Can someone help me. Smokie's leg is hurt.

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maryjoandsmokie

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Something is wrong with Smokie's leg. She can't put any weight on it.
This happened suddenly. She jumped off a low sofa and started limping. She can't
put weight on that leg and falls over when she tries to walk.
Should i take her to the ER right now?
 
If you hold her does the leg do funny-at-an-angle stuff... like it's broken?

Does there appear to be any swelling?

I personally would be inclined to watch it for a few hours. And if not getting any better then make the visit to the ER.
 
maryjoandsmokie said:
Something is wrong with Smokie's leg. She can't put any weight on it.
This happened suddenly. She jumped off a low sofa and started limping. She can't
put weight on that leg and falls over when she tries to walk.
Should i take her to the ER right now?
Click to expand...

If she cannot bear weight, and you have an ER near, I would be inclined to go if you can. Is it the same? I don;t know that I have ever heard of a cat's leg falling asleep, but it kind of sounds like that. Don't they tend to hold it up, if it is injured? Does she seem in pain? Or disoriented? If so, I'd go in. If she seems utterly normal otherwise you could maybe wait until tomorrow. How is she now?
 
Aw, Maryjo, I would be inclined to take her in as well if possible if she can't walk on it.

Poor Smokie. I hope it's just something minor.
 
Her leg doesn't look swollen. It doesn't look like it has a break. She was laying on her side
and the leg was twitching.
She is very frightened right now because someone is shooting fireworks nearby and she
won't let me touch her now.
There is an ER nearby and it is very expensive of course. But if she nees to go she will go.
 
maryjoandsmokie said:
Her leg doesn't look swollen. It doesn't look like it has a break. She was laying on her side
and the leg was twitching.
She is very frightened right now because someone is shooting fireworks nearby and she
won't let me touch her now.
There is an ER nearby and it is very expensive of course. But if she nees to go she will go.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I wonder if it *did* fall asleep. Can she walk on or use it now?
 
Maryjo,

I've had two cats with broken legs. The first one could put no weight on the leg. We were lucky and he only required a splint for a few weeks. The other cat limped, and had a hairline fracture. Both were easy fixes in the big scheme of things - we were lucky.


I hope Smokie has an easy fix too. I hope you can get her to the ER tonight because she is probably in pain if she won't put weight on the leg.

Best,
Pam & Layla
 
Susie!

The vet working at the ER won't use the gas.
AND he is from the Clinic that uses a leash to restrain a cat.
Smokie was severly traumatized by a leash at his Clinic years ago and was never the same.
He CANNOT use a leash on her!
How do i handle this if i have to take her in?
 
Mary Jo,

Knowing what I know about Smokie and her 'vet issues'.....I would definitely leave her home for now and watch her.
 
Re: Susie!

maryjoandsmokie said:
The vet working at the ER won't use the gas.
AND he is from the Clinic that uses a leash to restrain a cat.
Smokie was severly traumatized by a leash at his Clinic years ago and was never the same.
He CANNOT use a leash on her!
How do i handle this if i have to take her in?
Click to expand...

! OMG. Well, honestly, I'd not go there then unless she was bleeding to death or something. Even if she has broken her leg, I guess she would be better off waiting than going there. Man, no other ER? Or at least other ER doctor? Ever? I really hope she is ok and improves.
 
Thank you Dr. Lisa for your help.
Smokie has been under a lot of stress lately and i sure hope if her leg is broken it is
an easy fix for her too.

Thanks to all of you who replied to help me.

I have 3 sets of steps for Smokie to use and she jumped instead of using the steps.
 
Maryjo, my vet used an old inhaler helmet for Sundance as she was not well behaved at the vet's office at all. Here's what it looked like...

IMGP6849.jpg


IMGP6848.jpg


She would still growl but at least no one (like me) got another infection from a deep bite. Maybe you should ask your vet about getting one that you can keep on hand for emergencies like this? Sundance didn't like it but she didn't go crazy in it like I thought she would - and like she did in any kind of restraint used at the vet.

Just an idea.


I hope the morning proves easier for the both of you.
 
Thanks Vic for this information. I will give this to my Vet.

Smokie is bearing some weight on that leg this morning and is getting around al little better.
Something is so wrong with her leg. she moves slowly and limps big and the leg will give
way and she kinda falls over but manages not to hit the floor. I know she is having pain.
She manages to get into the litter box. She is eating well. I have to watch her because she
will try to get up to a chair and can't and i am afraid she will fall and do more damage.
No Vets are open today. Just the ER.
She is frightened. I managed to pick her up and check her leg without any problems from her
and i have never been able to do that before. she didn't fight me.
 
I'm hoping it's something that can be fixed.
It's so terrible to see your cat frightened and being unable to do something.
 
Mary Jo, this has happened to two of my cats and the advice I got from Robin was to wait a day and see what happens. If there is swelling she needs a vet, but if she just landed wrong things are likely to return to normal tomorrow.

