nerve damage and incontinence issue

hello, im new to this but trying to seek answers from anywhere I can. my cat is 7 years old and a fairly large cat. before Christmas she jumped off a counter and must have landed wrong. she was dragging her back legs and wasnt walking. the vet took xrays and discovered a few discs in her spine seemed to be closer than the others so they are saying its nerve damage/slipped disc. they gave me steroids B6 and pain killers. well a week and a half later she is moving around great. jumping off chairs, etc. but her tail is still limp and shes not moving it. however, now she is got a horrible incontinence issue. we had her in our laundry room area where her litter box is blocked w a baby gate. and she jumped over it so we let her out a few days and she just urinated everywhere - carpet, kitchen chairs, floors, rugs - and left fecal too. so we had to put her back in the laundry room. we took her back in the vet and they said to give it 2 weeks to see. in the meantime though, we have a newborn baby and a toddler and i work full time. i cannot hand express her as needed daily. i tried diapers but they just fall off. we got a bed for her but she just lays in her urine not knowing she went. i just dont know what to do. will she ever recover from this sort of injury? the vet said with her being a large cat that it might do permanent damage or if she jumps again it might injure it again even if she does recover. i definitely dont want to put her down. but we already have to probably replace the floor in the laundry room and new carpet from those 2 days she was out. i feel bad leaving her in the laundry room area but we just are at a loss. any help? Thank you. 

I don't know much at all about this.  I know we had a member here at one time that had an incontinent Manx cat.  I know it's a different situation as far as the cause but she used a combination of a baby onsie and a diaper.  

Yes, you need to use the diapers made specifically for CATS and DOGS, and the onesie will help keep it on. 

Only your Vet can tell you whether or not she has a good chance of recovery.  Ask him to be very frank with you, no sugar coating.  Each injury is different.  There have been cats who've sustained injuries and somewhat recovered,and others who haven't.  It just depends on what happened to them and how bad

thank you. didnt think about using the onesie. i will try that. i emailed a few rescue groups to see if they had ideas and they suggested using a dog crate with her bedding and food in till she gets better. then put her in that room blocked till she fully recovers. but my question is how long do you wait? i dont want my cat in a dog crate for 7 months. thats not healthy either. and i feel like it would stress her out way more. and add to her issues going on now. i feel so bad i dont know what will help or if anything at all. thanks for the suggestions. 

The large dog crate has been used many times for cats who absolutely cannot be allowed to jump for some reason or another (broken legs, broken pelvis, etc.)  Itis always very difficult on both the cat and the owners to do this, as the cat will never be satisfied, and of course, not understand why it's being held "prisoner".  In some cases, they need to be kept in there for up to 8 weeks, depending on how severe the injury is.  And sometimes these are mere kittens, so imagine how difficult THAT is.   Of course, they can have TOYS, but that's not usually enough. 

Sometimes a room with no furniture for them to jump on and off of will work too, but you have to really make sure there is NOTHING they can jump on, like a window sill (or a washer or dryer).  Even if you make a set of stairs for them to use, they don't always do it

So...does she need to be "contained" to heal, or for her incontinence?  I'm thinking both, really.  As far as how long, that's up to her body.  How much time did the Vet think? 

thank you that makes more sense. basically now its just for the  incontinence.  her tail still hangs limp and hardly moves. but she is walking fine and seems to be in no pain. she seems sad shes locked up in a different room but its just a baby gate so we walk by and give her love all the time. the vet said 2 weeks to check in so its been one so far. but again this has been going on since before christmas. she "healed" about a week after that. so we shall see how long this takes. 

Any news on your cat?

Very sweet of you to ask. Thank you. 

As blessed as we are, she has completely healed. We continued to block her in our laundry area for a few weeks. It was really bad for awhile and we tried steroids and some pain meds and nothing seemed to help. One day she was meowing really bad and seemed depressed so we let her out in a bigger area and no accidents. its been a month and we are accident free! she seems to have completely healed and we couldnt be happier. shes back to using the litter box and jumping and her tail is back up. So thank you again for asking. Shes doing great! 

That's great that she made a complete recovery!

Thank you!! We are very lucky. It was a rough couple of weeks but she pulled through