Advice needed on maintaining crate rest...

My cat, Darby, disappeared for five days and when he came home there was something wrong with his back legs. The vet thinks he was hit by a car. He has a pelvic fracture on the left side and also a dislocation of the joint. They tell me he doens't need surgical repair as long as he has three weeks of crate rest followed by two weeks confined to a larger space with no jumping.

I have him in a dog crate/kennel. The vet put a morphine patch on him. So far, he's doing okay in the crate with random periods of restlessness and angst. He was a feral that I rescued a few years ago and is not used to being in a house all the time and definitely not used to being caged 24/7.

Does anyone have any advice on maintaining his sanity and calm while he is on crate rest? I've seen three different vets at the same practice and not one of them could offer any information about this. Their response was to keep him on morphine however that seems excessive and unless he is in true pain, I don't want to end up with a constipated, addicted, kitty. I asked about medications for mood or to relieve anxiety but was told there aren't any that they would want to give a cat.

Hi Jeanette,

Maybe you could try offering him some TV to watch or something? My female kitten will watch it for brief periods at a time so if he's very bored it might do something for him. Maybe also some Bach flower remedies to help keep him calm rather than morphine?

It'll be a hard one I reckon; while it seems sometimes that all my two do is sleep, they do have a few hours of extreme activity every day. (And have actually done more damage to the house than the dog...)

I hope that he gets better soon and doesn't go crazy in the meantime...

Feliway pheremone diffuser?

Hi and thank you both for offering some suggestions. It's amazing how little information is available on keeping a pet on crate rest. It seems that even anti-anxiety medications are limited.

I'll definitely look into the Feliway and consider some kind of visual stimulus. At first, I thought if I put him where he could see outside that would help but that made things worse. Then again, he's a former feral cat and not used to being confined.

It's funny how our feline friends can sleep so much of the time and yet be pretty miserable when unable to get their few hours of activity. Unfortunately for my Darby, his favorite activity was roaming

Hi. My 10 month old is just finishing up his 6 weeks of confinement on Saturday. He spent 4 weeks of that in a dog crate and 2 weeks in a room empty of anything he could jump on. He had surgery on one of his hind legs. He's extremely active so I was worried how he would act in a crate. He did surprisingly well. I left the tv on for him at times so he could have some noise. I kept his crate in a bedroom away from the nosier parts of the house though otherwise I think he would get upset not being able to see what was going on. We visited him a lot and let the other cats visit as well. He had a pain patch the first few days and then oral pain meds for a week. The main problems I had were with him making a total mess of the crate multipe times day. He would play in the litter box or his water bowl because he was so bored. I used bowls that attached to the crate so he couldn't flip them over. A soft flat dog bed was also nice and more comfortable for him than the crate floor. He was allowed out of the cage twice a day for a few minutes at a time to stretch his legs (vet approved). The rest was the best thing for him. He is still recovering, and has a limp but his leg is strong and he puts full weight on it and is moving around great. I wish you good luck with your cat and that he recovers well.

I used valium for for my cat Neville. Neville has a brittle bone disease so I have had to deal with a LOT of fractures. It work really well, but it does make them a little dopey. I gave him 1/4 of a 2mg tablet and it kept him from being completely zonked, but sedate enough to not go nuts from being in a cage. you cat, being a feral previously might make things a little harder though. I certainly wouldn't keep him on the morphine since cats can develop an addiction just like people. Not to say I wouldn't continue to give him some kind of pain medicine, but morphine may be a little too much.

Good luck to ya and I hope your babies feeling better soon.