*I accidently caught my cat in the door a little!! - Will she be okay?

I'm not sure where this goes so I'm posting it here. A few minutes ago, when I was letting my dog in, I closed the door and, since it's very dark out, I didn't see Sweetie ( my cat )....And at the last second as I was closing the door, she decided to come in, and she got caught inbetween. Of course when I felt that she was there I opened it right back up, and scooped her up in my arms and hugged her and kissed her a thousand times and felt for any....I don't know....bruises or something. I didn't SLAM the door or anything, but it felt a little hard, and naturally I'm very very worried. I might be over-reacting, but I just need to know if she'll be alright.

She didn't "cry" or mew or anything, just seemed a little shocked and ran away from me and tried to hide. I'm going to watch for a limp or swelling.

Has this ever happened to anyone else, and if so what did you do? Again it wasn't TOO hard, but still......Oh I don't know......Is it serious? Should I get her to the vet, or is there anything else I could do to see if she's alright??

Aww. Poor baby! I'd say just observe her and if you notice anything, call a vet. If there is an emergency vet open you can always call them for suggestions.

And don't feel too bad...my first cat Tinsel got her tail caught in the very heavy metal door to our apartment at the time, twice! (I was a toddler when it happend, so the blames not on me for this one!) Both times she lost part of her tail so it was a bit short. I think the first time she lost about 2 inches and less than that the second time. So you can't say you did anything nearly that bad to your kitty!

To check for injury, run your hand over her about 1" above her. Feel for heat coming from any specific area. Most likely she'll be fine, but keep a close eye on her to see if she's acting off, if she's eating and drinking and pottying ok.

I'll move this to Health & Nutrition.

It wasn't too hard, so she should be OK. But, like you said, if you notice any limps or swelling or anything, you might want to check it out. If you know where she got hit, you might want to lightly press on that area to see if she reacts negatively. I did almost the same thing to my poor Zenon. She is very light on her feet, so I didn't hear her come into my bedroom. I closed the door so I could grab my other cat without her running away and I sort of hit Zenon on her tummy. She mewed at me and ran away. She acted very annoyed for quite some time, but she turned out fine. I really thought I might have hurt her, but it's hard to tell when they hide away in some dark spot where you can't see them. Just kind of watch her for a little while. I hope she's OK!

Thanks so much for the suggestions, everyone.
I'm just going to be sure she sleeps on my bed tonight, or I won't be able to sleep
I think I might just give the vet a call just to be sure, and to see if there's anything else I might be able to do.

Thanks again!!

Well she normally isn't too skittish, but right now she is being VERY skittish. She will not let me pick her up, or even pet her very much. So I can't really pick her up and check her. I'm going to once she lays down and calms down a bit. But still I'm a little worried about her. She's acting nervous. I think she's okay, but her acting nervous is making me really nervous.......

I don't think picking her up hurts her, because when I did manage to catch her right after it happened, she didn't mew or anything.

Yvonne has mashed Angel in the door a number of times, one time so hard Angel really yelled and Yvonne screamed and Angle was scared to death and limping. I came running to see what happened and Angel limped over to me and I picked her up and cheked her leg over thinking for sure it was broke. I held her till she calmed down and she was licking her front leg allot but in about 20 minutes she was walking fine so she got real lucky. Another time she got her head in the door to the point it took some hair off down the the skin. But she won't learn to stay away from trying to sneek out of the door. Just the oposite, she has learned that if she is going out to make it fast so the door won't get her.

I still can't believe that she didn't crush her front leg that time. I should say that Yvonne don't do this on purpose, when she gets home she has all her work stuff in her arms so she can't see what Angel is doing.

I am affraid she is going to get real hurt one of these days though in a door.

I'd try not to worry too too much about her nervousness right now... getting caught in the door is bound to be stressful and scary so I'm sure she'll need some time to calm down... just watch for more physical signs and maybe try to check her out once she's fallen asleep - gently pet her and use soothing voices, dont startle her or she may bolt... my grandmom caught one of her cat's tails in a door a long time ago and a bit of the tail had to amputated, but from the way she tells it I think the tail was like really stuck in the shut door... doesnt sound like your baby is in major trouble and will probably just shake it off... good luck!

Tom, I hope Angel will be alright!! Like you said, it sounds like she's learning to go through the door quickly....Poor kitty.

Thanks both of you. She's calmed down now. I guess she's okay. I've checked her about 3 times, and she seems to be fine. No limping, swelling, bumps, and she doesn't fuss when I pick her up except if she's really annoyed and wants to get down which is normal ...

Thanks so much everybody!

{{{{ and cuddles for you and sweetie}}} i hope she is ok.

My kitten Penny at about 3 or 4 months old got her neck caught under my recliner while I was sitting on it. I didn't realize until I heard a screech. I jumped off and she bolted under the couch. She was terrified but near as I could tell was not actually hurt. I spent about an hour massaging her neck and talking to her; I felt so bad! She doesn't try to get under the recliner anymore, which is probably a good thing. Amazingly, it hasn't diminished her trust in me and considering she started out as a semi-feral, she must have a short memory.

Accidents happen unfortunately. If the area looks swollen, feels hot, or is sensitive to the touch, then I would take her in to the vet to be checked out.

My vet told me that by far recliners cause most of the injuries to little kittens in the house.

Angel is fine, it was a long time ago when she got her leg in the door. The wierd part is she didn't get her leg smashed trying to sneek out, While Yvonne had the door open she stuck her leg in between the door and the door frame on the hinged side of the door just playing, Yvonne didn't realize it and closed the door on her leg. So being on the hinge end of the door the pressure on her leg must have been unreal. Good thing Yvonne pulled the door open when Angel screamed because I am sure if Yvonne would have pushed the door all the way shut Angel's leg would have been crushed.

Give her an hour or so to settle down and then check her again. Most likely she doesn't have anything more serious than a bruise or two. If she doesn't start acting like herself again within a couple of hours, take her to the emergency vet as a precaution. It's possible - though unlikely - that she could have a significant injury. Take your cues from how she's acting. If she acts fine, she probably is fine. If she continues to act like she's not fine, she pretty much definitely is not fine.

Poor baby! I hope she is okay.

I'm so glad Sweetie is doing better.
Donny is my older cat and has a beautiful tail which he uses to it's full capacity.
He had a tangle with our back door. He too made a dash for our enclosed porch and got caught. What I didn't know was that the door had a metal flashing on the bottom of it. Donny's tail was sliced.
I dashed with him to the vet. The vet reattached the cut skin and did some oxygen therapy on the tail. Since Donny was so young at the tie (1 1/2 years old) I felt it was well worth it to try and save his tail. Now Donny has his beautiful expressive tail back.
Chade is much easier, she doesn't have a tail so I don't have to watch it. I'm not extra vigilant at the doors and don't get into any hurry. If Donny even shows the slightest bit of interest in visiting the porch I make sure he is completely in the middle of the porch before I will shut the door.

Do check the doors of your house. You just never know.

Donny and Chade's mom