Cat Update

[pameladean]

Okay, it's not some terrible murky thing like bone cancer, or "let's do an MRI before we speculate" or anything of that nature.

However, the poor guy has two broken toes. He has to stay overnight at the vet's, which he will certainly hate, though at least he'll be doped up for much of it, and they are putting a splint on his foot, and I have to call tomorrow to see how he's coming along.

I'm so relieved that it's not something horrific and incurable, but I can tell you right now, he is going to be the worst patient ever. The veterinary office, often so sensible, has already said to me, "You should try to limit jumping." (They meant his jumping; I am not much at risk for leaping about except metaphorically.)

Oh, right.

Any tips from people who have had cats with injured paws will be gratefully accepted. Especially obstreperous, opinionated, willful, uncooperative, high-energy cats with injured paws, who have ALREADY USED SAID PAWS TO SCRATCH AT THE DOOR, TO CHASE PIECES OF PAPER, TO KNEAD THE SHOULDER OF THE HUMAN, AND TO WASH THEIR SILLY ORANGE FACES.

P.

Comments

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

I do not have any advice, having never been owned by a cat, but I wanted to say that I'm very glad it isn't anything terrible, although it must be awful for him to have broken toes.

From the sounds of things, though, I'm surprised he noticed them.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

they say that to me about my dogs, right after they've given me the drugs to make the dogs feel well enough to run around like the little monsters they are.

i suggeest ducttape.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Full body cast?

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

poor kitty! i'm glad it's something fairly-easily-fixable.

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

Oh, lord. Well, now to your list at the end of your post you'll be able to add, "AND USED THE SPLINT TO CLUB HIS FELINE HOUSEMATES." If you're (unexpectedly) lucky, he'll find the splint sufficiently damaging to his self-confidence that he won't try to spring to the top of the refrigerator. Fingers crossed for you both.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Loki broke one of his toes when a young kitten. They only gave him pain meds because I insisted, having remembered how I felt when I broke a toe. I think this is called treating the owner.

It's been long enough ago I don't remember much about it all now. So I'm completely useless. Ooops he must have heard me type his name as he's just jumped up on the chair and is now eating the crumbs off my chest.

It didn't seem to bother him much though. And we had no instructions to limit his activities that I can remember...

MKK

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

When I was growing up in the country we had outside cats that used to get themselves into various kind of trouble periodically. In those days, people didn't take their cats to the vet very often. Anyway, we didn't. We had cats with several variations on the injured front paw, and they always just got well on their own. Sometimes it took a couple of weeks or longer, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was broken toes.

I'm not saying that it was wrong to take him to the vet, just that the toes will likely heal just fine whether he keeps the splint on or not. At the worst, if he keeps using the foot, they might heal a little crooked. But having slightly crooked toes is probably not going to ruin his life.

Now that I think about it, in my family we didn't take PEOPLE to the doctor for black and blue toes that were probably broken. There isn't a whole lot to do about that problem except wince and complain for a couple of weeks.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

How the heck does a cat break their toes?

The only way I could limit Nanook's movement is by keeping him in his carrier--and I could only do that once.

Well, constant petting might work.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Brandy in his milk?

[plaidkatia.livejournal.com]

My cat Yuri Gagarin (the First Feline Cosmonaut) came to us with a broken jaw, courtesy of the Motherfucking ^&@^%!#^*$@ Asshat who threw him out of a pickup truck in front of my minivan.

Once they figured he'd survive, they wired his jaw back together. He was about five months old at the time, but sufficiently malnourished that he looked and acted half that.

They told us to keep him calm, keep him from jumping or running or getting into stuff that might get caught on the wire--there was a half-centimeter piece of wire protruding from his skin.

Oh, we tried. With three other cats, two dogs, and four people in the house, we had to keep a brain-damaged (and I'm not being mean, he really is) KITTEN from GETTING INTO THINGS.

Ahahahahahaha.

