Broken Paw?!

My year old kitten Brutus came home the other day with a couple of scratches on his nose, i cleaned them out and he seemed fine. Then last night i come home and my fiance said the cat has something wrong with its foot. He won't let his foot touch the ground, he limps everywhere, and cries if anyone touches it. Could this be a broken paw or an abscess? I called the vet and they said to give it a day and come in because they don't want me to get xrays done unless it is definitely broken. PLEASE HELP! I love this little boy, what do i do???

Vets, asap.

They don't have any open space for him today unless i make it an emergency and I honestly can't afford their 350$ emergency fee.

Is there anyway i can clean his foot if he has something stuck in it? Or if it is broken i can bandage it?

If it's an abcess you might be able to find it if he will let you handle his foot.

When can you see the vet?

The soonest is tomorrow night. I'm so worried. And would the abscess be oozy and visible? I've never had this issue with an animal before and I'm not sure what to do. All i can see is a swollen paw that he won't walk on and i can tell he is in pain. I hate that there is only ONE vet clinic in my town!!!

Vets ASAP - even with the extra fee (if at all possible). If it's an abscess you could have a much more serious situation (which will be more money) than if you take him now.

I can't afford the fee right now at all, i just took in a stray and got all of her shots and spayed and i am as broke as can be. I feel so helpless there is nothing i can do until tomorrow.

Some vets will let you drop off your pet who they will see between appointments or surgeries. Ask if they have this option at your vet. They might charge you a half-day boarding fee but that should be no more than about $10.

Some suggestions:

If seeing a vet is out of the question until tomorrow night, you need to take action yourself now. I'm assuming you are keeping him inside until you see the vet? Do you have someone who can hold your cat while you examine his paw very thoroughly. You know how to burrito wrap a cat in a large towel? Leave the affected paw out of the towel wrap. Whoever is holding him may also have to scruff him - do a long scruff with the whole of the hand so it's comfortable but controlling. Look at the paw well, and all around the foot. You might see a penetrating wound although the opening could be small. There might not be any drainage at this point to help you, that usually happens as the abcess worsens. Clean the wound very thoroughly with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Soak a cotton ball with it and squeeze it into the wound. The paw may feel warm to the touch and sometimes the heat can indicate where the wound is located. I wouldn't try squeezing around the wound in your place since you don't know what has happened and  you could worsen things.

If no wound, the amount of pain he shows while he is being examined might indicate whether you are dealing with a break or a sprain. Can you confine him to a small room where he won't be able to be active. Make sure he gets wet food so he is well hydrated.

Thank you so much!! Yes i can wrap him and I want to take immediate action to make sure he is okay and i want to keep him out of pain as much as possible. I have searched for a wound but I can't find it, it looks like he may have a broke toe because one is sticking up higher than the others. How can I stabilize a broke toe? can I splint it?

You told your vet's office about the toe being higher than the others and they said wait a day?  Perhaps they think he could have jarred his foot from a bad jump, although I've had cats do that and have never noticed a raised toe.

The toe could be higher than the others because there is swelling inside the foot, it's impossible to tell from this description. As for splinting it, do you have medical or veterinary or extensive first-aid  training? I used to be a children's nurse and I wouldn't splint a cat's foot. I would be leery of treatment based on what something could be instead of what you know is wrong. Confining your cat so he can move as little as possible seems like the best thing you can do for him for the next 24 hours.  Do you have a large cage?

How do you know your cat is in pain? Because he is limping? Because he is crying out when he moves? Because he is hiding/doesn't want attention/wont eat? I'm sure he is in some pain, and cats of course are notorious for hiding pain, but wonder what you have seen to indicate pain.

Keep talking to us as the house slowly tick by and we will hope for the best with you.
 

The toe might always have been a bit higher, but you have only just noticed it.

It's very good of you to take in a stray, but in my view you owe it to your own cat to make sure you are in a financial position to give him the care he needs, when he needs it.  Having said that, I know my own vet (in the UK) will always fit me in during the day, at no extra cost, if necessary.  They did so when George had an accident (sadly he died) and also when I realised that Rufus had reached the end of the road.  It was exactly the same with my previous vet.  I did have to sit and wait for some time, but not hours, and for the symptoms you describe I would be along first thing in the morning but not calling them out overnight.

Out of hours - now that does cost.

