Help with Mindy!!

lisasha3

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I am in a bit of a dilema here and am looking to you guys for some advice/help.
A little background - my foster cat Mindy came to me 7 wks ago, hit by a car after giving birth. (see this post for a little more history http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=134003 )
She's been walking around my daughters 12x12 room for about a week now after being released from her cage confinement. She's been walking fine other than the slight bowleggedness up until tonite. Suddenly now she is having trouble standing up. She stands for a few seconds, then lays right back down. Now, here is where I get confused.
1) I thought it might be her hip dislocated again, but she should be completely healed by now, there is really nothing high to jump on in my daughters room (bureau is way to high and my daughter's likes her mattress on the floor). Only thing is her computer chair and a low computer desk which Mindy has used. She seems to be in NO pain at all and when she lays back down, lays on top of the hip that had been previously repaired. I've touched the hip, moved her leg, no growling, or signs of pain.
2) Her stomach has been getting progressively bigger in the past week or so and she was going to the vet tomorrow to be spayed, vaccinated, and tested so I figured it might be worms and she'll be taken care of at that time if that's the case, but.....her stomach is hard to the touch and her nipples are huge. We "thought" she had just given birth when found, but I don't know why they thought that because we never did find the kittens. I don't know what the "symptoms" were to make them think that. So now I don't know if it's worms or kittens.
I've fostered a lot of litters, but I have yet to have an expectant mom (I always seem to get them like a few hours or days after they've given birth), so I'm a bit confused as to what this could be. She's been in my care for 53 days so pregnancy is possible. She is eating a lot, increasing slightly over the past week or so, but that could be worms or pregnancy - again - confusion

So, questions are - anyone with experience of dislocating hips or similar? Would she be exhibiting signs of pain? What would the symptons be?
Also, if she's been in my care for 53 days wouldn't her nipples be getting smaller if she had given birth that long ago? I thought that I had noticed in other moms them subsiding quite quickly.
Do stomachs on cats get "hard" with worms too?
She doesn't seem to be nesting, but she also isn't standing at all. I'm just frustrated and confused right now. Her spay appointment will not take place tomorrow and I will be making a vet trip instead, but can't call the vet till the morning. Spays for the rescue take place at one vet and she was vetted for her accident 7 weeks ago at another vet so I have to call. They are excellent and I can guarentee you she will be seen during the morning hours, but until then I'm just a little concerned.
I was wondering if it was a combination of both - pregnancy/worms and dislocating her hip again. Maybe due to the extra weight, she threw it out again. I just don't know what to do with her. It's very frustrating to see after 7 weeks of solid progress.

Any help or suggestions appreciated,
Thanks
 
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lisasha3

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Arrggghhh...nothing? You guys are killing me here!
I've been trying to read all the other posts on signs of pregnancy and signs of worms and although I'm leaning towards the pregnancy thing, I'm still not sure. Guess the vet will tell us tomorrow, but any advice or help would still be greatly greatly appreciated!
 

laureen227

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sounds suspiciously like she's preggers, to me, but i've never had a pregnant cat, so i can't be sure!
 

white cat lover

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If she is pregnant...hmmm....I have no experience with preggo kitties. But, if she is, then I wonder if the car accident/healing....the whole deal would cause her to abort? Or be causing some problems?

If she is pregnant, do you plan to spay her or not? I guess with the whole car accident history, I would lean towards a spay/abort because of the stress on her already mending body...

Sorry I can't offer any more advice. That is just my two cents.
 

sharky

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No experience here either with Preggo cat s or dogs ... sorry...
 
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lisasha3

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

If she is pregnant...hmmm....I have no experience with preggo kitties. But, if she is, then I wonder if the car accident/healing....the whole deal would cause her to abort? Or be causing some problems?

If she is pregnant, do you plan to spay her or not? I guess with the whole car accident history, I would lean towards a spay/abort because of the stress on her already mending body...

Sorry I can't offer any more advice. That is just my two cents.
I never even thought of the possibly pregnancy adding too much stress to her after the accident. It's been almost 2 months, but you definitely have a good point.
Sorry for freaking out. I didn't sleep well last night. Am looking up the vets number right now but willing to bet they aren't open for another 30 minutes.
 

mom of 4

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I agree the weight of a pregnancy is putting stress on her hips, which would still be healing. I wonder if the prenancy is putting her at risk for having the hips not heal correctly - my concern would be a lifelong issue with her hips and pain.
Good luck.
 