His jaw healed up anyway, even after roughhousing with our three other cats--two of whom are over twenty pounds--and "meeting" the dogs, both of whom really are over a hundred pounds and, well, giant clumsy doofuses and part Lab so they have to chew and/or lick EVERYTHING, especially kitties.

His jaw and his brain are still a bit off, and he's got a lumpy skull from hitting the asphalt at +50 mph.

But he's fine, and he hunts and chews and roughhouses and is a pain in the ass even with a funny smile and a lumpy head and spasmodic twitches.

Ari will be fine, I think, even if he mucks around with his foot, which he will--unless you keep him sedated in a box or something. Even if his toes are a little crooked, they'll still work just fine. We've got another cat who had broken toes and a tail after sleeping on the stairs at night. She's dark grey, Dad's blind as a bat and didn't wear his glasses. He still feels bad, and she still limps when it's cold, but she's also eighteen pounds and looks like a seal with pointy ears.

So I feel your pain, and Yuri and Peace feel Ari's pain. But I'm pretty sure he'll be fine. Don't stress out about it too much (though I sure understand if you do, because any good cat person would). Cats are much better than people when it comes to knowing when they have to chill out and heal. Even if they're being little shitheads about it. And they will, because they're cats.

[badger2305.livejournal.com]

Wish I knew, Pamela. I've had cats all my life (and you've met several of them) and I'm completely at a loss. (hugs) anyway.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to hear it isn't anything serious. Good luck with restraining the convalescent.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am so glad that not seeing you today was in a good cause of future happy catness.

[ananas2003.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine whose cat was recovering from the effects of an anaesthetic was told to keep her (very wobbly yet energetic) cat in her cat box (you know, the carrier thingy you take 'em to the vet in).

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

That's not the whole story, though. First, she was high as a kite on morphine, and second, despite what the vet said about her being happy in the box and not miaowing until ready to come out, she started miaowing about half an hour after being put in the box, and kept it up all night.

We did find that having her favourite person sitting next to her all day and not moving made her more likely to nap on/near that person, and less likely to go in for Feline Extreme Sports. But this is a surprisingly difficult option to maintain. The trouble is, Mystery thought she was fine and couldn't understand why we were restricting her so...

Good luck with Ari - I hope he has a swift and non-stressful recovery.

love

Catherine

splint both front feet?

[(Anonymous)]

Feed him sardines until he's delirious?

The good thing is that if he's that active, it's not as severe an injury as it might be, especially if he's kneading with it. (Cats often injure their front toes by pulling manual unguals half-off hanging by one or two claws only from something that's getting away/too big/too high up, and if the knead cycle works, that's not what he's done; the unguals, and the claw retraction, yet works.)

Can you put him in a cold portion of the house with a heating pad? (presumably a heating pad with a window view?) That might cut down on his carryings-on, at least somewhat.

-- Graydon

[intelligentrix.livejournal.com]

My Sam did something to his back once, and was paralyzed in his back end (temporarily, fortunately). The vet recommended "bed rest". o_O He wouldn't tolerate being kept in a carrier, so I emptied my bedroom of furniture, put the mattress up against the wall and gave him a snuggly blanket, food and water. I had to put Beamer in with him, too, as she sat by his door and cried until I let her in. With a couple of shots of cortisone and about a week of rest, he did just fine. He still walks a little funny, like a little boy who needs to go to the bathroom, and he has trouble jumping high, but is otherwise fat and happy. Good luck on the broken toes--I'll wager he heals up just fine.

[jphekman.livejournal.com]

RescueRemedy (a flower essences solution from Bach) is used by cat and dog rescuers to calm down stressed animals. I imagine it might also calm a hyper cat that needs sleeping. You could put it in his water. (I don't know if you have other animals which share the water, but I am assured by vets that this stuff is fine for all, no worries about it going down the wrong throat).

I purchased my RescueRemedy at Whole Foods -- it is marketed to humans. I'm told four drops on the tongue or in the water bowl is a good amount for a small animal, but of course it is never a bad idea to check with a Real Vet on these things if you don't want to trust some fangirl on the internet :)