Cat Limping! advice?!

Hey everyone,

Got home from work today and Cello is favouring his front left paw 100%. He won't even put weight on it. He is still eating/cleaning himself etc. so I don't think he is in that much pain. But I have NO idea what he did, or what happened (no trauma or anything that I saw) he hasn't been home alone since this happened. Is there any tests I can do to see what hurts. There is no cuts and his paw pads seem to be fine, I can't see any swelling or feel any heat but he doesn't want me touching his leg or paw (understandably).

Any advice or idea?!

I just crawled around on the entire floor of my apartment and I can't find anything he could have stepped on..........

When we had a mystery injury, it turned out to be a puncture wound from an animal bite. The wound was not really visible or apparent to me, but the vet found it right away. It had gotten infected and abscessed inside the leg. The abscess was causing the pain and the limping.

Ours got bitten outside (dog? maybe another cat?).

he is indoor only, i only have one other cat and she is very docile, so I don't think that is it.

Its really hard to say what happened since no one was home to see anything. He could have jumped off something any maybe twisted it? If you are really worried, i would take him to the vet. They will be able to tell you whether they think it is a sprain or a brake and can do x-rays and maybe give him some pain meds. Cats can hide pain very well.

the vets is closed for today and I don't think this is emergency worthy. He is eating and drinking so I don't think he is in *too* much pain, but if he hasn't improved by tomorrow he will be going to the vets for sure. Poor guy. I tried taking a really close look at his pads to make sure nothing was on them or stuck between them but he hates being pinned down so I couldn't tell if they were sore of if he was yowling because he was pissed off (siamese) i also cleaned the paw as thouroughly as I could with warm water. I think I'll leave him be for the rest of the night and see if it gets better at all.

My older cat did that a few weeks ago. She must have jumped off a chair the wrong way or something, because for a couple hours she refused to put weight on her front paw. I was super worried too...and of course it was a weekend so the vet was closed She would hiss at me whenever I tried to pick her up to look at it, too.

Anyway, I put her in a quiet room for the rest of that evening (so the kitten wouldn't bother her) and she limped around for about 2 days and then got better on her own. If he doesn't get better in a couple of days you should probably bring him to the vet, but if it's just a simple sprain/strain he should be able to get better on his own.

Originally Posted by greeneyes86

My older cat did that a few weeks ago. She must have jumped off a chair the wrong way or something, because for a couple hours she refused to put weight on her front paw. I was super worried too...and of course it was a weekend so the vet was closed

She would hiss at me whenever I tried to pick her up to look at it, too.

Anyway, I put her in a quiet room for the rest of that evening (so the kitten wouldn't bother her) and she limped around for about 2 days and then got better on her own. If he doesn't get better in a couple of days you should probably bring him to the vet, but if it's just a simple sprain/strain he should be able to get better on his own.

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thanks greeneyes, i feel better knowing others have had this happen. My guy is older as well. I've been looking through old threads and it seems this is the most likely scenario..... I'll give him a couple days as long as he keeps eating/drinking, I guess if its a mild sprain/strain there might not be any noticable swelling/heat.

I agree with the jumped off something and twisted it, theory too!

Try this, this is what we do in the hospital before x-rays to check for breaks in people... Hold the limb secure. start at one end, not pinching but "feeling' down the leg at about 1 inch incriments, feel for anything out of place, check for areas that are MORE tender than others, note that to tell the vet later. Make sure that when you find a spot that either gets attention from Cello, see that it is the SPOT and not an angry kitty . Once you get to the other end of the limb, you will pretty much know if you have a break that is not hairline, you WILL be able to feel something that has SNAPPED.

Try this and see how it goes..

Good luck

Thanks for your responses everyone. This morning he seems 99% better, he was still limping (putting no weight on it) until late last night, but he slept with me through the whole night, and jumped out of bed this morning putting weight on it, about every 5th step is a but funny, but i think he must have just strained it or something (thank the lord). Thanks for all your advice and support!

L & C