Torn ACL

Well, my older kitty was just diagnosed with a torn ACL in her back leg. The vet started her up on Metacam for three weeks and wants to recheck her then. I have to limit her activity during this time as well. If she hasn't improved she will have to have surgery. I have no idea how much that is going to cost as they will have to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon.

Has anyone had experience with this and do you have any advice for me?

I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty! That's a sad injury. I wish her a speedy recovery and no surgery!

I don't have cat experience with this, but my parent's dog (my childhood dog) tore her ACL about a year and a half ago. The poor thing limped around for a little while and she was going to get surgery, but in the mean time it seemed to stop bothering her. The procedure would have required that she stay completely off it during a 4 to 6 week healing time in order for it to take, and that is next to impossible to do with a large active dog. Also, she is so old that we hated to put her through that process. These are probably the things you will have to consider for your kitty, as well. While my dog isn't one hundred percent (we tend to leave her home when we go on longer walks, try to keep her from jumping too much, and she will rarely limp after too much activity), she's happy and very rarely seems to be in pain.

Good luck to you and your kitty!

Thank you PIKate! I was thinking along the same lines. She is 10 years old so I'm hopeful that she has a lot of life left in her, but at the same time her age worries me a bit for anesthesia.

The accident happened a little over three weeks ago while I was gone for the weekend so I don't really know what happened. At the time she had peed and pooped all over the bathroom and since there was blood in her urine, I took her to the vet immediately. It wasn't until after we got home that night that I noticed she was holding her back leg out to the side a bit when she was sitting. Within 2 days she started limping terribly so I called the vet and they put her on metacam, but only for a couple of weeks. After about 9 days she stopped limping completely so I discontinued the Metacam as I was worried about the scary side effects I've read here. About a week after that she started limping slightly again. When he checked her tonight for follow-up of the UTI, I had him check the leg and he saw that her knee was swollen a bit. I'm hopeful that since she stopped limping for a solid week that giving her more time on the Metacam and additional rest to heal will get her back in shape, at least enough that we can avoid surgery.

I truly appreciate the encouragement!