Sore Paw

[Ruth B]

They say it never rains but it pours and that is true at the moment.

Tiggy went to the vets yesterday evening to get some more Bisolven, when we got back we sorted out some tea for us and the cats, and didn't notice anything wrong. However when Saturn came through to clean of the Lasagna plates we notice he was limping, and then sitting with his paw in the air.

I had a look at the paw and couldn't see or feel anything wrong and he didn't seem to mind me manipulating and poking it. We decided we would see what he was like this morning.

I know he spent some time inside over night but I have a feeling he had gone out in the early hours and came back in as we were getting up. It's still giving problems but not as bad, maybe it's getting better. I have another check and think I can feel a scrape or a scab on his large pad, maybe that is the problem, he did seem to be trying to keep his weight forward on that paw when it was on the ground. He is perfectly able to run up and down stairs and try and trip us up, and dance around in the kitchen trying to see what I'm doing on the side, but then again he is still sitting with it up in the air, he seems to forget all about when food is put down.

He disappeared off again for a few hours after breakfast and when he comes back I decide to have another look. There is a slight musty smell to it, maybe there is an infection starting or maybe it is just that he has been walking around outside. Either way i decide to wash the paw in Saline solution, he lets me do it with only the slightest struggle, limps back downstairs and then forgets all about it while he eats a couple of pieces of chicken I gave him for being a good lad. He managed to jump on and off my desk while i was having lunch to see if he could scrounge any, but when he was sat on my desk his bad paw was curled under him, while his good paw was out in front.

I start thinking I'll make an appointment for tonight to get him checked out, but then i find he has vanished again.

So I'm left to fret about him, is something major wrong, or has he just bruised or scratched his pad. Should i ring the vets only to have to cancel as he isn't back. Should I wait until tomorrow night to see if it improves. If I take him will they just give him Metacam to put on his food, in which case I will probably end up with Tiggy on Metacam and him on Bisolven.

They are sent to try us, and it is definitely bothering me more than it is him.

[Lilith]

Aww! The pawly paw!

One of my kittens once zoomed up a bookcase to ceiling level, dragged out the contents, and went wallop in a blizzard of books to the ground with a fat paw. And yes, as we've just been talking about on another thread, it was a Sunday. Frantic phone calls to breeder friend and vet ... chill, if it's a fat paw it'll go down. It did. I used to plait my hair at night out of the way of the Awful Annie in those days and that plait got bashed and mauled and bothered, despite the fat paw.

As a child I 'adopted' a stray ... I wasn't allowed to get him neutered or bring him in grrrr but I fed him surreptitiously ... Tammy knew when I came home from school each day and came limping down the drive, holding HIS pawly paw aloft ... trouble was he never remembered which paw ... cats never do know right from left ...

Cats do make a song and dance about nothing.

But if in doubt ... I have to agree, vet ...

Do hope Saturn's making a song and dance about nothing, little horror, lots of luck

[Ruth B]

I think we will give it another day and see what happens. It's only Wednesday, if it was Friday I would be ringing up, but as it is i can wait and see a bit.

He's back in and on the bed with both paws curled in front of him so I have had a good feel again and apart from the pad being a little warm no indication of anything wrong, I wasn't even holding him while i checked it so if it had hurt I think he would have let me know. He did start playing catch with my hand with both paws and biting it, but that was obviously just him playing not reacting to me hurting him.

[Lilith]

Oh good - that sounds encouraging if he's playing and using it normally.

Sorry - I'd meant to add, with the kitten with the fat paw, that's what I was told by the vet and my very experienced friend. Obviously if she'd been in pain (shocked, withdrawn, growling) and not running about on it I'd have known she was in trouble.

Naughty boy Saturn, giving you a fright like that.

[Ruth B]

I'm still in two minds about what to do.

At tea time he came down when he heard me start prepping things in the kitchen, then went and sat on the table carefully holding the paw up. He then spotted a pencil lying about and decided to play with it with his bad paw.

However when we were doing the hot chocolate he heard the cream pot open and came running through on three legs. I think it was probably that he could move faster on just three legs than limping on four.

My head keeps saying that it is just a bit of a bruise or a strain, my heart is panicking that something major is damaged. If it was upsetting him He would have gone tonight, but he barely seems to notice it. He does seem to be washing that paw a bit more than normal though.

[Lilith]

He would!

It's an exhausting rollercoaster, isn't it?

It depends on the vet, but perhaps a phone call tomorrow, just to put your mind at rest? Of course, if the vet says, bring him in, the little devil will arrive at the surgery brighteyed and bushytailed with four feet all in perfect working order.

If no vet visit, there will be a reproachful heartrending limp ... unless a tempting pencil or pot of cream is spotted ...

Ha!

Cats!!!

(Sorry for the vehemence; Molly has just woken me up by bouncing on to me and bouncing off on to my bedside computer table where she KNOWS she hasn't to go and which contains loads of clutter and no room for a Molly and there was nearly a disaster involving a glass which was fortunately empty - it would be, trust me! - and Mousey and I are creamcrackered after our own vet adventure, but not Molly, oh no ... lol.)

Good luck!

[Ruth B]

Good news, this morning I would say he was about 90% fine.

I had to go to the bathroom in the night (nor unusual for me) and he was sat on the landing both front paws on the floor. As I came out the bathroom he decided to claw the landing carpet, normally he would be told off for that, but as he was happily working out both front paws equally I was too happy to scold him. When the alarm finally went off, he walked into the bedroom with only a slight limp and then proceeded to knead the bedspread.

I noticed him have a slight stumble when he was getting under my feet in the kitchen, but it was when he had tried to turn his body through 180 degrees in one go and I think he just put too much weight on it.

As expected he is off out again having had breakfast. I'll see how he is at lunch time assuming he shows up but I think he (and us) may have had a reprieve.

I know i worry too much, so thanks for giving me somewhere to think things through and to keep a record of what has happened and for listening to me ramble on about him.

[Lilith]

Oh I feel the same, as a fellow worrybucket - great to have a space to think out loud. And maybe share useful info too.

I'm glad he's improved today, the little horror. Please give him a kiss from his Aunty Lil