Injured cat, advice please **UPDATE**

louisaj28

Hi all

My poor little cat was hit by a car on Saturday night, he came running/hobbling in on only 3 legs and his front left paw was just hanging, we took him straight to the vetinary hospital where they diagnosed Brachial Plexus Avulsion, they said the collision has caused some nerve damage and he has lost the use of his paw, they are unable to say whether it is permanent or temporary at this stage and say it could take up to 6 weeks to heal (if it does at all, if not, they would need to amputate).

Please does anyone have any experience of this? Did your cat recover? How long did it take? He does have some feeling in his pads which they say is a good sign but he's not able to put any weight on it atall.

They did an x-ray yesterday which confirmed there were no broken bones or fractures but it did show a massive amount of swelling.

I guess I'm just looking for some real stories and examples.

I am worried sick for him but I know he has been very lucky and it could have been a lot worse...

Of course, this would happen a week before I'm going on holiday...The cattery are happy to still take him in and the lady who runs it was previously a nurse and they also have a student vet working with them so he will be in good hands but it's going to break my heart to leave him.

Thanks for reading

valk_scot

My aunt had a cat who had a front leg amputated after a car accident. He was quite young, two years old or so and though he was quite quiet for a while after and never returned to his old adventourous tree climbing, vermin killing self, he was perfectly happy and content once he adapted to life with three legs. As a bonus he didn't climb the curtains any more. He stayed closer to home, was happy in the garden and lived to a ripe old age of fifteen or so. Actually given the road they lived near it probably prolonged his life.

louisaj28

thanks for your response, yeah I have seen lots of 3 legged cats and they do seem to be able to adapt pretty well but I am not thinking worst case scenario just yet for my boy.

I am hoping once the swelling goes down a bit, he may get some movement - ever the optimist...

paddypaws101

Sorry to hear of the accident and no advise to give I am afraid....but in a way, it might be easier on both of you that he is in a cattery and thus forced into cage rest. It is really very hard for most owners to impose this and stick to it when the cat is in familiar surroundings, but in the cattery he will just settle down and sleep the time away.
Hoping for a full recovery.

louisaj28

thanks Paddypaws for the words of support. Yes, I do agree that him being at the cattery will be good for him and the ladies have assured us they will take extra special care of him and at least someone is always there to keep an eye on him. It won't however, make me feel any better when I have to say goodbye to him on Saturday!!

Fire_Fox

Over on Purrsinourhearts there was a long thread about a cat called Mikey whose whole back half was paralysed after being shot. He was actually a happy little cat and did eventually get rehomed, last I saw a year or so back his legs/ feet were starting to twitch!!

http://www.facebook.com/MikeyGlen
http://www.youtube.com/user/MikeyOfTheGlen
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,31728.msg655090.html#msg655090 (Purrs is backwards, top of page one is the end of the thread)

mazza111

I remember years ago, my x's dog got knocked down by... the town vet! She has something similar, although she didn't recover, amputation wasn't needed and she managed fine on the 3 legs. She liked to use her "sore" leg as a ploy to get begging points. There was no pain in the leg because there was no feeling.

Hope you're wee cat is ok x

louisaj28

thank you so much for sharing Mikey's sad and amazing story, poor little guy.

thanks Mazza

he was a lot brighter today and when he was having a bath last night, he put his sore paw flat on the ground, it was only for a second but he did do it so am taking that an improvement! c'mon wee guy, you can do it!!

Fire_Fox

An old video of Mikey taken by his RSPCA fosterer his leg position is completely different and virtually no movement. Amazing to see the progress of a cat that 'should' have been PTS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsSV29MnVzw&feature=plcp

So pleased your cat has put a paw down, hopefully the problem is just the swelling.

mazza111

louisaj28 wrote: »

thank you so much for sharing Mikey's sad and amazing story, poor little guy.

thanks Mazza

he was a lot brighter today and when he was having a bath last night, he put his sore paw flat on the ground, it was only for a second but he did do it so am taking that an improvement! c'mon wee guy, you can do it!!

That's great, hopefully it's just the start. Lassie could never put her paw down and eventually curled under her. The only thing they had to watch was her claw growth because these ones weren't getting worn down.


Hopefully a full recovery is on the cards x

moggymutt

We had a cat come in who was walking with her foot buckled over because she was desperately trying to use a leg with no feeling, cage rest soon improved things, she just needed rest to let her leg recover and get feeling back in it.

Also 4 months ago, rescued a critically ill sheep from the mountains, with 2 hideously infected legs, and one totally numb leg. The numb leg has made slow but sure progress and she now walks quite happily even though she does not have !00% feeling in it yet.