Cat limping

SingItOut

Hi all,

A few weeks ago, we came home to find our cat limping badly on her front leg. We took her to the vet straight away and he checked for a breakage and couldn't find one so she was sent home with an antibiotic for two weeks and confinement to indoors.

At the end of the first two weeks there was no improvement so we took her back because it seemed to have gotten worse. A different vet there wanted to do an X-ray of her leg so when we went in to collect her after the X-ray the vets had shaved her leg and discovered two tiny bite wounds on her shoulder so we thought brilliant that's what the problem was. No breakages showed up on the X-ray but they did say that hair line fractures might not show up due to the size of cats legs and also my cat has a form of dwarfism so she's only tiny anyway.

Another two weeks recovery time in which nothing changed with her leg she's still holding it up or very gingerly walking on it so we brought her in at the start of this week and the vet again mentioned a hairline fracture might be a possibility but just gave her another anti biotic for two weeks. Of course she's still limping.

Anybody ever experience something like this? Or do I need to go to a different vet to get another opinion? She's seen 4 vets there and they're all "stumped" as to what it could be.

MarkAnthony

Is the cat resting? You may need to pop her in a carry case during the evening to reduce her mobility so she rests, hopefully during the day she's resting anyway as cats do!

taylor3

Would it be possible there is a problem with the cats paw as opposed to the leg?
My cat had a limp before and it turned out she had a thorn in her paw, It was quite bad, vet had to sedate her to remove it... might be worth examing your cats paw.

SingItOut

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Is the cat resting? You may need to pop her in a carry case during the evening to reduce her mobility so she rests, hopefully during the day she's resting anyway as cats do!

Yes she's been inside most of the time since it happened, when she's outside for an hour or two she can't leave the garden anyway and as you said she just sleeps when she's outside.

SingItOut

taylor3 wrote: »

Would it be possible there is a problem with the cats paw as opposed to the leg?
My cat had a limp before and it turned out she had a thorn in her paw, It was quite bad, vet had to sedate her to remove it... might be worth examing your cats paw.

The vet is checking her pads every time she's gone into them and she doesn't have anything there. The first vet visit she was in pain when the vet pushed her leg back but the vet was able to do the same thing on Monday and she was fine. But she's still limping unfortunately whatever's going on.

2RockMountain

You should probably ask the vet the question before you book the next appointment - ask them if there is any point bringing her back in, or do you need to find a better vet?

maggiepip

Have they ruled out a pinched nerve / disc issue in her upper back area or neck, that could cause lameness in the front leg.

SingItOut

maggiepip wrote: »

Have they ruled out a pinched nerve / disc issue in her upper back area or neck, that could cause lameness in the front leg.

That's exactly what we were thinking, I'm contacting the vet this afternoon and asking them. Because it seems to be the only thing left that it could be

SingItOut

2RockMountain wrote: »

You should probably ask the vet the question before you book the next appointment - ask them if there is any point bringing her back in, or do you need to find a better vet?

I'm thinking I need to find a better vet because surely they'd have found out what was wrong by this point? It's going on so long.

Shivi111

90% sure thus isn't your issue, but I always think of it when I hear about sore paws/ limps... My girl hurt her leg (a real injury) and was laid up for a bit, long after vet thought she should be better we still had a limp. Went on for ages until, by chance, my sister was sitting with her one day while I was out & she was fine, but started limping the minute I came home... Turned out all the nice treats I'd been giving her because I felt sorry for her had trained her to limp around me! Like I say, prob nothing similar for you but there you go! Tricksy cats.

Ms Doubtfire1

first thing coming to my mind is a pulled/split nail. Very painful and often overlooked.if it's still sitting half in it won't heal either..at least not fast

SingItOut

Shivi111 wrote: »

Turned out all the nice treats I'd been giving her because I felt sorry for her had trained her to limp around me! Like I say, prob nothing similar for you but there you go! Tricksy cats.

You know a friend actually said the same thing to me, I've been trying to spy on her to see if she'd limping while not around us and she sometimes is and sometimes isn't so it's still a possibility she could be faking :eek:

SingItOut

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

first thing coming to my mind is a pulled/split nail. Very painful and often overlooked.if it's still sitting half in it won't heal either..at least not fast

Vet checked her nails and all are intact, she doesn't have an issue with them being touched and is still sharpening her claws on the garden bench where she shouldn't be

Just to update: She's putting her foot to the ground a lot more in the last two days so I'm hoping it's starting to heel. She's still going to a different vet next week just to rule out anything else.

Thank you everyone for your advice