Cats leg broken at the vet!!

Here's the story. My mother took her 9 year old male cat to the vet for routine dental cleaning. That afternoon the vet called and said " I don't know how to tell you this but somehow your cats rear leg was broken while under our care". The vet was very appologetic and said all treatment would be free of charge etc etc. It has been about 10 days and now the vet is saying that after having a radiologist look at the x ray the cat "might" have bone cancer.
Now my mother is talking about euthanizing her beloved cat tomorrow.

My concern, is the vet telling the truth? Did the radiologist feel the cat would require expensive surgery to repair the leg as opposed to just casting and the vet is looking for the easy way out? Is a second opinion in order here?

The last thing any of us want is for this cat to suffer. It went to the vet seemingly perfectly healthy now may be put down tomorrow. What do we do?

Definitely get a second opinion! If you don't you will always wonder *what if*? I would be very reluctant to have my cat that seemed perfectly healthy before going to the vet euthanized just on one persons say so!

SECOND OPINION!!

Truth or not, vets are fallible. A cat's life is in the balance here. Without any question, I would get a 2nd opinion by a vet *of your own choosing* right away. Tell your mother to hold tight and find out the reality of what is going on here. That a cat "might" have bone cancer hardly seems a reason to assume that the cat does have bone cancer.  

Hopefully your vet would then agree to go along with the 2nd opinion if it does not agree with his own opinion...

Lets put it this way...a scan showed my husband had a broken spine.  He has been fighting leukemia, so the thought was the cancer may have spread to the bone.  Same 'may have' that you are experiencing.  Is the next thought euthanasia?  No.  The next thought was IS it bone cancer, and more tests were done.  

In our case, fortunately it wasnt, but we did have to go to several drs and specialists before we finally got an answer as to WHY there was a break (turns out there wasn't even a break! He has a congenital ridge on that vetebra and the shadow it cast made everyone (NOT spinal specialists - radiologist specialist,  and oncologist) say it was a break).  So we are out of the woods on that front.

Could be a happy ending for you too!  Just follow the same logic - you can't do anything on a 'may have' besides more tests!

I think you've had a 100% definite answer here. Please don't have your fur baby put to sleep until you get a second opinion. Saying a cat has bone cancer without even doing tests is irresponsible in my opinion! Let us know how you get on x

Thanks for all the replies. I will be speaking to the vet today and we will definitely get a second opinion. Something about this new diagnosis just doesn't smell right. I will update when I get some news. Thanks again.

Good luck, I will be thinking about you! I agree, there's something not right about your vet diagnosing something without tests! Well done in going for a second opinion!

I hope everything turns out well.  I would be tempted to get a third opinion as well.

In our case, if this had happened to us, we have a university with a teaching vet hospital withing an hour's drive away.

I own a horse. He is not a fancy high-bred horse and we don't do fancy riding. Some horse vets (the horse world is very money-oriented) have no interest in helping a horse like this and prefer to see them put to sleep than bother to work with them or the owner. I had a vet diagnose a failing suspensory ligament that basically meant my horse would have nothing supporting his bones in his legs and is a death sentence - all with *no* diagnostic tests!! I moved on to another vet, and discovered this vet was *totally wrong* (and unethical imho) and my horse is still with me today.

BTW broken legs are a nuisance but a cat can totally recover. My Liam broke his leg. During healing, rather than crate him (my cat spun around non-stop, not helping to heal the leg but making it worse - in some cases, a crate may be essential but it was not working for Liam), I used a small bedroom and took out all of the furniture so zero jumping during healing. He healed perfectly and with no stress within a few months.

I don't know how wel you know that vet but after getting a second opinion I would Google/dig/snoop online to see if any other reports of similar instances surface

Hi-

I would get a second opinion for sure, but I can tell you from what I know about bone cancer, it can cause the bone to break VERY easily.  My cat was diagnosed with bone cancer in June 2012 in her toe.  Her toe was completely destroyed.  Her leg was subsequently amputated in December 2012, followed by four rounds of chemotherapy and today she is doing great.  I have learned a lot about bone cancer since her diagnosis and I can tell you when an animal has bone cancer the bone can break very easily.  Had you been noticing your kitty limping at all prior to this incident??

I am glad you are getting a 2nd opinion, and from what you have written it seems you have every right to feel like something may not be adding up. I hope that it isn't cancer after all and that the poor kitty comes though okay. Please keep us updated and I will keep you all in my thoughts.