kitten fell, broken leg?

Ok so heres the story, my kitten was on the tv stand and he fell off of it and on the way down he hit on the computer stand and then the floor, he whined a lot for a few minutes after he hit the floor, then got up but wouldnt put any weight at all on his rear leg. Slowly since yesterday he has been putting more and more weight on it but still not full weight. Do you guys think its broken? Badly bruised?Dislocation of some sort? How long should we let it go before we take him to the vet? My plan right now is to wait and see how he is tomorrow morning and if no better take him to the vet.

I would just wait until the morning (I presume you're on the western side of the world) and take her to the vet. For right now, I would confine the kitten in a small space so that there's no running around.

Something similar happened to my cat four years ago. My lab was doing a "butt-tuck" around the living room like a mad dog and Aussie tries to make a run for the cat tree. Well she gets almost all the way to the top and doesn't quite make it, so she falls about four feet down and hits the edge of my brick harth. She started hissing and ran to the bathroom and up where her food is. I immediately ran to her and noticed her back right leg was just sort of hanging there. Thinking it was dislocated or broken, I immediately ran her to the vet and they took x-rays and showed nothing was broken. The doctor told me that sometimes when they injure that area they will not use their leg because it's just too sore.

This could be the case for your kitty, but I don't think I would take any chances. It turned out that my cat had a spinal cord injury. They couldn't diagnose this right away but over the next few days she lost more functionality. Day two her tail had become completely limp and day three she could no longer hold her bladder. They had to stop the meds they had given her and put her on something else. It took about 6 months but she did finally recover.

It doesn't sound to me like your cat has a SCI since things seem to be improving, not getting worse, but I would still plan to take her as soon as possible to be sure. If nothing else they will probably give you some pain meds to help him over the next few days. I'd rather play it safe than sorry.

I don't think the kittens leg is broken if she is starting to put weight on it.

One time I was fostering 8 kittens. They had found a rolled up carpet. Some would go inside and the others would pounce on them. Well of course one of them got hurt. He would lay around and refuse to walk. When I would pick him up he would scream. I gently felt his leg for any obvious broken bones but there weren't any. I think he just pulled a muscle. So I let him relax and after about 4 days he was back to his normal self. Kittens are fragile but also bounce back pretty quick. If she is putting more and more weight on it everyday, I would give it some time and see what happens. Good luck

Literally two weeks ago we dealt with a very similar situation with our 6 month old kitten.

I was walking through the house and Jack got tangled in my feet and I tripped over him--he squealed and ran. I assumed he just got scared and was fine. 15 minutes later I realized he wasn't putting weight on his front left leg--I of course freaked out and called my hubby. He hurried home and within an hour or two Jack was still limping quite a bit but putting weight on his leg. By that evening he was still limping but running around and climbing the cat tree. The vet said to wait a day or two and see how things were. Jack still limped but also still played like normal.

It happened on a Tuesday and on Saturday we went to the vet ( I didn't honestly believe anything was wrong besides a sprain or bruise--but since I caused the injury I needed peace of mind and at least some pain meds for my baby). Jack was acting normal but still limping at times. The vet felt all around and Jack did let out a meow when she rubbed around on what is equivalant to our wrist joint. She said to wait until Tuesday and if he was still limping she wanted to x-ray. We got some pain meds and anti-inflammatory meds. By Monday there was no limp at all. He's doing just fine now!

Good luck, and I promise it'll work out. They have age on their time with healing!

Leslie

I'm sending lots of vibes that kitty is on the mend very soon.

Thanks for all the input guys We let him go a couple more days and slowly he is recovering it seems. He is walking with a slightly noticeable limp now but what seems to be mostly full weight now. Hes been running around the house like a kitten possessed causing all kinds of havoc after having a couple down days right after the fall. I think hes going to be fine.