advice needed,keeping a young cat caged for 4 weeks

charlie3090

Hi,
some charming person run my youngest cat over either yesterday or early this morning,shes about a year old,not really mine but just appeared one day.
I took her this morning to the vets when i found her on the doorstep this morning.walking but slowly and unable to climb.
the vet has just called me and said she has spinal damage,had been run over and whatever is under the vertabrae is what has the damage.
they are quite hopeful that she will recover as she has movement in her tail so providing she can empty her bladder today she can come home tomorrow.
i have to keep her in a pen/dog cage for 4 weeks so she can recover,
she is about a year old,havent got a clue about this,should i put the cage in the living room where she can see the other cats ,or should i keep her away,im clueless about this.
any advice would be really appreciated,im so grateful shes alive but
so angry that whoever did it just left her, i live in a little side road but no one seems to know what happened,
sorry for the rambling,
thanks for reading this:(

Fire_Fox

Sorry to read this but glad she has survived and still has movement. The vet would be the best person to discuss cage rest with, they have examined the cats injuries and know whether they need to be kept quiet or stimulated.

krlyr

I'm glad she survived but have to say, you let her roam free, you have to accept the consequences rather than moan about whoever hit her - they may not even have realised, may have been in an emergency to get somewhere, may have stopped and not been able to find her if she'd hidden in a bush, etc.
A colleague had a cat involved in an RTA and she borrowed a dog crate from the vet, she kept it up on the kitchen side as she found it a better height to give the cat constant interaction. I would put it somewhere she will get a fair bit of attention but also ensure she has some quiet time to rest and recouperate. I'd maybe look into getting a Feliway plugin to her chill her out for the next few weeks too.

charlie3090

krlyr wrote: »

I'm glad she survived but have to say, you let her roam free, you have to accept the consequences rather than moan about whoever hit her - they may not even have realised, may have been in an emergency to get somewhere, may have stopped and not been able to find her if she'd hidden in a bush, etc.
A colleague had a cat involved in an RTA and she borrowed a dog crate from the vet, she kept it up on the kitchen side as she found it a better height to give the cat constant interaction. I would put it somewhere she will get a fair bit of attention but also ensure she has some quiet time to rest and recouperate. I'd maybe look into getting a Feliway plugin to her chill her out for the next few weeks too.

Hi, thanks for your reply, but as i said, shes not actually my cat,just a regular visitor and as such i sort of regard her as mine, i think shes maybe a stray but i would get any cat treated whether i knew it or not,
thankyou so much for the advice regarding the cage and plug in, will update her progress

charlie3090

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Sorry to read this but glad she has survived and still has movement. The vet would be the best person to discuss cage rest with, they have examined the cats injuries and know whether they need to be kept quiet or stimulated.

, thankyou for your kind words, i will update with her progress.

krlyr

Does she stay at yours permanently or come and go? If it's the latter, have you checked to see if she has a microchip, or put some posters up to trace an owner? If she was visiting you for food then she may have an owner at home who may be worried sick at not seeing their cat for the next 4 weeks

charlie3090

Hi, yes i have checked, she is not microchipped,i put leaflets through over 200 local houses when she first came to my house but no one replied.
possibly she is a feral cat as she will never let you stroke her etc,she comes most days but not always and seems to like my other 3 cats.

Fire_Fox

If she is feral a Feliway is a particularly good idea, she may not take well to being crated. Is she neutered?

charlie3090

no she is not, oddly enough i had contacted the rspca on monday to ask if i could get her neutered if she isnt mine and they had told me to bring her down and check if she was chipped and if not it would be fine.
the feliway is a great idea,you can pick her up and she is quite tame but just walks away if you stroke her, i guess i will never know where she came from.

pinetree

Hi charlie 3090 sorry to hear about your cat, its a good sign she has movement in her tail hopefully her bladder function etc will be ok, its a very common accident with cats its usually a fractured jaw or pelvis depending where they get hit as far as the cage goes it depends on the cats character but usually they get used to being caged for health reasons, poss put the cage in a corner of the room so some of the sides are enclosed and a blanket over the top and keep the front free this will give her some security to start with then see how she goes, i hope she's ok

charlie3090

pinetree wrote: »

Hi charlie 3090 sorry to hear about your cat, its a good sign she has movement in her tail hopefully her bladder function etc will be ok, its a very common accident with cats its usually a fractured jaw or pelvis depending where they get hit as far as the cage goes it depends on the cats character but usually they get used to being caged for health reasons, poss put the cage in a corner of the room so some of the sides are enclosed and a blanket over the top and keep the front free this will give her some security to start with then see how she goes, i hope she's ok

Thankyou so much,i will do that ,didnt even think about covering the cage ,im sure that will help, so fingers crossed she manages to go for a wee,then i can bring her home tomorrow, thanks again to everyone for the advice, will post on her progress.