Broken foot and 105 fever

My cat spent the night outside last night against my wishes (normally I'll call him for a minute or two before I head to bed, and he runs in).  He came in this morning limping and made a beeline to the arm chair and curled up behind it.  This is extremely strange for him--on the rare occasion when he does spend the night outside, he usually runs in and heads right to his food and water.  I took him to the vet this morning and his temperature was 105.  She felt all around his leg, and said his foot appeared to be broken--not sticking through the skin, but crushed.  I left him there and they were going to do an x-ray and bloodwork.  She's supposed to call me any time now with the results.  My question is, he has been perfectly fine up until this morning--eating, using his litter box, not feverish, etc., so if this fever is the result of an infection from the break in his foot, how could he have gotten an infection so fast since this just happened some time in the last 12 hours?? 

Hi @ewells1014 and welcome to TCS! I'm sorry to read about your cat!

Your question is interesting and i did some research on your behalf and found that fever cab result from broken limbs in humans, and the principles would seem to apply to cats as well.

http://ehealthforum.com/health/broken-bone-fever-t301112.html

Fat Embolus - The femur is the largest bone in the body, and has a very large bone marrow cavity. When the bone breaks, some of the marrow gets into the blood stream. The marrow has quite a number of fat cells in it. When the fat cells get to the lungs, they can cause an embolus in the tiny capillaries. This can set up an acute respiratory distress. Besides difficulty breathing the patient will have an elevated fever. As a matter of fact, often the fever will show up before the breathing problems. And sometimes, the patient won't develop the respiratory distress, but will still have the fever.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_a_broken_bone_give_a_fever

Can a broken bone give a fever?

Yes it can. "Fever following fractures of long bones is usually attributedto the resorption of the hematoma and the products of tissue damage."

Hopefully your guy will make a full recovery and won't ever encounter whatever it was that did this to him.

I just got a call from the vet.  This is very interesting, and I'm stumped.  His ankle is not broken--he has an infection in the bone.  No clue how it got there.  She said possibly a puncture of some type let in an infection that got into his blood stream and made it to that ankle.  He hasn't had any injuries or wounds that I know of, so I'm really unsure what happened.  At any rate, he's staying at the office today for IV fluids and to start his antibiotics, and I'll be picking him up tonight at 5:00 p.m.

On a related note, does ANYONE have any idea how to make a previously indoor/outdoor cat completely an indoor cat??  We tried it several months ago, but he waited for every chance he got to sneak out...usually when the kids were headed outside to play and the door was left open for more than 2 seconds.  Any advice?  We're a family of five, and between me and the kids, and the neighbor kids coming over to play, the doors around here are constantly opening and closing.  And our cat is FAST.  lol

You might find this experience will make him want to stay inside.  Something similar, not nearly as serious, broke my little guy from wanting to go outside.  He had been indoor and neutered but he got into this thing of wanting to go outside.  He would only stay a few minutes and come right back.  I worked nights then, so on my nights off I would let him go out for his few minutes.  One night he got 'lost'.  He went in the wrong stairwell and was at the wrong door.  He has wanted no part of going outside again and that was almost 9 years ago.

I hope your little guy recovers quickly, that has to be really painful.

Hopefully something similar will happen to our cat.  He was so lethargic and in bad shape this morning.  Maybe he'll remember this whenever he hears a door open, and he'll stay put!!

Bone infections are bad and hard to treat.  Has surgery been discussed?

If you have a fenced yard there are products from www.catfencein.com that allow you to attach a webbing thing on the top of your fence that will keep your cat in.

Just a thought....

He came home with a 2 week supply of an antibiotic (something that begins with a Z) and three days worth of Meloxicam for pain.  I have him quarantined to the laundry room for a week until he goes back for his re-check.  He was pretty pitiful last night--he wouldn't eat his dry food or a can of food I bought him, so I opened a can of tuna.  He sniffed it and put his head back down to rest.    This morning, his eyes are clear and he doesn't feel nearly as hot as he did, and he purred at me.  I re-tried the tuna, and he licked all the juice but left the meat.  That's a start, right?  lol  He tried to get out of the laundry room, so I think he's feeling much better today!

StephenQ said:

 
Bone infections are bad and hard to treat.  Has surgery been discussed?

If you have a fenced yard there are products from www.catfencein.com that allow you to attach a webbing thing on the top of your fence that will keep your cat in.

Just a thought....

Click to expand...

We do have a 6' privacy fence, but he can leap to the top.  He sits on it and looks at the neighbor's dogs and torments them.  I'll check out the webbing--I've never heard of it, but I'll definitely look for it.  

