Knee sprain in kitten?

milofever · Sep 15, 2014

Hi! I am new here and was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? - I adopted a 5-month-old kitten last week Saturday. On Thursday morning I woke up to him laying on the living floor and very lethargic. I lifted him up to see if he would stand and noticed that he was holding his back, right leg up. I was so worried and rushed him to the vet immediately. The knee is swollen and he cried whenever the vet touched it, so she did an x-ray. X-ray was totally normal, no fracture. She sent us home with four days of pain medication and told me to bring him back in after the four days if there was no improvement or if he seemed any worse. - The rest of that Thursday evening and all of Friday he seemed almost completely normal already, I had even felt like maybe I rushed to the vet too quickly (nearly $200 later). By that night he was back to running wildly through the house and playing. He must have aggravated it from all the running because on Saturday morning he was limping again, but not nearly as bad as he looked on Thursday morning. He is still limping today but eating/drinking perfectly fine, using the litter box, playing, jumping up onto tables, running, you name it. When I touch the knee I can feel that it is still swollen but he doesn't cry like he did the first day.. he does not seem to like it, of course. - So my question is.. Has anyone dealt with a sprained knee in a cat? If so, how long did it take to heal? Is four days really enough time for him to be walking normal? The vet said after four days they want to sedate him and take more x-rays, but I guess I'm trying to gauge if I should rush back in and pay for more x-rays that may not show anything (like I said, we did have one x-ray so far). I've read a few other experiences where the cat didn't go back to walking normally for two weeks. Do I go back in tomorrow or do I wait a few more days? I really appreciate your help! And no, I am not trying to avoid the vet, I'm just wondering if anything can be done this soon after being there. I will definitely be back there if he doesn't improve anymore. Thank you so much in advance!

stephenq · Sep 16, 2014

MiloFever said:
Hi! I am new here and was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? - I adopted a 5-month-old kitten last week Saturday. On Thursday morning I woke up to him laying on the living floor and very lethargic. I lifted him up to see if he would stand and noticed that he was holding his back, right leg up. I was so worried and rushed him to the vet immediately. The knee is swollen and he cried whenever the vet touched it, so she did an x-ray. X-ray was totally normal, no fracture. She sent us home with four days of pain medication and told me to bring him back in after the four days if there was no improvement or if he seemed any worse. - The rest of that Thursday evening and all of Friday he seemed almost completely normal already, I had even felt like maybe I rushed to the vet too quickly (nearly $200 later). By that night he was back to running wildly through the house and playing. He must have aggravated it from all the running because on Saturday morning he was limping again, but not nearly as bad as he looked on Thursday morning. He is still limping today but eating/drinking perfectly fine, using the litter box, playing, jumping up onto tables, running, you name it. When I touch the knee I can feel that it is still swollen but he doesn't cry like he did the first day.. he does not seem to like it, of course. - So my question is.. Has anyone dealt with a sprained knee in a cat? If so, how long did it take to heal? Is four days really enough time for him to be walking normal? The vet said after four days they want to sedate him and take more x-rays, but I guess I'm trying to gauge if I should rush back in and pay for more x-rays that may not show anything (like I said, we did have one x-ray so far). I've read a few other experiences where the cat didn't go back to walking normally for two weeks. Do I go back in tomorrow or do I wait a few more days? I really appreciate your help! And no, I am not trying to avoid the vet, I'm just wondering if anything can be done this soon after being there. I will definitely be back there if he doesn't improve anymore. Thank you so much in advance!

Personally I would take him back in addition i would enforce cage rest for him, by that i mean crating him or at least putting him in the bathroom so he doesn't run round and re-injure him, until he is 100% well.

milofever · Sep 16, 2014

Thank you for your response. I brought him back to the vet today. They did abkther x-ray and that one is fine as well. No fractures or structural issues. He can see that a tendon (or ligament?) is enlarged on the back side of his knee. He prescribed more pain medication and to try and keep him quiet. He didn't recommend keeping him confined and almost seemed against it when I asked.. But each time my cat seems to improving he goes running and jumping and looks worse the next day. Would a large dog crate be ok? I don't want him go be miserable.

ritz · Sep 16, 2014

Maybe you could crate the kitten for part of the day? Maybe when you're not home? The larger the crate the better. Bathroom is even better too.
I can see where the vet might be coming from--sometimes if you don't use a muscle/tendon it becomes really stiff and sore, so you don't want to use it at all, making the problem worse.

stephenq · Sep 16, 2014

Odd that the vet was against it. We use cage rest all the time with animals with leg injuries at our shelter.

milofever · Sep 16, 2014

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milofever
Sep 16, 2014

I just borrowed this kennel from someone. Is this too small? My cat is laying in front of it for reference. I won't use it if it's too confined. How often should I put him in there and for how long? Thank you!

