Limping Kitten

[janis]

Hi, my seventh month old kitten has been limping since Sunday night. He had been outside and had a quite a bad limp on one of his back legs when he came in - took him to the Vet on Monday who said there are no broken bones and gave him metacam. He was out of sorts on Monday, a bit better yesterday and more like himself today, taking an interest in things and showing his personality and normal behaviours again. He still has a limp but is jumping on and off furniture and I sense he is a bit careful of the injured leg. My husband says he doesn't see much improvement which is worrying me. Husband is going to take him back to the Vet on Friday if he feels kitten is not significantly better. I have read that it can take a minimum of two weeks to see improvement after strains/injuries. I think kitten is considerably better than earlier in the week - my view is that cats should be very much judged on their behaviour and I am seeing much closer to normal behaviours from kitten today. I recognise he is still limping but I think it will take a wee while to settle. Grateful for thoughts/advice. Thanks in advance.

[fjm]

I think Friday is a good compromise, if you have not seen improvement by then - sometimes it is worth a visit to the vet for peace of mind, and it might save a lot of anxiety over the weekend. The metacam will be making him feel more comfortable, and he may be tempted to overdo things - I would discourage jumping and wild activity as much as you can (not easy with a kitten, I know!).

[Ruth B]

I have to agree that a quick check up on Friday if there is still signs of limping is a good idea, far better than having to pay for an emergency appointment over the weekend.

Jars, strains and bruises can take about two weeks to heal fully so hopefully it is just a matter of time, but painkillers like Metacam, can mean that an animal doesn't realise something is wrong and makes it's worse unintentionally. I don't believe there is a slow release variant of Metacam, so if he just had the one dose at the vets then that will have warn off after a day, if he is on a daily dose then that might be masking any symptoms.

As always, if in doubt it is worth getting it checked just for peace of mind, you would never forgive yourself if you put it off and then found out he had managed to damage himself again somehow.

[janis]

Thanks - I am worried about him as he is so lovely and has a wonderful cuddly nature...