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lumy12My "pleasantly plump" cat, Bailey, did something to his front left paw, apparently on Tuesday. He wouldn't eat breakfast on Wednesday - which is VERY unusual. Wednesday evening I noticed he was limping. I examined his paw and found no splinters, bee stings, etc. By Friday he was still limping, and in fact was getting around quite well using only 3 legs - I wondered if he was just adapting to his handicap or if indeed the pain had worsened so that he couldn't bear to put any weight on the paw whatsoever?
Being the worrywart cat mama that I am, I made an appointment to see the vet the next day (today). I was hoping that maybe I had just missed seeing some object embedded in his paw, but if not then I had to know what was wrong. I imagined waiting a week or two and THEN bringing him to the vet, only to be told that because I waited so long, they'd have to amputate his leg because he had an infection that was spreading or something. Yes I have an overactive imagination, but that COULD happen, no?
So this morning he was still being a gimp - I shuffled him into his carrier and drove him down to the animal hospital, listening to his wimpy mewing the whole way. As if I'll just turn the car around because he whines? The vet examines him and of course, my gimpy cat does not show any signs of distress. He lets her examine both paws with no fuss. We try to get him to limp across the room but he just books it over to the corner - on all 4 legs - to try to hide. Cute. I swear to the vet that he WAS limping just this morning, and she chuckles and says it's not unusual for cats to hide their pain in front of the vet. She said cats are hard to examine because of that instinct to hide their pain. It's like Bailey was telling me, "See? I'm okay, Mom, I was just being a wuss at home to get extra attention - I didn't think you'd take me to THIS awful place! It was all just an April Fool's joke!"
So the vet examined him some more, and finally got him to wince as she pressed on one of his joints. I thought maybe he was just getting annoyed with this whole process? But no, she did the same thing to his other paw and got no reaction. She offered to do an x-ray - MY turn to wince at the cost, but I said go ahead, I had to know what was going on in that poor paw.
The x-ray came back inconclusive. The vet showed me both paws for comparison, and the left paw did have some cloudiness in that achy joint, but they couldn't be certain what it was. No broken bones and no cancer - yay! So he probably just tore a ligament or strained a muscle. I took home some joint supplements to put on his food, antibiotics to force-feed him twice a day for the next week, and a $209 invoice. Yowza. Bailey received an injection for pain, and hasn't limped since. "He was a perfect patient," she said. "Just a doll!" Yes, what other cat will calmly sit there while you inflict torture on him - even sticking a thermometer up his butt? He's a very mellow fellow.
I suppose peace of mind is worth $209... or so I keep telling myself!
Being the worrywart cat mama that I am, I made an appointment to see the vet the next day (today). I was hoping that maybe I had just missed seeing some object embedded in his paw, but if not then I had to know what was wrong. I imagined waiting a week or two and THEN bringing him to the vet, only to be told that because I waited so long, they'd have to amputate his leg because he had an infection that was spreading or something. Yes I have an overactive imagination, but that COULD happen, no?
So this morning he was still being a gimp - I shuffled him into his carrier and drove him down to the animal hospital, listening to his wimpy mewing the whole way. As if I'll just turn the car around because he whines? The vet examines him and of course, my gimpy cat does not show any signs of distress. He lets her examine both paws with no fuss. We try to get him to limp across the room but he just books it over to the corner - on all 4 legs - to try to hide. Cute. I swear to the vet that he WAS limping just this morning, and she chuckles and says it's not unusual for cats to hide their pain in front of the vet. She said cats are hard to examine because of that instinct to hide their pain. It's like Bailey was telling me, "See? I'm okay, Mom, I was just being a wuss at home to get extra attention - I didn't think you'd take me to THIS awful place! It was all just an April Fool's joke!"
So the vet examined him some more, and finally got him to wince as she pressed on one of his joints. I thought maybe he was just getting annoyed with this whole process? But no, she did the same thing to his other paw and got no reaction. She offered to do an x-ray - MY turn to wince at the cost, but I said go ahead, I had to know what was going on in that poor paw.
The x-ray came back inconclusive. The vet showed me both paws for comparison, and the left paw did have some cloudiness in that achy joint, but they couldn't be certain what it was. No broken bones and no cancer - yay! So he probably just tore a ligament or strained a muscle. I took home some joint supplements to put on his food, antibiotics to force-feed him twice a day for the next week, and a $209 invoice. Yowza. Bailey received an injection for pain, and hasn't limped since. "He was a perfect patient," she said. "Just a doll!" Yes, what other cat will calmly sit there while you inflict torture on him - even sticking a thermometer up his butt? He's a very mellow fellow.
I suppose peace of mind is worth $209... or so I keep telling myself!
