Broken back/behavior change

simontigger

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Hi,

My cat Simon is an 11 yr old DSH male.  He is fixed.  He has been the sweetest boy all these years.  Two months ago he started crying in pain when you touched his lower rear left leg.  I took him to the vet, they said it was nothing and should go away.  They gave him an anti-inflammatory, I asked for blood work to be done to rule out diabetes.  He also was given a shot of cortizone.  The blood work came back fine and no sign of arthritis.

A few weeks go by and he begins limping on the rear left leg and continues to cry with pain when handled in that area.  He is now unable to jump at all.  I take him back to the vet again, but a different vet sees him this time.  We rule out any heart condition or blood clots.  They do 2 x-rays of his left leg from the side, and one full body x-ray.  The vet can't find anything.  She sends him home with pain meds and a referral to the main animal hospital in NJ (Red Bank Hospital).

A few days later he is now dragging his left rear leg and unable to walk on it.  I take him to the Red Bank Hospital to see a neurologist.  They want to do an MRI (I cannot afford this).  They do x-rays of his back with both side views and full body views.  It turns out he has a broken back.  I'm horrified.  I have no idea how this could happen as I have a 1 bedroom condo without any stairs.  He has 3 broken vertebrae on his spine.  They give him a steroid injection and want me to watch him for 2 weeks.  There is nothing else they can do for this.  They said he needs time to heal.

The two weeks have just ended and he will see the vet tomorrow.  However, he is now dragging BOTH rear legs.  And out of the blue last night when I was helping him get a drink, he snapped and attacked me.  He wouldn't let go of my left hand, he was biting it and had his claws dug in.  I was screaming in pain, and when I finally got him off, my finger was gushing blood.  He sat by the bathroom while I sobbed and tended to my hand.  He had this look of shock, as in, "I can't believe I just did that."  When I calmed down and slowed the bleeding, I went to him to tell him it's ok, something must have spooked him.  He scratched me and tried to bite me again, and took off dragging himself to the other side of the room behind a plant.  He pooped in the process behind the plant.  My other cat, Tigger, came over to him and started hissing at him and began to fight with Simon.  Tigger is very protective despite his shyness.  Simon is still shaken and runs to my couch.  He is unable to jump and begins to pull himself up with his front claws.  Afraid he would tear the couch, I help him up so that I can get him off.  I carried him to the bathroom and shut the door so Tigger would not get involved.  Once in the bathroom, Simon begins to try to climb up on top of the toilet.  Tigger is outside the door howling (they are normally best friends and constantly groom each other).  I get him to let go and see that he is now panting!!!!  I have never seen a cat pant and am terrified he is going into cardiac arrest.  I take him out of the bathroom and let him lay near his bed and sit a few feet from him to calm him down.

He calms down after a few hours.  However, he is very skiddish and nervous.  Today he is jumpy when you touch him, he had a small freak out when I went to get him up, I quickly left him alone.  He ate his dinner and continues to maintain his diet.  He is looking around a lot to see "if someone is there" and seems unsure of his surroundings.  

I don't understand how he can progressively get worse and worse.  If he broke his back two months ago when I saw the first vet, why are these symptoms showing up now, two months later?  How can he have a snap change in personality?  He has never ever behaved like this.  He has never bitten or scratched me, I've had him since he was a kitten.  I am heart broken and the other cats (there is a 3rd cat who was not involved in the chaos last night) can sense the stress.

I appreciate any thoughts and help.

Colleen
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Our cat bit my husband once when she was startled, and even thought didn't mean to do it, it happened.

I think perhaps it's the combination of him being in pain, or possibly not having any feeling if he is now dragging his hind quarters, and not understanding what is happening, and possibly being startled by something, then with your screaming at him to let go, that startled him even more, than the other cat getting involved just aggrevated the situation.  And now he is, naturally going to be skittish because he is in a weakened situation.

It's a very good thing you have a follow up appt tomorrow so they can maybe tell you why he appears to be getting worse rather than better.  I'm surprised, though, that they didn't have you keep him in a large dog crate or something to keep him very quiet and "still" while he was recuperating.  Seems like that would be what he needed to keep from reinjuring his spine, poor baby


Now, as to your bite, be very careful with that.  Cat bites can be very dangerous.  When my hubby got bitten, he ended up in the hospital for 5 days, then had an IV antibiotic attached to his body for a couple of months.  (she got all the way into his bone on his hand and he got blood poisen from it, and he's nurse so thought he cleaned it up right
)
 

pushylady

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I'm confused as to how the vets missed a broken back, especially the second time after X-rays! Sorry, but I really don't think much of their competence. Poor Simon. :(

As for him biting you like that, I agree with Mrsgreenjeans - it's a common reaction when they're in pain and scared. My cat bit me deeply once when he was being chased by a dog. I had to have antibiotics for a week. Cat bites can be very nasty, so take really good care of the wound on your finger. It's hurtful when your pet turns on you like that especially when you're just trying to help. :hugs:
 
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