Hello
My 9 year old neutered male cat decided to pick a fight with another cat yesterday morning. I managed to get him away and checked him over for obvious wounds. I couldn’t see anything. He went off and slept for the next 5 hours. After he woke up and had something to eat I noticed that he was unwilling to jump onto furniture. He isn’t limping and doesn’t seem to have any difficulty walking or climbing stairs. None of his legs are swollen. Should I take him to the vet or give it a couple of days so see if he gets is jumping legs back? He gets very stressed with vet trips so I want to avoid any unnecessary trauma for him.
Any advice appreciated.
Yvonne
Cat unwilling to jump following a fight
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Ruth B
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- Posts: 1998
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- Location: Wolverhampton
Re: Cat unwilling to jump following a fight
While a trip to the vets is the obvious choice to make sure there is no harm done, i can understand that you don't want to stress him out unnecessarily.
Keep a very close eye on him and check him yourself regularly for the next day or so, if there is any sign of limping, any heat in any joint, or he objects when you check a certain area, or if the problem obviously gets worse then you might want to get him properly checked out. It could be worth you contacting your vets, explaining the problem and sending them a video to show both how it isn't effecting him, no limping while walking or going up and down stairs, and how much it is when he tries to jump onto somewhere. They might be able to tell from looking at it whether he actually needs to be seen or not.
If he starts trying to jump up onto things and keeps failing but there is still no other sign of problems then putting a half way step for him might help and prevent him doing himself more harm if he has pulled something.
One of mine had a problem a couple of months ago, we hadn't noticed any problem when we were getting tea ready, but when he walked into the front room having eaten he was limping and then sat with his front paw held up. No obvious sign of damage and he was quite happy at me checking his paw and joints so we decided to wait and see. Next day he was doing it some of the time and at others he would forget about it if his mind was on other things (such as what I was cooking). By the third day he was fine, i think he must have bruised the pad or similar, but for a day and a half i was going through the 'do i, don't i' phase and worrying that something major had happened. Hopefully your lad will recover just as quickly.
Keep a very close eye on him and check him yourself regularly for the next day or so, if there is any sign of limping, any heat in any joint, or he objects when you check a certain area, or if the problem obviously gets worse then you might want to get him properly checked out. It could be worth you contacting your vets, explaining the problem and sending them a video to show both how it isn't effecting him, no limping while walking or going up and down stairs, and how much it is when he tries to jump onto somewhere. They might be able to tell from looking at it whether he actually needs to be seen or not.
If he starts trying to jump up onto things and keeps failing but there is still no other sign of problems then putting a half way step for him might help and prevent him doing himself more harm if he has pulled something.
One of mine had a problem a couple of months ago, we hadn't noticed any problem when we were getting tea ready, but when he walked into the front room having eaten he was limping and then sat with his front paw held up. No obvious sign of damage and he was quite happy at me checking his paw and joints so we decided to wait and see. Next day he was doing it some of the time and at others he would forget about it if his mind was on other things (such as what I was cooking). By the third day he was fine, i think he must have bruised the pad or similar, but for a day and a half i was going through the 'do i, don't i' phase and worrying that something major had happened. Hopefully your lad will recover just as quickly.
Re: Cat unwilling to jump following a fight
Thank you Ruth.
I have just got home and he seems bright. No limping or signs of pain. He hasn’t attempted to climb or jump yet so I don’t know if his bounce is back or not.
I have booked a provision vet appointment for tomorrow evening just in case, as it was a full on wrestling match rather than a couple of paw swipes and I am concerned that he might have some hidden puncture marks that I can’t see. An antibiotic jab might be wise. Hopefully he will soon be firing on all paws and will think twice before picking a fight
Yvonne
I have just got home and he seems bright. No limping or signs of pain. He hasn’t attempted to climb or jump yet so I don’t know if his bounce is back or not.
I have booked a provision vet appointment for tomorrow evening just in case, as it was a full on wrestling match rather than a couple of paw swipes and I am concerned that he might have some hidden puncture marks that I can’t see. An antibiotic jab might be wise. Hopefully he will soon be firing on all paws and will think twice before picking a fight
Yvonne