Broken hip / Growth plates not fused

I have a cat that I absolutely adore, his about 2 years old. One day when I came home from work my girlfriend said that he would not come out from underneath the bed, he hissed and growled when she touched him. (She doesn't know cats that well and she was scared of him at the time) This behaivor is UNKNOWN from him so she called me right away to come home and look at him. I immediately suspected he had broken his leg by what she described to me. When I got home I pulled him from underneath the bed by his mane, and tried to set him on his feet, he immediately rolled over and let out a yelp. Needless to say we were off the Animal Emergency Room since it was after 6 PM. They X-rayed him and it was confirmed he fractured his Femur right where it connects to the ball. The Emergency vet said he could wait until the morning for surgery, so we took him to our regular doctor at 7 AM. The did emergency surgery that day, he was home the next. He was really strong about, using 3 legs, and he would slightly try to put pressure on his injured leg. After about 6 days he was starting get around on that leg pretty well. Keep in mind there is no connection between the Femur and the Hip now, he is only standing on muscle only, and doing GREAT!!! Wait though, that's not the end of the story, on day 8 following his surgery I happened to be going into work at 4 PM, and MK (mr. kitty) was sitting the living room. Around 2PM I realized he hadn't moved in a while so I went to pet him. He looking a little depressed, I picked him up to put him on his feet and he immediately toppled over like he did 8 days ago. I am now thinking that something went wrong after the operation. So I rushed him back to our regular vet and he examined the leg, and mention to me that it appeared to be fine. But the other leg (the healthy one) was causing a big reaction from MK when touched. The vet recommended we do X-rays and sure enough, he fractured the other hip/ball joint!!! We are astonished! Needless to say, he was back under the knife that morning, and came through fine! It has been about 14 days since his second operation, he is walking around, even running a little and can jump off of things. (still doesn't jump up YET). He has no connections between either of Femurs and his Hips now. Amazing as it sounds, if he wasn't shaven and didn't scares on his hips you wouldn't even know he what he went through, he even walks normally now. Again, he doesn't run too much or jump, but we are working on that with our own little home made physical therapy schedule. One more thing, the vet mentioned that this type of operation is OK for a cat because of their light weight, he will fully recover and at the end of the Femur some cartiledge will form to help keep it from rubbing on the hip. They even did this operation on a 35lbs. Chow. The purpose of this post was to let everyone know that even with two fractured femurs the cat is doing GREAT! Putting him to sleep was NOT an option. This operation was expensive, and we had to do it 2 times! But all in all, if you cat suffers from this you can reassured he will make a full recovery!
Thanks for your time!

I am glad you posted! There are so many people out there who think cats are disposable and not worth the money. They should be given the same chances we would give our human family members!!
Did they say what may have caused the breaks? When I read this, I had a thread come to mind. You may be interested to read it.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...=brittle+bones

The vet mentioned that his Growth plates may not have fused together correctly as he grew. He was not a really big cat, 2 years old at about 12-13 lbs. We have inquired numerous times our vet whether or not this could happen to his other bones. He has reassured us that it will NOT happen and the hip joints are very susceptible to this. More so in old or heavier animals, but it can still happen regardless. I have 3 cats, he is the best one, there was no way I was going to get rid of him.

Wow! What an ordeal. Mr. Kitty is very lucky to have you as his person. That is so great to hear that he will be able to have a full and happy life, even with this problem.

Thank you for posting your story! We all like to learn more about the little creatures that regularly steal our hearts (and usually a few other things around the house!).

I'm so glad MK has you for his friend! I bet he just loves you!! What a remarkable story. Thank you for sharing that with all of us.

i'm so happy that MK is feeling better . MK probably knows how lucky he is to have someone like you!

-safron

Wow! i hope Mr. Kitty is feeling better. After reading your post....the part about him not being able to jump......Have you considered in getting/making kitty ramps for him? They can help him get to places he wants to go and has difficulty getting to. Try DrsFosterandSmith.com or their catalog.

It has been a long time since I posted on this board, but I thought since so many of you said nice things I would provide an update on MK. Two months has passed since his second hip surgery and he is doing great! He doesn't jump like he used to at all, just in the last two weeks he finally decided to start getting up on the couch and chairs. The bed is still too high for him, which is sad because it is favorite place and he always wants to be up there. I put him there at night, then he leaves to eat and about 2 AM he just sits on the floor and meows until he assisted up. I have working on his jumping by enticing him with treats to jump on stuff, he's getting better, but the cat who could once clear 6 foot fences is aways off. (Last night he snuck through the fence and got away, I never let him out except to play in the backyard sometimes.) But all in all, after two hip surgeries and no real connection @ his ball joints he doing fine. He does his 2 AM flat out runs through the house again, plays and fights with the other two kitties (who are now 1 year olds). Since his surgeries he has become so affectionate, it's amazing how he must know that we helped along by carrying him, and holding him when he just couldn't get around that first week after surgery. Cat's are amazing...

It's great to hear that MK is doing well. He definately is lucky to have you!

