Kitten has bad front left leg?

[benbabbag]

One of out kittens, now
8 weeks old, had been limping all day and night. He a will let me bend and extend his leg fully with no resistance or sign of pain. Also applying pressure down his arm didn't seem like it was broken in any place. His wrist of paw/forearm join seems swollen and be meows when pressures applied so I think it's probably there. He still walk and can apply slight pressure to it when he walks it does however look slightly different to the other paw. I thought it could just be the swelling though? Just wanting any help with what it could be! Thanks

 

[red top rescue]

It's possible that he jumped off something and "sprained" his little wrist.  It is also possible he has "limping kitten syndrome" which is caused by a form of the calici virus that is NOT covered in the standard vaccine and that affects the joints, sometimes mildly, sometimes severely.  If you have more kittens, do not be surprised if one or more of them starts limping also.  For some it is mild and transient and you don't need to do anything, it will pass in a few days.  For others there is a LOT of pain, and it may move from the front legs to the back legs.  In that case, we usually get them a cortisone shot and get them put on antibiotics for a week just to prevent secondary infections, and it has always cleared up in a week.  Does he have a fever?

 

[benbabbag]

Thanks for the reply. He doesn't seen in any major pain and is slowly staring to put more pressure on it however sitting down a lot too I think to relieve it. No other kittens are showing signs and they've all be pretty animated so it was probably getting his paw stuck and falling. Would you recommend he let him rest or maybe encourage him to play as he will still go for toys. Anything else I can do aswell? Thanks again

 

[red top rescue]

I would let him decide how much he wants to use it.  You might check to make sure he didn't rip off a claw although you probably would have seen that as it bleeds a lot.  A good reason to keep their tiny claws clipped, and at that size you can even use baby nail clippers to just take off the hooks at the ends.  As long as there's not a lot of swelling, there isn't much for you to do as lon as it continues to heal by itself.