Broken Nose?

[alice79]

After weeks of trying, I have finally caught the last female cat within the colony I have been working on.  She is heavily pregnant as well.  She did not appreciate being trapped one bit.  This girl really thrashed and must have smashed her face pretty hard because her nose was bleeding profusely.  The bleeding did stop and she has settled down but I can see that her nose looks a bit swollen and her breathing is stuffy sounding.  She has only been in my home, confined to a dog sized cage of course, with all the trimmings for a few hours but is already refusing food and water.  Usually the feral cats get over it and hunger wins out but I don't know about her.  She might not be wanting to eat because she is in pain or can't smell.  I don't see any actual lacerations to the skin on her nose so it all must have been internal.  I can't even tell you how awful I feel since it was obviously not my intention to hurt her.  Poor thing.  At one point she was even panting a little bit...

Have you ever heard of a cat breaking their noses?  Are their even any bones there or is it just cartilage?  I've never really given any thought to the anatomy of the feline nasal cavity until now.  I could take her to a vet but most vets, at least around here act like babies when you mention the word feral or they only handle them after they been anesthetized for spaying/neutering.

Thanks in advance!

 

[StefanZ]

Them refusing eating the first day or even two isnt uncommon!   But otherwise, I agree with you.  Being hurt in the nose, broken or not, may take away from her any appetite.

Where do you live?   I mean if we / you can find a vet used to work with ferales.  There are such, even not so few.

Sorry, I dont know on the answers to your questions.  Its night so I wont google for it either.

I hope others chime in who has more advices.

Good luck!

 

[ondine]

I once trapped a feral who scratched the skin clear off his nose banging against the trap. I had him neutered and the vet gave him an antibiotic shot while he was unconscious. He also needed stitches.

Can you try to find a TNR group - one that has experience with ferals? If not, ask your vet if they can give the cat an anesthetic while she's in the crate so they can work with her.

Thank you for helping her!

 

[alice79]

Thanks for the replies.  I am in Philadelphia.  I'm pleased to say Momcat is doing much better today, eating and using her litter box, but still stuffy sounding and giving me dirty looks  ;-)  Due to the holiday and a promotion the feral clinic I use was running, I won't be able to have her spayed until early next week.

 

[ondine]

Oh, thanks for the good news.  The dirty looks are to be expected.  I am glad you are working with a group familiar with feral cats.  They present challenges many vets simply don't know how to deal with.

Once she is spayed, she will most likely calm down a bit.

 

[catapault]

How pregnant is "heavily pregnant"?

 

[alice79]

She was in heat during April and finished it up around the 5th of May as best as I could tell so she must be about 8 weeks along.  She's got a big ole belly too, at least four in there.  I can see them moving around when she lays on her side.  It's all very sad.  Believe me I tried trapping her sooner but she is a clever girl and I've been working solo on this colony of almost 20 cats.  They have several feeders and passerby's who made shelters for them for almost 2 years but no one really thought to have them vetted.  I didn't understand that so I stepped in to take care of it.  At one time I even had full funding from a well known rescue but the "president" of said rescue got petty and nasty with me over a disagreement she had with one of the feeders and subsequently bailed and took her money with her.  I guess that is a whole another ugly story.  It's just me and the cats now.  One the upside I only have one male left to catch so even with all that nonsense, what needed to get done got done, so I am very happy about that.