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)

@Iamme2023 great news that Marshie can return to activity again
@KittenKaboodle what date is Kleo allowed out?
I still find it all very stressful and am trying to be less anxious but 2 Dcat deaths and 1 accident in less than 12 months has been very difficult
Finlay came home last night minus his collar - we had to ping it to track it and thankfully found it fairly quickly under DP car - he’s not allowed out without it so order was restored fairly quickly

@JaceLancs I completely understand the anxiety. I feel very anxious about Kleo going back outside again, even though I know that she will be the happier for it. We were thinking about letting her out this weekend, as closely supervised as we can make it….but she escaped out an upstairs window onto a flat roof this morning (DP forgot he’d left the window open).

We coaxed her back in again (her greed is v useful sometimes) but jumping up from the roof to the windowsill she really struggled, swinging on the edge with her front legs and DP had to pull her in. Not sure if she misjudged it because she’s out of practice (she used to hop in and out easily) or because her muscles are still a bit weak, or because her leg is causing her problems (or a combination), but now we wonder if we should keep her in a bit longer, as much as she is thoroughly miserable about it.

Our garden is enclosed by high fences and a very high wall, so if she starts exploring she will need to have her balance and jumping precise or she risks hurting herself. We suspect she broke her pelvis falling off the wall (it runs along behind all the houses on our road) so we are especially worried. But then she is so unhappy inside - spends the day yowling and scrabbling at the door/catflap. It’s so difficult to know what to do!

I did catch her having some down time from all the protesting yesterday..

Show her cat videos on your phone they do loads of fish and mice. It keeps mine amused for hours. Consider switching the cone for a cat post surgical suit.

@KittenKaboodle gorgeous picture of Kleo

We braved it! Kleo is having a great time. It’s fair to say we are sharing your anxiety @JaceLancs - think it’s going to take a good few weeks for us all to readjust and stop worrying.

Hope Finlay and Marshie are behaving themselves and keeping out of trouble.

Great news @KittenKaboodle - lovely photo too!
Finlay has been out and about most of the day as we’ve been gardening and taking down old fence and removing the posts
We didn’t see much of him due to the noise of lawnmower, chain saw and kango gun but he came home for food at 5 and 8, and has just strolled in now as if he owns the place and is miffed that my lap was unavailable as I’m worn out so having an early night

Normal service resumed. She was not impressed to find I had locked the cat flap.

(she ate the entire mouse - hope it tasted good after that 3 month gap 🤢)

Thanks for update @KittenKaboodle Finlay has only managed to bring home a worm a beetle an ivy leaf and lots of bakery products
I am not sure he understands hunting just yet

Delightful! I would choose all of those over a live mouse. I’m sure you will get one sooner or later, as an extra special gift.

I just thought I'd update about Marshie, after just 11 months his hip replacement has failed. He's going to have further surgery in a couple of weeks to remove the metal work and do a FHNE. It means 2 weeks back in the crate but I think we will be ok as we know so much more this time.
I'm absolutely devastated we put him through major surgery and 13 weeks in a crate for it to fail so quickly, there not sure if it's infected or if the bone just hasn't grown onto the implants.
They could redo the hip replacement but there's so many more risks and even more chance it will fail again and then 3 months of crate rest we decided not to even risk it.
I really don't want him to have more surgery but he's on metacam and still uncomfortable so need to do it 😞

I'm glad your cat has recovered well OP. But I'm sorry to hear about Marshie.

One of my cats was hit by a car when he was 2, and broke his hip, pelvis and knee. He had his knee pinned and FHNE for his hip. This was 30 years ago - no hip replacement option then.

His crate rest was not as lengthy, I think he was in the crate for 4 weeks, then allowed out supervised in the house during the day (no going upstairs) and back in his crate at night. I used to settle him on a beanbag and carry him around from room to room so he was with me. His sister was very bonded to him and used to get in the crate and wash him!

After 8 weeks he was allowed outside again. It took him a few weeks to recover muscle strength and he always had a bit of a funny walk but he recovered well.

Oh @Iamme2023 I’m so sorry to hear about Marshie. What a year/18 months you and he have had. I’ve read that the recovery from FHNE is better, simply because they need to move around to strengthen the surrounding muscles and ligaments, but I daresay there are some caveats that mean you’ll have to watch him like a hawk. I really hope that after this he can regain full mobility and get back to being himself.

Sending good wishes to you and Marshie - and for a better 2025.

@KittenKaboodle his main issue is going to be he's got severe muscle wastage on his bad hip side so it will be a longer recovery, possibility of needing physio or hydrotherapy.
I just want him pain free and to not be constantly worrying he's going to do more damage before his surgery

Finlay had months of physiotherapy and hydrotherapy but it was really worth it - lots of work for us as we had to exercise him twice a day plus numerous appointments - he’s a near normal now as he can be

Marshie has had his surgery today, the cup part of the implant was loose in his hip no bone had grown on to it at all and the surgeon thinks that's why he's had so many problems.
All the metal work is out, he's had a bit to eat and a cuddle from the vet nurse, depending on how he deals with the pain he'll either come home tomorrow or Sunday. We're missing him so much and his nephew and accomplice is definitely missing him.
Hopefully have good news tomorrow and we can get him home before the bad weather hits

Thanks for the update @Iamme2023. How is Marshie doing today? I hope you have him home with you now, or if not, that you can pick him up early tomorrow. What an ordeal it’s been for all of you. Here’s to this being the start of a better chapter for him. Lots of good wishes to you!

He's been home a couple of hours, absolutely hates the crate, he's removed his cone of shame and I can't get him to let me put it back on. He's due gabapentin at 10 and hopefully that will chill him out, I'll be sleeping downstairs with him at least tonight just to see how he does

Oh no, much sympathy, remember that only too well. Fingers crossed when he’s had the gabapentin he’ll let you put the cone back on and you can both get some rest. Is it a fortnight in the cage this time? That will pass quicker for him than for you.

It was supposed to be 2 weeks but on the post op note it says three so I'll query that on Monday. I'm hoping he'll leave his op site alone so I can keep the cone off 🤞🏻🤞🏻

🤞🤞 Hope you both get some rest tonight!

@Iamme2023 How is Marshie doing?

Today is a year since Kleo broke her pelvis. I’ve been feeling very anxious in the run-up, partly because we’ve moved house and I’ve spotted her out on the road several times. But that’s all on me (though ffs cat, stick to the bloody fields). You’d never know that she’d had such a major injury and her pelvis pinned back together. She’s made a full recovery - her new vet recently commented that she wouldn’t know on examining her. The anniversary has brought all the traumatic memories back - it was such a gruelling and worrying few months and I feel for anyone going through similar. Kleo has been very lucky, but full recoveries are possible.

Marshie is doing well, it's been like chalk and cheese, the aftercare this time has been so much better, it feels like they really care.
Marshie is slowly becoming more mobile, he's still on crate rest for another week but is allowed walks on the harness and as many cuddles as he wants, so when I'm not at work he spends 8 hours ish cuddling me on the sofa.
He's got his first physio appointment booked next Tuesday to help him recover

Sending huge hugs @KittenKaboodle for the anniversary x

@Iamme2023 I’m so pleased to read that, you’re well overdue some good news. Great to hear the aftercare has been so good - gives you so much more reassurance as well. I hope he’s not too restless in the crate and not keeping you up all night again; hopefully not now he knows he has time out for cuddles in the day.

Here’s to his first physio session and the first steps to him getting back to his old self.