In my town we only have one vet's office within driving distance and they are ALWAYS busy. They have short hours and although they are a 24/7 clinic, they rush the most important cases to the front of the line like cattle with broken bones, or horses that need surgery. They even have specific days they have cats come into the clinic *which are Monday and Friday*. I called first thing this morning and they said  they would not be able to fit me in, but if i wanted to pay 350$ as a sitting fee, plus the 200$ for xrays and whatever else we need to get done by the end i'm looking at well over 1000$ being spent by the end of this just because i wanted to get it done on a day that wasn't for cats! Plus they would need to make me an after hours (or emergency) appointment in that case were looking at even more money! I took a few pictures i thought might be able to help you all understand what i am seeing.

@Simka the only thing he is doing to show he is in pain is the wimpers when i touch his foot, and he limps but he will put weight on it if he has to but very lightly. He is still eating and drinking and his foot isn't hot, there are no visible marks cuts broken nails or bleeding. It's just swollen. and looks odd.

It's easy for those of us living in towns and suburbs to forget that some have very limited veterinary care available to them. I didn't even think of this, spoiled as I am with my vet only five minutes away from my home and a veterinary specialist center only 15 minutes away.  I'd be a frazzled wreck with the vet care you have available to you.

I feel better knowing your cat is eating and drinking normally. Perhaps he only has a sprained or jarred foot. That can cause swelling, will definitely result in a limp and the cat won't want you to touch the affected foot. This has happened to a couple of my cats over the years. They have limped anywhere from two to four days and then gone back to normal. We will hope that is the case with your cat.
 

Yes in more rural areas like mine, we don't have very many options. Especially since the area I'm in specializes in farm animals and not cats. Most people see cats as a nuisance because most of them here are feral and like to snack on the farmers chickens and tear up the garbage cans... me calling in an complaining about my cats possibly broken paw is not very common around here, and since my cat is an indoor outdoor cat its likely that someone thought he was a stray and stomped his foot. That's why i wanted to know if there was any way possible that I could bandage it myself. I am able to stretch all of his toes except for his two last right toes that's when he gives me a little wimper and tries to get away from me. He is my very bestfriend I've had him since he was only 4 weeks old and I would like to think of myself as a mother figure to him, and knowing that he is hurt and someone could have done this on purpose to him sickens me. He is so sweet and caring, he doesn't ever claw me(not even while i was stretching his toes) and I am truely heart broken over this.

I guess 'rural' means different things in different places.  In UK terms I live in a rural area.  Population in my village is 3,000 or less, it's surrounded by good farmland and it's 10 miles to anywhere with a big supermarket or a vets.  It is also an old village - the oldest buildings are early 1600s, and it had a Royal Charter in 1517 which means it was already well-established then!  Romans had a camp here as well, which would be 2,000 years ago.

My vets do quite a lot of large animal work (cattle, some horse work - the very expensive horses get very expensive and very specialised vets and we have some of those round here) but does masses of small animal, and if I turned up with your cat at 9am he would be seen, at normal rates, that day.  it would be more sensible of me to ring first though, as I could be in for a long wait otherwise.  Feel it's more the attitude to how to run the practice than anything else.  Dunno if it helps that they know me very well now, having been a customer for 8-10 years.

My previous vets when I lived in Leeds (large city) had done large animal work many years ago but it had faded away and most of the vets there had never done any since leaving vet school.

I do like the idea of specific days for cats though, if that means days when there won't be dogs in the waiting room though personally I'd put up with the dogs to see my favourite vet.

Going back to your cat:  since there is swelling there will be some heat, but really the only treatment you can give is if you can find an abcess or splinter / thorn.  Have a very good look - get extra light, have someone hold him, if you have a magnifying glass use it.  Check very carefully across his pads, between his toes.  If an area looks suspicious and has fur, very carefully snip the fur away.  If he has had a fight and been bitten (it happens) the problem is that cat bites tend to heal over before the infection has cleared, and that is how an abcess forms.  Sometimes there is also a bit of skin and/or fur driven in. 

If you can't find anything there is nothing more to do until you can see the vet at an affordable price.

My brother lives in a rural area in Arkansas, yet he has a pretty good vet who charges extremely reasonable rates.  She is also a cat lover, and has a snowshoe office cat.  Her small-animal hours are limited, but she does very good work on them.  Her bread and butter, of course, is the large-animal practice.
 

Ya i live in a small town in the foothills of California, and its about 50 miles to the nearest big city, but i was able to get him in today and thankfully all my worrying is put to rest because he was actually putting weight on it today and walking with it. The vet said it was probably just a bad sprain that could take a couple more days for him to get completely used to walking on it again. I'm so glad they had me wait a day so i didn't end up paying 1000$ to hear he just sprained it haha. Thanks so much for all the help everyone I am so glad you were able to help me out and address all my fears.