Gia & Quirk (GA)

Guilt trips are a detour from life
 
My civie, Sasha, was limping on her back leg a few weeks ago. I waited until the morning and took her to the regular vet. She was fine, but vet said if she could not bear weight on it I should have brought her in immediately. I hope Smokey will be okay and that that er vet isn't on duty if you have to take her in.
 
Susie

I think Smokie has shown a little improvement this evening. Her leg is still unsteady and
it gives way when she walks.
Thanks for checking on her.

She is so stressed and those darn fireworks are just scaring her to death!

Thanks to everyone for replying and giving me advice and telling me of
your experience with injuried legs. You helped me so much.
 
Maryjo, Is there a way you can keep Smokie confined to a small area where she can (or would be forced to) rest the leg.

Flame has broken his left rear hock joint TWICE. And, the scary part is that each time, the vet I was using at the time didn't see the fracture on the x-rays at first. Not until I took him to an ER vet with an ortho specialist did they realize it was broken. I kept him confined in a small spare bedroom with a litter box, cat beds and his food and water bowls so that he would not have to walk on it too much and he'd be forced to rest the leg.

It was only after a week of confinement and no improvement that I questioned the vet's diagnosis and went to the ortho specialist who confirmed it was broken.
I would definitely suggest getting some x-rays done as soon as you can get to a vet that knows how to work with Smokie and not the guy you referred to in your previous post.

Hope Smokie is OK. Keep us posted.
 
Hi Maryjo, Smokie hasn't had any recent viral infections, has she? I know that my little grandson who is 2 years old, though he is a 'bean', started with sudden limping a few weeks ago. When my dil took him to the doctor's, he didn't even send him for x-rays. He said it was Toxic Synovitis. I am wondering if cats can get that? I will have to look that up. He said it was a viral infection that went to the joint of the hip that caused him to limp very painfully. But, we did end up taking him to the x-ray place, just to make sure. He had five x-rays, and no breaks or anything that showed up on the x-ray.
http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/hans/index.php This link I just found that talks about cats with arthritis and other possible problems.

I hope Smokie is okay tonight. My oldest girl, Ketchie can no longer jump onto anything, and I know what a worry that can be when they start getting old and arthritic also. Keep us posted. Hugs, Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
Thanks for the help. I didn't feel alone.
Donna are you able to keep Flame from jumping from high places?
I have kept Smokie confined as much as i can and now that she is better she wants
to investigate things and climb again. I'm so afraid she will fall.
I believe she will get back to normal again!
Jean, Smokie hasn't had an infection lately. Thanks for the website site. Very interesting!

Dr.Lisa, I'm glad you were around. I just knew i'd have to take Smokie to ER. I waited.
I'm glad. I know that's not always the thing to do but ECID.
 
Maryjo,

My Webber actually jumped up one time while playing and when he landed he tore his ACL ligament. After that he limped alot. The first vet thought that is was a strain and gave him a shot of steroids. After that he tried to jump on the bed again and fell back down on that same leg and injured it again. We went to our surgeon (long story Webber has had three surgeries) and he determined that his ligament was torn.

I would say to keep him confined until you can get to your regular vet for xrays.

Good Luck, hugs for smokie cat_pet_icon
 
Poor Webber! I hope he doesn't have to have any more surgeries!
Thanks for the advise.
Smokies limp has improved but she acts like she doesn't feel good sometimes.
She has that little frown she sometimes had when she was unregulated and i don't know what she wants.
 
I've also heard that unless the leg is swollen, or obvious trauma to it (like at a weird angle) - then give it a day to see if it's just a pulled muscle or something. Lots of times, it's better by the next day. If not though, it's always good to have x-rays just to rule anything serious out! If you still think she's in pain from the leg though, I'd try to get her into your vet. Even if it's not anything they can fix, they can at least give her some pain meds until it's better.
 
Hi MaryJo, Sorry just getting back to you now. I am fortunate, in that I have a trundle bed in my spare room. What I did was pull out the lower trundle bed (only about 6 inches off floor) about half way so he could literally climb up onto that. He did insist on getting up onto the upper trundle bed, but from the lower one, it was only about 8 - 12 inches to the upper one.
The second time he broke his leg, it was a nightmare of an ordeal because my vet (old vet!) kept insisting it wasn't broken... just arthritis. The poor guy was confined to this room for the most part for 3 weeks before I finally insisted on seeing an ortho specialist only to find out that the leg was fractured.

His leg was not really swollen at all, so there were no obvious signs of a fracture. It was just that, even with confinement, he wasn't getting better.

Have you gotten any x-rays done? It could be a soft tissue injury... muscle / ligament, but could also be a fracture like Flame's that was not obvious (due to swelling, etc.). I'd get some films done just to be safe.
If it is a soft tissue injury, rest is the best thing. Difficult with a cat, I know, but anything you can do to keep her confined and resting would likely help.

Has she ever had arthritis or anything? If so, whatever she did could have aggravated it. Once you rule out a fracture, Cosequin or Dasuquin by Nutramax Labs might help if it is arthritis or something like that.

Hope Smokie is OK. Keep us posted.
 
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