Bit of a limp

Greetings friends

Quick question to you all. We have a cat aged about 7 and we noticed today that she is limping a little - favouring the left hand rear paw. She is strictly an indoor cat and although housed with other cats they all get along very well. I see no obvious signs of injury.

She is very skittish being a rescue cat. It has taken a long time for her to trust us and as skittish as she is I have not been able to grab ahold of her and have a good feel of her paw or hind leg.

Ay comments or insights will be helpful She seems to be in no distress so we are not ruahing her to the vet (it is 7pm UK time) she is eating as normal.



Oooohkay. Much closer observation (lying on the floor with her pretending not to be interested) I feel I must conclude that it is actually the front left paw.

She has been seen standing holding the paw off the ground.

I am wondering at maybe a claw problem?

Very possibly a claw problem. Maybe got it caught and tore it, or it's ingrown, of something.

Could also be an injury from jumping down from some higher place.

And you can't rule having gotting is caught in something.

if you can get a hold of her to check her out that's ideal. However every so often cats land wrong. My rule of thumb for a limp, not accompanied with any personality or behavioural changes, is to give it a night, 99% of the time they are walking better in the morning, if not, off to the vets!

Thanks for the comments.

We have been observing her overnight to see if there is any change. The problem with our dear Lana is that before she was rescued she was severely ill treated and trust with us is a fragile thing.

I have noticed the following:

She was able to use the big scratcy post with both front paws.

She has been playing with her ball-in-a-hoop toy with both front paws.

When she has been sleeping or resting and then starts to move the limp is more pronouced but it definitely eases after a couple of steps.

She is not licking at the front left paw which I would expect in the case of abscess or splinter.

If she was a person, I would think some sort of sprain or twist. Perhaps from a duff landing or from some of her "crazy half hour" dashes about the place.

Don't get me wrong, if I was concerned she had done herself some real harm it would be in to the box and down the vets and lacerations be darned.