most was one of those relatively flat cardboard scratching boards. Gave her an opportunity to stretch without putting any pressure on her back legs. That and keeping the crate relatively well covered seemed to help, especially in the first couple of weeks. Totally recovered now and you'd never know anything had ever happened!

We’ve ordered a licky mat and a small cardboard scratcher. She has been so miserable today, poor love. Woke us up at 4am miaowing pitifully and it’s been pretty much the story all day, despite moving her into a different room (with company) and lots of fussing and treats. She is walking really well, though her tail is still at half mast. I hope that recovers. It is only a week since her surgery. She has been jumping up on her back legs a bit today though - wish she could understand that she needs to rest!

@Justonedayatatime11 So pleased hear your cat made a full recovery from a nasty injury - it gives us hope!

Try a doughnut instead of a cone I found my cat kept it on longer plus he could use it as a pillow when needed

@KittenKaboodle in a couple of months I'm sure your lovely cat will be back to normal. It's tough on them and even more tough on you! These photos were 12 weeks apart, you'd genuinely never know apart from the short fur

@KittenKaboodle if you are really struggling speak to your vet/surgeon. Marshie has a small amount of sedative on a night to help him settle, it sounds awful but nobody was sleeping as he was getting so upset.
We were told most cats do adapt well to crates but Marshie is just stubborn

When one of ours was on bed rest, my DD and I took turns in the crate with her (it's a big crate!).

We found that spending as much time with her as possible and basically sedating her with a heated throw really helped to keep her calm.

I slept beside her on the sofa at night and she woke me every 3 hours when the timer on the heated throw turned off.

She's glaring at me now in the picture of health, but it was v stressful at the time!

Paging @jacelancs whose kitten Finlay had this recently

Thanks again for the support and solidarity! She seems to be doing well and is walking pretty smoothly, though realise it’s early days. Unfortunately, because she thinks she should be out slaughtering the local mouse population and putting the fear of god in the squirrels, she is even more unhappy at being kept confined. She starts miaowing if she is left alone in the room, and we are being woken several times each night. Trying to get her settled into a new evening routine, with calming music and shiny fish to watch, otherwise I think we may have to consider sedatives for her sake and ours. Absolutely no bloody way she will sit quietly on the sofa or floor next to us, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to stroke her without her trying to make a dash for freedom (she’s already escaped twice), so the poor thing isn’t getting as much direct attention as she is used to, though we talk to her lots.

Off to the vets this week to have her stitches removed. Am going to beg ask to be allowed to let her have a bit of time in a dog pen - supervised of course - as otherwise the poor thing is going to be cooped up for the whole 6 weeks.

@KittenKaboodle Definitely have a chat about a sedative, I was trying to do 12 hour shifts on 2 hours sleep it was awful and not good for anyone.
We decided over the weekend to start sleeping upstairs again and it's going ok, Marshie is unhappy about 5ish but does settle.
He had his check up and is allowed out for a walk on a harness from today but no running or jumping, hopefully just a bit of a walk will tire him out a bit more

This is how impressed she is with us..

@Iamme2023 Oh blimey, that’s awful, no wonder! Glad that you are all a bit more settled now. We have it good by comparison, but the 3am wake up this morning wasn’t the ideal way to start the week. Poor love, I have endless sympathy for her, but also feeling renewed respect for parents of young DC (we are childless)! Great news that Marshie is allowed out on his harness - hopefully he will appreciate that extra freedom (and it’ll tire him out as you say).

An update (partly to help preserve my sanity and partly for anyone reading this in the future who’s dealing with something similar). Took her to the vet to get her stitches out in the week, feeling that was at least a step in the right direction. Then we had an unexpectedly anxious 24 hours after vet was concerned her pelvis had shifted and might have caused pelvic canal to narrow, in which case she’d need more surgery 🙀 🍷 Took her back for an x-ray the following morning, feeling sick to the pit of my stomach. Thank god, it was ok - well, her pelvis has shifted, but not to the extent it requires surgery. But we need to be super careful it doesn’t move further, which means even limited exercise if off the cards for the next few weeks.

Not that you would know to look at her: we have had climbing the cage, swinging from the top, and spending lots of time standing on her hind legs desperately trying to escape. Nothing we can do can distract her today - worried she is going to hurt herself or set back her progress further. 😔

Oh no, have you spoken to them about a sedative, honestly it's making so much difference Marshie he is so much more relaxed.
We saw his surgeon on Monday and he's happy with Marshies progress so he's allowed out for supervised walks now. At first he wouldn't come out the crate but he's starting to enjoy his walks now.

No, we haven’t, but I think we might have to. We’ve improved things at night by bringing her up into our bedroom, but the daytimes are really tough. I hate the thought of sedating her in the daytime though - and would it make it worse again at night? She has been so distressed today, it’s awful to see, and really throwing herself around the cage. Her Si joint is unstable, which is why her pelvis has moved (to the extent she has a bump protruding from her bum), so she really does need to rest and not move around too much.

We’ve been told to keep her on strict cage rest for another fortnight, after which she can come out for 5 mins 3 times a day. But unless something changes I don’t see how she’s going to make it for another 2 weeks without doing herself serious injury. And also, bluntly, we need to be able to work. Whichever one of us is in the room with her is struggling to concentrate/stay on calls.

So pleased to hear Marshie is improving - it gives us hope!