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lisasha3

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Vet doesn't have any appointments today, but they said to drop her off and they will fit her in somewhere in between appointments and take a look at her. Unfortunately we had to make it clear to them that we (the rescue) cannot afford another $1800 bill on this cat. We are a non-profit as all others are and that kind of money will kill our rescue. The doctor told me that the actual hip that was dislocated is on the opposite side of her broken femur. For these past 8 weeks I thought both were on the same side. She said they didn't have to do surgery to repair the hip, only the femur, so keep your fingers crossed that if it is dislocated again it will be a cheap bill because we just don't have that kind of funding in the rescue. It's there, but it needs to help all the animals. $1800 every 2 months will kill us!! Poor Mindy.

As for the "possible" pregnancy thing. I don't know if it's worms or pregnancy. I was playing with her stomach a bit and it is hard on the sides, not much directly underneath. Her nipples are very large, but not pink. I also cannot feel any "lumps" or golf ball sized things which they say you usually should be able to feel. Guess it's just a waiting game now. I'll be dropping her off in about an hour and then we wait.
 

white cat lover

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That she's not pregnant & that any surgery if necessary will be cheap!!
 

liza24

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I hoping its only worms for you, and that she DOSENT need surgery.


BUT....


If she does, you could always ask for help with the cost. I know a woman on my local CraigsList asked for help with the costs of spaying and neutering her fosters by asking people to donate money right to her vet, and to mention the donation was for " animal##'s Surgery" It helped her, you could always try!!
 
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lisasha3

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Originally Posted by Liza24

BUT....

If she does, you could always ask for help with the cost. I know a woman on my local CraigsList asked for help with the costs of spaying and neutering her fosters by asking people to donate money right to her vet, and to mention the donation was for " animal##'s Surgery" It helped her, you could always try!!
Thanks for the suggestion, but we've actually already been doing that. We've got her posted as pet of the month on petfinder, have had her put in all the newspapers, and have a sign for donations every week at adoption. It's helped, but thus far we haven't even covered the original surgery yet. It's a lot of money.
So, I heard back from the doctor (not directly, she called the rescue). So do you want the bad news, the bad news, or the bad news?

First bad news - Mindy is pregnant.
Now don't get me wrong here, it's not that I don't want them, only reason why I'm sad about this is because we're trying to control the pet population and we just have so many kittens already. But it is exciting at the same time.
Second bad news - because Mindy had surgery 2 days after she was found hit by that car, there is a huge risk that her babies could be deformed or brain damaged due to the anesthesia.
We won't know until they are born.
Third bad news - her hip is dislocated again and it cannot be set right now because of her pregnancy. She doesn't need to go through full sugery to fix it, but she will need to be sedated and they can't do that because of the kittens. She doesn't seem to be in any pain and the doctor said it might even pop back into place on its own, but who knows.
When it rains....it pours!

Poor Mindy!!!
I'm going to pick her up soon and talk directly to the doctor to see what I can do to keep her comfortable and safe during the last leg of this pregnancy. My concern is with the hip out - will she be in pain while she is giving birth? Will the hip being out cause any birthing issues? God I hope not on both cases!!! Need to talk to the doctor.
Cross your fingers now guys and send some serious vibes for healthy kittens and a fairly normal birth for mom.

The only good thing out of this is that Dr. K isn't charging us at all for today's visit.
 

laureen227

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hey, at least there was SOME good news - no vet charge!
for Mindy's hip & that her pregnancy will go well & cause her no additional problems & that the kittens will all be healthy ones!
 
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lisasha3

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Well, Mindy is finally home and resting comfortably.
She has to be caged again, but only for 4 weeks this time. Good news is the pin in her broken leg looks great and she's healing well on that side. The hip is displaced, but the vet said that this is a common occurance with this kind of hip injury and she's even seen it in cats without injuries (I don't remember what the name of the hip injury is). She said that it sometimes is common to slide in and out and it usually does not cause them any discomfort. She's just having trouble walking on it because of the added baby weight and she should bounce back to normal after she gives birth. There is an operation that can permanently cure this problem, but we'll worry about that down the road once she has her kittens. Vet also said that the hip should in no way cause any issues with her giving birth.
So - now we just wait and cross our fingers that all babies are ok. It shouldn't be too long from now since she's been in my care alone for 54 days now. The longest we should be waiting is about 2 weeks - at the most!
 

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BIG for a heathy group of kittens and a quick four weeks confinement
 
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lisasha3

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Well.....no Christmas packages this morning. Mindy is in my daughters room and she said since we're waiting for some little "packages" from Mindy it's going to be like waiting for Christmas morning.
 
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lisasha3

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We've got tiny packages!!
4 of them so far. Not sure if she's done yet or not, but it looks like it. We've got a tabby, a gray one, and two black ones with some white. All seems to have gone well and Mindy is tending to them just like a good mommy should. She gave birth sometime late this morning (I was at adoption). I've cleaned up the towels and cut the cords and now we're just waiting to make sure there are no more coming.

So far so good. All are nursing and she's not pushing any away. I've got bottles and formula ready just in case, but I think she'll be fine.
 
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