My poor kitty... limping...

Cosmo started meowing CONSTANTLY yesterday out of nowhere for about 20min, and i couldnt figure out what was wrong, He had been right on the sofa for about an hour or so, no falls or tumbles, the dog was no where in sight. I thought maybe she'd been a bit too rough with him or something, but nothing...

The poor thing, nothing would calm him down, finally he wore his poor self out and fell asleep. When he woke up, i noticed he was limping and holding his right back paw up like it hurt him, so i picked him up, examined his paw, nothing, not even swollen. I checked his range of motion, pressed a few places, not even a whimper... but he acts like hes in pain when he walks! I just cant figure it out. He will go to his litter box, to his food bowl, then back to the couch and fall back asleep. He's normally really active, so im kind of at a loss...

Should i just give it another 24 hours and see if maybe he sprained something jumping (he is an adventerous little rugrat) or should i just go ahead and make a vet appt for tomorrow if i can get him in. I just hate to overreact and foot a 200.00 bill for x-rays and bloodwork :-( But if its what it takes to keep him out of pain! The poor guy looks so darn pitiful it breaks my heart. :-(

~Kate~
Mommy to Cosmo (8wk Mix Domestic Longhair; 1.7lbs) and Piper (17mo Pomeranian; 8.4lbs)

Wanted to also mention he got his shots last week (Exactly 6 days ago) Dont know if that has anything to do with it. He was a bit sore after the shot, but for the 4-5 days in between he has been just fine....

If he is still limping in the AM - I'd make him an appointment. Better to be safe the sorry! Give Cosmo a kiss for me!

Thanks hon. Man i hate to see him in pain! Hes still eating and going to his litterbox and water station, so im okay with waiting until the morning. Ugh, poor thing, just breaks my heart to hear that pitiful "im in pain" meow, like "Mommy DO something! It hurts!" ya know... UGH! (heart breaking)

How old is Cosmo? Have you had an extreme thundershower or days of cooler, damp air/rain??

I would definetly keep an eye on him and call the vet in the morning if nothing changes. Most cats do not show that they are in pain unless they are REALLY in a lot of pain. The fact that he is in enough pain to affect his behavior and his activity level is enough to be very concerned with.

Good luck with everything and let us know what you find out.

I thinking monitoring for a day or two is fine if he is acting normal otherswise. If it's not better or getting worse take him in. I am dealing with the same thing, I have an appt tomorrow at the vet. He starting limping Fri, and at first I didn't think too much of it, but when it seemed worse on Sunday I made an appt today.

I don't think it's broken in my case, but I do think he has a sprain of some kind and likely needs some anti inflammatory.

He is 8 weeks. We live in nw florida, so lots of thunderstorms/rain. But i highly doubt its arthritis LOL

If he was over a year old, I would be more inclined to monitor him at home, but at 8 weeks he definitely needs to see the vet! Just like if I have ear pain, I let it go for a few days before calling a doc, but if the kids say they have ear pain they see the doc within 24 hours. You just have to be more careful with the little ones!

Best of luck, keep us updated on how he is doing!

Just wanted to reply for everyone and give a quick update. Cosmo went to the vet yesterday afternoon, apparently he sprained his back hindquarter, vet said its most likely him testing how high he can jump. (only charged us 18.00 for an anti-inflamatory shot and a light sedative, didnt charge for x-rays or even the office visit!! I was SHOCKED!! He really is a great vet.) So last night he slept in his crate, he didnt mind too much since the thing is huge (30-40lb dog size LOL) But it kept piper from wanting to play w/ him at least. This morning we carried him down to his foodbowl/litterbox/waterbowl and he didnt want to be picked up, so we put piper out in the yard for an hour or so and let him walk around the house a little, he isnt limping any more, but hes still sitting on the oposite side of his hurt leg. We let piper back in thinking she would want to play, but she's been really gentle around him, i guess sensing that hes in pain.

But he is doing just fine, hopefully by tomorrow he should be back 95-100%. We're still walking him up the stairs the rest of the week, just to be safe. I think he decided to jump off the side of the stair landing (good 5.5-6ft jump) and thats possibly when he hurt himself... Guess he'll just have to learn the hard way.... darn boys LOL.

But TY for all of the concern and well wishes guys!! I appreciate it!!

~*Kate*~

Isn't it a good feeling to know you did the right thing?
(Especially since you weren't "punished" for it financially!)

Yeah, We are pretty good w/ money, when we got cosmo we set aside 300.00 for things like this, (We did the same w/ piper)... it just stinks sometimes because you hear of some of these Vets ripping people off, I'm so happy we have one of the good ones. Makes me really proud to be a client of his, because it tells me that he is really more interested in the health of his patients than the $$ he makes. Its just nice to know people like that still exsist :-)

~*Kate*~

So glad everything is working out OK and I hope little Cosmo is soon back to his normal self.