Cat leg injury

scamp1

Hi,

have an outdoor cat who's limping. The cat belonged to an elderly neighbour who has died and the cat was forgotten about and left to go wild. I've been looking after a bit over the winter, supplementing her food by a very small amount but still making sure that she's finding her own too.

So that brings me to my question. She's been limping for the past few days and it's gotten much worse today. It's her left front leg that's sore. She doesn't mind me touching it anywhere on the leg and I've compared it to her right leg and it looks the same. When she walks she puts the bad leg much farther forward than the left/normal before she weight bears on it and when she sits, instead of curling the leg up like normal and putting the paw facing foward, she sort of bends the leg at the elbow area and places the paw part of the leg back towards her body and inbetween her 2 legs..

As she's not my cat and is essentially wild I don't want to take her to the vets, but I obviously don't want to see her in pain. I've never had an animal before so don't know if these issues resolve themselves or not.

Thanks for any help/reassurance you can give!

star-pants

How old do you reckon the cat is?
It's fairly impossible for anyone here to be able to tell you exactly what's up with the cat not being able to see it and even then we could only guess. A vet would be better able to assess the situation. Could you not pop it in a cat cage and get the vet to have a quick look? If the owners dead noone else is going to look after it.
It may be old age or it may be an old injury that's worsening with the weather even.

scamp1

Thanks for that answer! I know noone here can give proper advice about the cat, but I don't know if this sort of thing is common or not.

I don't know the age of the cat, I'd say about 3-4 years old. I don't have any sort of cage for the cat and it really doesn't like being picked up so that could be a problem too. Also I don't have a car so getting the cat to the vets could be difficult too.

star-pants

Maybe take a photo of the cat when it sits funny? That way people might understand better what you're explaining. Other cat owners here may have more useful info - I don't keep cats myself so I wouldn't be too sure.

Cat seems young enough then, so it might have been an old injury that healed funny.
You could also give the vet a buzz and describe it to them too see if they'd have any ideas also. But hopefully someone here will have better advice.

Orla K

Since you don't seem to want the resposibilty of caring for the cat. I think you should look up animal shelters and tell them about it and make sure you mention it's injored and that you wont/cant look after it.

Try go for the ones with a no kill policy.

They will give it the vet care it needs and hopefully find a new home for it too.

MsFifers

Lots of cats will tuck their front legs inwards when sitting, but if the cat is limping then its not normal and definitely needs vet attention. There is no way anyone here can give any other kind of advice really because it is necessary for a qualified person to actually examine the cat.

I know its not your cat, but it would be great if you could contact your nearest animal charity/spca who will be able to lend you a cat trap to carry the cat to the vet or may be able to refer you to someone who will help to catch the cat.

Cats are very slow to show any sign of illness/pain, so you can be sure once you do notice it is serious and needs vet attention. I hate to think of the poor thing, probably once a very loved pet, having to fend for itself like that after its owner died. Very sad.