stephenq · Sep 16, 2014

I would take him out for Peyton and gentle supervised play only the point being you do t want him running around. But I would check with your vet and try to understand his objection.

milofever · Sep 16, 2014

He said he wouldn't like the confinement and as soon as he gets out he will run wild because of his pent-up energy. He also said it was his own opinion that the meg can't be injured more from being active.. Though anytime he shows improvement he stars playing and takes two steps back in his healing.

milofever · Sep 16, 2014

stephenq Do you have experience with sprained/strained cat legs in your shelter? I'm wondering about how long it takes to heal, before you should start worrying if there is something more serious going on?

stephenq · Sep 16, 2014

MiloFever said:
@StephenQ Do you have experience with sprained/strained cat legs in your shelter? I'm wondering about how long it takes to heal, before you should start worrying if there is something more serious going on?

Hey, i'm more used to post-surgical patients having cage rest due to leg surgeries, more so than with sprains. Honestly I would get your vet's advice and if they didn't think cage rest wasn't appropriate (can't understand why) then I would want an explanation. But if it was me on my own, I'd want to see the cat walking without a limp for several days before I ended the confinement.

stephenq · Sep 17, 2014

MiloFever said:
He said he wouldn't like the confinement and as soon as he gets out he will run wild because of his pent-up energy. He also said it was his own opinion that the meg can't be injured more from being active.. Though anytime he shows improvement he stars playing and takes two steps back in his healing.

Well if he is fully healed while confined, then he can run around all he wants afterwards and it shouldn't matter. And I don't understand why he things activity won't hurt a sprain. It would in a human, right?

milofever · Sep 17, 2014

I completely agree with you. The kennel we have isn't very big so we decided we would put him in there if we can sense that he's about to get too active, but yesterday and this morning so far he's been pretty quiet on his own.. Which I'm hoping isn't a bad sign.. He's been sleeping most of the time.

stephenq · Sep 17, 2014

It sounds ok, he could use some rest

milofever · Sep 17, 2014

His leg looks terrible today. Until now the swelling was only over his knee. Today it has spread down into his ankle. Can this be a result of the x-ray he just had yesterday? The techs had to hold him down and extend his leg completely straight while he was wiggling around. I'm wondering if additional swelling could occur after that..

catpack · Sep 17, 2014

I wouldn't think the x-ray would cause the additional swelling. I would be more inclined to think that the kitten running, jumping, etc could have caused further irritation.

I too am a bit perplexed as to why your vet is not suggesting cage rest (in a XL dog crate.). I don't think "the kitten won't like it" is a good reason. But, that is my own opinion.

We (rescue) cage rested a kitten for 6 weeks due to a muscle/tendon injury in order to give everything time to heal. You do have to go slow and do physical therapy with them afterward so that they do not reinjure the area after resting for prolong periods. (We also use laser therapy to help promote healing.)

quiet · Sep 17, 2014

Hi

Think you need a new vet. I have never heard of not restricting a cat's activity with an injury. I am also not so sure they aren't missing something there. The additional swelling is very alarming and I would get him in somewhere ASAP. What other animals do you have at home? Children? Dogs? Are the kittens indoor only?

Get the kitten to a new vet and have the paperwork and xrays either sent over or pick them up. What is the pain medication they have been giving him? Sleeping allot =pain.

milofever · Sep 17, 2014

catpack Is 6 weeks pretty standard for a tendon injury? In that case, did the kitten require surgery? Was the swelling pretty bad?

milofever · Sep 17, 2014

quiet He is on Metacam. I have not given him his dose for today yet. - My vet said if he wasn't improving in a week that I should call the Ortho, so I called them right away today since the swelling spread and they told me it doesn't sound like an orthopedic issue. I'm waiting for my current vet to call me back. If they are not helpful I will certainly find a new vet. Thank you

milofever · Sep 17, 2014

quiet He is our only pet. In fact, he was only home with us for about 5 days since we adopted him when he injured himself. He has never been outdoors since bringing him here. I have two young kids but they're super quiet and shy (they gently pet his head when he's laying with us but just observe him otherwise) and we were all asleep when he injured himself. I woke up in the morning to him laying on a blanket, very lethargic and when he stood he wouldn't put his leg down at all. - The night before he was very hyper, running wildly through the house and trying to catch a fly, but then fell asleep in bed with us. I have no idea what happened. Poor guy.

quiet · Sep 17, 2014

You need to google the metacam and read up on it. It could be causing some of the problems. Also I have no idea about an ortho vet not thinking a swollen leg is an ortho problem. Find another vet!!

Knee sprain in kitten?

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