Nothing was discussed about surgery.  I didn't think to ask the vet about it last night when I picked him up...I had my three kids with me, and had my hands full.    Now that I think about it, is a bone infection in cats the same as in humans?  I ask because my now 8 year old had a bone infection (osteomyelitis) when he was 5, and it involved a 10 day hospital stay, a couple of surgeries, and a month of PICC line antibiotics.  The vet did tell me yesterday that she put him on a broad spectrum antibiotic, and they were going to send more of his blood off to find out specificially what type of infection it was and possibly end up changing the antibiotic to a different one if necessary. 

He appears much better this morning, but his poor ankle is so swollen.  I'm wondering if there's an abscess in the bone if it'll rupture?  I'm hesitant to touch it at all because it's so painful for him, but I tried to look at it to see if it's any less swollen, and it looks about the same.

@ewells1014

It is possibly similar to your child's situation, some infections are so deep they need to be cut out.  The sample the vet is sending out will be tested by a bunch of very specific antibiotics to see which ones the bacteria is sensitive to and as a result can be targeted by a more specific antibiotic than he's currently getting.  If that didn't work surgery could be the next step but feel free to discuss this with your vet.

The product at www.catfencein.com is designed for fences 5 feet in height, they have others for lower fences as well.  It's an amazing product and I know people who have used it. Some measuring, a screw gun and a saturday afternoon and that's it!

If your kitty is given more pain medication I would ask about another medication.  Buprenex is effective and safer for kitties.  http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/newsevents/cvmupdates/ucm231254.htm    Meloxicam, brand name Metacam is an NSAID.  A kitty's liver can't metabolize NSAIDS so the kidney's do all the work.

I certainly don't want to contradict your vet but it is something to talk to him/her about if there is more pain medication given.

I agree with @Denice :-)

An update on Mr. Jeff...  It's been a week now that he's been on Zeniquin, and he still has one week left.  I took him yesterday for a followup appointment, and the vet re-did his bloodwork.  She said his white cell count was actually a bit higher than it was when I first took him in, but that's a good thing--he's fever free (and has been for several days) and so it means his body is trying to fight the infection.  She gave me another two week supply of Zeniquin (he'll be on it for a month total, when this is all said and done) and he has another followup appointment in two weeks.

This morning, I was vacuuming.  Mr. Jeff loves to smack the vacuum and beat it up, lol  When I was pushing it toward him, he smacked it, hopped up and walked away.  I noticed a little pink blood on the carpet where he was sitting.  I checked his leg out, and it appears that this abscess he has has ruptured.  I gently pressed his foot, and some blood tinged pus came out.  I called the vet and she wants me to bring him in today to have it flushed and have the x-ray retaken.  I would like to note that since this abscess is draining now, he's walking nearly normally, able to bear weight on the foot, slight limp, etc.  Before, he was walking only on three legs.  He has also been hungry/playful/fever free for 3 or 4 days.

My question is, is there ANYTHING I can do at home to care for this wound myself?  I'm NOT trying to be cheap, and I certainly love my cat, but I've already paid over $600 between the two visits/tests/medications he's had, and I really do not have the money for another $175 x-ray, bloodwork, office visit, etc.  Since he's already on an antibiotic that's working, can I just make a peroxide solution and clean his foot myself and keep it wrapped in gauze?  Neosporin?  Anything??  I don't want it to get worse, but I really can't afford more vet bills right now.  If it could wait a week until my husband is paid, it wouldn't be a problem.  This is Banfield pet hospital (Inside Petsmart) and so it's not like some old timey country vet that I've been taking my pets to for years and would let me pay over time or extend inhouse credit to me--this place wants the money now.

You can try an epsom salt soak or compress. 

This was actually recommended to me by my vet several years ago when my dog had a problem with her foot. 

It's an old fashioned remedy used to draw out infection.  It has also been used to draw out slivers and stings.

Be sure to use PLAIN epsom salts, not the fragranced ones marketed for baths.

Since he is already on an antibiotic you could clean the abscess yourself, I'm sure there are many past threads here that would explain how, or get on the internet. The worst is over! Once it pops and drains it's on it's way to healing. My poor feral gets 2 or three abscesses a year, I give him an antibiotic, and other then that he heals on his own. It just happens too often. My housecat, Burt, got an abscess and the vet did surgery to drain it, it was horrible! He had numerous stitches, a drain, and they cut him open from his shoulder to his paw! I think it was worse! Good luck and tell us how it goes.

ewells1014 said:

 This is Banfield pet hospital (Inside Petsmart) and so it's not like some old timey country vet that I've been taking my pets to for years and would let me pay over time or extend inhouse credit to me--this place wants the money now.

Click to expand...

My landlord uses Banfield, and he's been trying to convince me to sign up with them. IDK, I'm not crazy about the idea of taking my cat to a "chain" vet hospital; my impressions are that I will be dealing with a vet that only understands whatever groupthink regarding treatments, nutrition, etc. that Banfield as a whole considers "correct" and, therefore, the vet is more likely to be unwilling or unable to think outside the box than a vet with their own practice. I see Banfield's website considers raw/homemade diets to be "trendy" rather than species-appropriate and increasingly being proven, when done right, to be healthier and safer than commercial pet foods. 

