How well did your cat recover after being hit by a car?

[Hiddeninthetrees]

Our much loved cat has been hit by a car and was found by our back gate this morning having managed to drag himself home. We went to the emergency vet and they've x-rayed and done all sorts of tests. He has a broken pelvis, possibly a broken leg and tendons and they are still investigating whether he may have more internal injuries.

They've said he may need pins and plates and possibly to be in a cage for 8 weeks or more and may still not properly recover. I'm so worried and sad for him, he's such a trusting lovely boy. I want him better, but he's a roamer and I'm worried about him managing in a cage and the idea of not being able to properly go out and about again would make him miserable I think.

We all love him to bits and are feeling quite shaken by this.

Has anyone had similar happen and how has your cat recovered?

Very well. He had the top of his femur removed at about 6 years old due to a broken pelvis (I think, long time ago).
Apparently they can do this in cats and they then have a soft tissue hip Joint 🤢

The vet described cats having 3 legs and a spare anyway, and wasn’t concerned about the surgery.

he had cage rest, then just 1 room, I think for a few weeks.
lived another 10years, although a bit arthritic at the end due to that leg being a bit shorter than the other.

edit - he was lucky to avoid bladder damage and worse injuries. For me, if he had needed plates and a really long recovery I would have chosen to have him put down.

i hope your cat is well enough to have surgery and live lots more happy years x

@Hiddeninthetrees what’s the news please?

I’m so sorry op, I have an almost identical story about my cat who got ran over around November last year. The whole thing was incredibly traumatic.

He also had a broken pelvis and had managed to make his way home after being hit. We found him in our back garden the next morning (after worrying all night) I don’t know how he managed to get home in the state he was in but we thank our lucky stars every day that he did. We took him straight to the vets for an emergency appointment and he ended up staying there for a week.

At first they suggested he be referred to a specialist vet practice for surgery on his pelvis. Then we spoke to another vet there who’s cat had had a similar injury and after looking at his x-rays she suggested he may not need surgery and how resilient cats are and how they can bounce back from things surprisingly well. She was very experienced and reassuring and said we could choose to have the surgery, or go down the cage rest only route. She seemed reasonably confident he would be ok without the surgery.

In the end we opted not to go for the surgery. When we were finally able to bring him home, he was on cage rest for six weeks, then room rest for a further 2 weeks, then house ‘rest’ for an unspecified amount of time. We also had a cocktail of medications to give him to keep him comfortable for the first few weeks.

Cage rest was hard at times, but doable. He meowed a lot, but one of his pain meds had a sedative effect which helped, he slept a lot during that time, and I spent a lot of time sitting next to his cage keeping him company.

Up until about a month ago he had this awful limp, couldn’t really jump up onto the sofa or scratch himself with the affected leg. I was worried he was still in pain, but he seemed ok in himself. Then, all of a sudden one day I noticed the limp had gone, he could scratch himself and started jumping up onto things again. It seemed to happen very suddenly and although he’s not 100% the same, you really wouldn’t be able to tell unless you looked closely. I still can’t quite believe it. He hasn’t been allowed outside since, but as the summer months draw nearer it’s getting harder to keep him in and he’s asking to go out a lot.

My cat is also much older than yours, he was 9 at the time it all happened and seems to have recovered well. I really hope yours can too, he definitely has age on his side.

Thank you everyone for all the supportive message, success stories and information. You've all been very kind.

Feeling a little more positive today, though cautiously. He has had his operation and has woken up afterwards. He needs to stay in a couple more days to see how he fully comes round, but if everything goes well he will be home towards the end of the week.

He also had a nasty open wound on his leg so will need to have it changed at the vets every couple of days as there is a high risk of infection.

We are looking forward to just having him home, as is his brother who seems a but lost.

So glad to hear he is coming home, just as an aside, it can be common for the cat at home not to recognise them when they first come home as he will smell of the vet. A bit of blanket swapping should help. Hopefully it won't be an issue, but just thought I'd mention it as you don't want two stressed cats to deal with. 😉

Thank you, I didn't know that so will try to manage them carefully. Our injured one will be in his cage for quite a while too.

Not hit by a car, but our cat slipped a disc when he was 8yrs old, back half was paralysed was he needed spinal surgery, 8 weeks cage rest and had to relearn to walk afterwards. Was given 50/50 chance.

He pulled through, recovered well. He lived a happy life til he was 17.

Finlay ended up with a broken pelvis and fractured vertebrae when he was only 4.5 months old although we have no idea how it happened - he had surgery - pins and plates - which he also fractured later as in the plate - but the bone had healed round it enough so they didn’t re do it
He was caged for weeks which he hated - then confined to house - had physio and hydrotherapy and cost thousands - thankfully on insurance
Made a full recovery and other than a small lump of bone callous you would never know - he’s 3 in July and a big hunter and wanderer

Having hydrotherapy and not happy

Photo failed

I’m so sorry you are in this situation. My little cat was recovering from a broken pelvis at the same time as Finlay (we got a lot of support and good advice from JaceLancs and others). We also don’t know how she did it but the vet said it was most likely to be due to a car. She had a plate and pins and then 8 weeks’ cage rest / 14 weeks house rest. I’ll be honest, those 8 weeks felt like 8 years (we did not have a compliant patient 😹), but in spite of her best efforts at times, she has made a full recovery. We’re coming up 2.5 years on from the surgery and apart from a slightly stiff gait at times, you’d never know she had been through so much. She was about 2 at the time of the accident, so will be 5 later this year - she’s absolutely in her prime and throwing herself around with abandon, decimating the local wildlife.

Sending you good wishes for your lovely cat to make a full recovery. Look after yourselves too - it’s a draining and stressful (and expensive) experience.