Young cat with joint pain

Loomis is a nine month old neutered male mix, no medical history besides a
very bad URI when he came to us from the shelter four months ago. He eats
canned Felidae/ California Natural/ Wellness/ Merrick, and is usually a vey
active cat. He lives with two other male cats of identical age, no medical
issues, and they normally play very wildly. All are on Revolution.

Loomis hasn't quite been himself lately- he's quit jumping on the kithen
counter, quit playing with the others, quit being crazy Loomis. He still
eats, drinks, poops and pees, but he's walking very gingerly, like a leg
hurts.
Rather than worry I took him to the feline vet this morning for a check up.

He found nothing really wrong. Loomis seemed tender about his rear legs, and
his temperature was elevated (when I went to go take him in the van BROKE
DOWN in the driveway and I had to call the husband to take us. His truck has
no A/C so it was a hot stressful 30 minute ride), so the elevated
temperature was probably stress related (?). Loomis wiggled and panted all
the way there, and it was hot and very humid South Florida style.

So the diagnosis was either he had banged himself, or fallen, or damaged
himself playing which is very likely, or he has an infection somewhere. He
gave me Baytril in case it is an infection.

But on the ride home we were talking and I remembered- I had a babysitting
dog here all last week and I had her gated in our bedroom. I saw Loomis jump
over the gate once and his rear claws tended to get stuck in the gate as he
was going over. I remember thinking to myself "boy if he gets a rear foot
stuck on the way over he could really wrench his leg". When I mentioned this
to the husband he said he saw him jump over it once, crash on the way over,
and just fall the rest of the way and land badly- this would have been last
week Thursday or Friday. Her visit is exaxctly when he stopped jumping and
climbing around- very co-incidental!

So I'm fairly sure that's what happened. Why we couldn't have remembered
that before speaking with the vet is beyond me, but I'm pretty sure that's
what happened.

So do I give him the antibiotics or not? I hate to do it unnecessarily, but
if he needs them he needs them.
Vet said if there is a dramatic improvement then it is probably an infection
somewhere and if it is a sports/banging injury then he won't improve as
rapidly.
He saw no real reason to do bloodwork or xrays yet, as there are no concrete
symptoms- just a bit of tenderness in his rear legs, but all cats hate their
rear legs manipulated... yes? No? That, some "laying low", and a Mommy's
sense that he isn't feeling well. Temp 103ºF after a very hot stressful
trip.

So I'm thinking give him the pills for a couple of days and see if anything
changes??
He is not scheduled for a recheck until this coming Friday, so I should give
them until then?

I just hate unnecessary antibiotic use, but I guess it is the lesser of two
evils? If there really is an infection somewhere we need to get on it.

What would you do?

I would give them just in case .. he may have a bit of infection ...

I would call the vet back and tell him what you just told us here about him catching his leg in the gate, etc.

I agree, I would personally call the vet again and pass along this recollection and see if he/she wants you to still give the Baytril.

I did that and he said yes- he's not going to be in the office tomorrow and said to be better safe than sorry. He's a good vet, the best feline specialist around, but antibiotics just make me nervous, and sometimes I think they prescribe us "something" so we'll be more able to "wait and see", you know?

He had his first dose and has been just sleeping ever since, although he did go get a drink once.

This is just the sort of thing that humbles me so much about owning animals- if it were anyone elses cat I would be able to tell them what I think they should do. But when it's one of my own I just lose all objectivity and turn into a nervous nelly mommy who only knows that her kitty is feeling crummy.
Blah.

i was in the same boat, just about.  a couple of weeks after we adopted jake, my samantha jumped off the couch wrong (trying to avoid the kitten) and hit her leg on the way down.  i watched her closely for a day or two and saw she seemed to be favoring her other hind leg... off to the vet we went.

the vet did a lot of feeling and palpitating and extending, and said nothing was broken, no X-ray needed, just to be careful.  i worked from home at the time, so she would spend days with me in the office, and i'd limit her jumping.  we put her on something that of course i can't remember (cosequin?) it wasn't prescription, it was a supplement.  we kept her on it for about three months if i remember correctly, and by then she was walking and jumping normally again.  she limped for at least a week, probably two, and then it started to seem to heal itself.  the vet believed she hyperextended her leg when she caught it on the way down; we went with that since we saw improvement over the next two weeks.

You must ensure that your cat injury must have been healed and recovered completely, as these kind of injuries, if not healed completely can lead to serious problems in their old age.  Taking care of your pets joint health is necessary to keep your cats mobile in their old age.