*Update (I hurt him)

It is Friday, almost Saturday (happened Tuesday) and my baby is still limping (sometimes you can barely tell, sometimes its much more obvious).

I'll be honest, he plays as if he is fine, jumps to all four platforms on the cat tree, as well as scratches the sisal. But limps when walking or running and is a little slower on getting down from the cat tree and slower on the steps.

There is no apparent swelling, no apparent pain in the feet, knee or shoulder area.

I don't think anything is broken and from when I have read it is very common for sprains and bruises in kittens. My husband thinks Jack will be fine and no vet visit needed but my theory is that if he wasn't in pain he wouldn't limp.

As the person who caused the injury (which I still feel absolutely awful about) I want to take him to the vet tomorrow, so if he is in pain from a sprain or bruise he could have some pain meds.

What do you think?

Leslie

I think you should take your kitty to the vet and see if your vet can't pinpoint the problem to a specific joint, and then take radiographs to make sure the problem isn't with the bones or joints. Its entirely possible he has a small fracture that is very painful, but allows him to be a normal cat when he feels like ignoring the pain.

At the very least you can get some pain meds and peace of mind.

I also vote for the vet visit since cats are known to hide the pain.
For some of my pets orthopedic injuries, I've had to crate them for a much-longer-than-any-of-us-want. Fortunately we have a huge dog crate (the largest available), so the cats have a good amount of room. You may want to limit the activity until you can get him into the vet.

I vote for a peace of mind vet visit - if it's nothing, no real harm done and you'll be able to rest easy. If it is something, well, think how badly you'd feel if you postpone the visit til your baby is in real pain.

Then again, keep in mind I have both my vet and e-vet's numbers on my fridge and in my speed call listings on all phones. But, not my own doctors!

I'll throw my vote in for the vet visit too.

In October my seven month old lab started limping, and with me being uber-paranoid about joint disease I rushed him in and had x-rays taken and sent to a radiologist for analysis. They came back just fine and I can tell you it was a huge weight off my mind.

Well we went to the vet today.

Jack weighs 7.3 pounds--14 weeks ago he weighed 2.5. He is about 6 months old (stray).

The vet checked him over, felt all over the leg and shoulder. He didn't let out a little meow at the joint that is what we would call our wrist. She said to wait 3 more days and if he is still limping at all to go ahead and do an xray.

Meanwhile she gave him some anti inflammatory pain meds. And said if possible to try and keep him calm--fat chance with a 6 month old kitten.

He is still playing normally jumping off the bed etc but has a slight limp when walking and when running you can tell he is limping slightly.

This gave me peace of mind and we'll see how he is on Tuesday.

Leslie

Sometimes sprains take longer to heal. I'm sure its not something serious or he would not be doing all the other things. Give it time. I've had rex kittens jump down from things and have a sprain - took a week or two to be better.

Originally Posted by Jack31

Meanwhile she gave him some anti inflammatory pain meds.

Click to expand...

Aww.....kitty anti inflammatory = good.

I'm betting that Jack will get much better as the days go on.

Bless 'im.....sending good vibes.

Strains and sprains can actually take longer to heal than a fracture.
See if you can borrow a dog crate from a friend with a large dog, preferably a plastic one instead of the wire ones that my cats will climb. the crate can be moved into whatever room you go in.

Another, much less favorable choice is to use your shower as a crate (separate shower, not tub/shower that provides great climbing venues). I don't care for the isolation, but the limitation of movement will keep this from becoming a chronic issue. You can bring your baby out for socialization, but must not allow running or jumping.

He appears much better today--however I am not sure if that because he is on pain medicine it hurts less to walk on and therefore until we are done with pain meds we won't truly know if he is still hurting. That make sense?

Leslie