You mentioned he can't get up on the bed. Have you thought about making/buying a small staircase for him to get on the bed? I remember seeing something like that for sale, either in Drs. Foster and Smith http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ or at PetSmart. That would allow him to get up on the bed, and let you sleep a little more

I have a 16 year-old arthritic Siamese who has no problems with jumping up, but down is more of a challenge for her. I have to agree with okeefecl about the steps. While the ones in Foster & Smith were a little more than my budget would allow, I was fortunate that one of my neighbors is a professional carpenter and agreed to make the steps for me out of scrap wood from his job. I bought a carpet remnant very inexpensively and Mike covered the steps with it for me. Even after paying Mike for his labor, I spent less than half of what the Foster & Smith stairs would have cost.

We placed the steps (that even had a convenient lip at the top to correctly fit the bolster on the side of our waterbed) towards the foot of the bed off my side and once she realized they were there, I had no further problems with her waking me to airlift her off the bed. She used them the first day they were installed, and unless she has other problems, usually doesn't wake me at all anymore.

I don't know if you know any carpenters, but if not maybe you could call a local building contractor and ask for a quote using scrap lumber - you can also ask about carpet remnants, and if the owner wants to discard them, perhaps you can have them? Another good place to ask around would be at someplace like Lowe's or Home Depot. Sometimes the people who work there might be willing to help, or even build it for you. Can't hurt to ask. I think if you mention your purpose (and what an amazing story!!) it might pull on their heartstrings enough. *smile*

Best of luck,

Gaye

Well it's been 6 months and M.K. is in great shape! He jumps on anything and you would NEVER know he doesn't have any actual hip joint connections. Since we moved into our new larger house he runs continuously! So just remember two broken hips on a large male cat does NOT signal the end, he is a such a joy to have around, even if I had to build a little wheelchair for him I would have. Really though, he's doing great and at 100%!!!!

What a happy ending. Thank you for sharing with us about MK!

A few weeks ago I read about a member who shared the story of her cat with the two broken hips-I was desperately searching for info and got so much comfort from reading about MK who had the two surgeries,my kitten was taken to emergency hosp that morning she just suddenly wouldnt move could not bear weight on left rear leg, after exam,and Xrays turns out she had a fractured femur right at the cap where it inserts into the hip.She had the exact same surgery done as that cat and yes, she came home next day and has recovered so well.I actually had to take certain toys away temporarily she was getting herself too stimulated with them!Some vets use a wonderful new painkilling drug which my kitty had a fentanyl patch-it lasted a good 4-5 days it was applied over her shaved area and kitten was very comfortable the entire postop period!Its not really new it is a drug long used in anesthesia called fentanyl and the patch delivers long lasting sustained pain control without trauma of painful injections or being pilled-I believe it was first developed for children and I am so glad to see there is finally real effective pain medicine available to our felines too.It is a narcotic drug and years ago it was always thought cats would get stimulated or wild if given narcotics but my precious baby had nothing but effective pain control from it.She can jump quite well again, sometimes limps a little but not very often at all any more. She also had a miraculous recovery after such a major surgery!Im thankful that post was available to read it offered me much comfort as I waited for Monday to come when she would have her surgery.Im glad MK recovered so well, and here is Tiger's story,so no,don't think a broken hip means the end, I would never euthanize for that either.

I am so happy to hear that Tiger is doing well after having what appears to be an indentical problem to my MK. I was hoping that my post would let most cat owners know that broken hips doesn't spell the end for cats. Keep an eye on your cats other hip just as a precaution, because believe me would have never thought he would break the other one. Another misbelief about this injury is most people believe it is trauma related, from say a high fall, or contact with a car.

Well it been a long time since MK had both of his hips operates on and again, he is 99.5% back to normal. The only thing he can't do that he could do in the past is jump extrememly high, but he can get up over 4-5 feet with no problems. I don't let him out much and never without supervision, this morning he ran across the enture pack yard at full speed, an amazing spectacle consider he doesn't have any real connections between his femur's and ball joints.

Thanks for sharing your story, I wish the best you to you and your cat.

rearviewmirror,

I'm so glad to hear that MK is doing well. My Ivo has never jumped up high (even though she has had no problem with her hips) and she is living a happy life. I agree, however, that hip problems should not mean a cat's life is over. My parents adopted a cat, Wanda, who had been abused and had hip problems (she couldn't jump up and she couldn't back up). She lived happily with my parents for 14 years after they took her in. I hope we hear more from you and MK.

Christy

Hi everyone.. It's been about 4 years since I posted this thread. I just wanted to tell you all that MK is doing great. He's as normal as you'd expect, nothing slows him down. It's hard to believe the other two cats are already 5 years old, they were just babies when I originally posted this thread. I was suprised this thread was still around.

I'm surprised to with the great forum crash of 2004!!! What an amazing ordeal your cat went through and how well he is doing so many years later!! Quite inspiring.

It's great to hear after so long that your fur-baby is doing well. Thanks for updating us on his condition. Also, nice to see you back.

Welcome back.
I was not here when you were active before.
Do you have some pictures that you can share of your kitties.
Please stay around.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOo relieved to see this. My cat has to get this surgery friday and I was so worried he was never going to be able to use his leg again. I was so upset until now. My cat is 1 year and 4 months so he should recover well too. The exact same thing happen to my cat. He broke the ball or what not and they have to remove it. Thanks for posting this because you pretty much just made my whole life. Thanks so much and I hope Mr. Kitty lives a long happy life!