AutumnRose74 said:

 
My landlord uses Banfield, and he's been trying to convince me to sign up with them. IDK, I'm not crazy about the idea of taking my cat to a "chain" vet hospital; my impressions are that I will be dealing with a vet that only understands whatever groupthink regarding treatments, nutrition, etc. that Banfield as a whole considers "correct" and, therefore, the vet is more likely to be unwilling or unable to think outside the box than a vet with their own practice. I see Banfield's website considers raw/homemade diets to be "trendy" rather than species-appropriate and increasingly being proven, when done right, to be healthier and safer than commercial pet foods. 

Click to expand...

This is my first experience with them.  We moved a few months ago, and my old vet's office is too far away to travel to, so I picked Banfield because of all the vet's offices in the area that I called when Mr. Jeff was injured last week, they had an x-ray machine, and they're the closest.  So far, I've been pretty happy with them--the vet is great, she answered my 10,000 questions (lol) and seems to know what she's doing.  Their prices are SO expensive though.  They have that Wellness Plan that's pretty cool--for adult cats, it's roughly $18 a month, and they get a lot of "free" things--yearly vaccinations, no office visit fees, etc., and I believe you also get a discount on some of their tests if your pet is sick.  I think it's pretty much their version of pet insurance.  I did some more calling around, and found a vet about 45 minutes from me that charges only $120 for an x-ray, but that still seems kind of high to me.  I get my teeth x-rayed twice a year at the dentist and it's free, lol    

Di and Bob said:

 
Since he is already on an antibiotic you could clean the abscess yourself, I'm sure there are many past threads here that would explain how, or get on the internet. The worst is over! Once it pops and drains it's on it's way to healing. My poor feral gets 2 or three abscesses a year, I give him an antibiotic, and other then that he heals on his own. It just happens too often. My housecat, Burt, got an abscess and the vet did surgery to drain it, it was horrible! He had numerous stitches, a drain, and they cut him open from his shoulder to his paw! I think it was worse! Good luck and tell us how it goes.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking--since he's already on an antibiotic and he's obviously getting better, why take him in again?  All they're going to do is flush it with saline.  My only concern is that the vet said the abscess is in the bone (osteomyelitis, and I'm sure I spelled that wrong, hah).  When I called earlier this morning to ask what to do, she said to bring him in and he may have to have surgery to scrape/debride the bone.  I actually have experience with this when my now 8 year old had osteomyelitis when he was in kindergarten (long story, but he was very ill for several weeks, it involved several surgeries and a month's worth of antibiotics that I had to administer in a PICC line.  It was a nightmare.)  I'm just wondering how an abscess IN the bone could rupture like this.  I wonder if she maybe mis-read the x-ray and it's just around the bone? 

ewells1014 said:

 
 They have that Wellness Plan that's pretty cool--for adult cats, it's roughly $18 a month, and they get a lot of "free" things--yearly vaccinations, no office visit fees, etc., and I believe you also get a discount on some of their tests if your pet is sick.  I think it's pretty much their version of pet insurance.  I did some more calling around, and found a vet about 45 minutes from me that charges only $120 for an x-ray, but that still seems kind of high to me.  I get my teeth x-rayed twice a year at the dentist and it's free, lol    

Click to expand...

That was what my landlord was trying to sell me on, their Wellness plans "so you'll still have enough $$ to be able to pay your rent." Um... yeah... this from someone whose dog just was diagnosed with stones, yet is still eating a dry diet (Prescription food, no doubt), in addition to being grossly overweight for a Shetlie. He's been bringing the dog to his office, that's how I know what it eats. *I* feed my cat wet food with an eye towards raw in order to prevent having to deal with that problem. I prefer to go to a vet that takes a holistic/integrative view of animal health, and doesn't simply grab the closest prescription food or drug as if it's the Miracle Cure. 

I wonder if Banfield's plans offer free titers testing along with the free vaccinations? Or is that also too "trendy" for them?

I called my mom's vet (a private practitioner who's been in business since the early 80s) and explained the situation to him.  He agrees with me--if the abscess is inside the bone, it's odd that it would rupture.  He said to keep an eye on the cat and to soak his foot in a warm water and betadine solution twice a day for 8 - 10 minutes (or as long as he would tolerate it).  The warm water would help bring the pus out and the betadine would disinfect it.  Same old shpiel--if he develops a fever, stops eating, seems lethargic, etc., take him to the 24 hour vet.  So far so good--he seems normal and the area looks clean...no odor or discolored pus.  We have an appointment with the new vet Monday at 9 a.m.