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    TQ79's Avatar
    TQ79 Posts: 27, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #1

    Jun 5, 2009, 10:51 AM
    Kitten with foot injury.
    Hello folks,

    A little back story so I don't get the lecture on cats overpopulation and the likes. I have heard it before and it is for that reason my family has ended up with these 4 kittens to begin with.

    There is a feral cat colony in my mothers back yard. She recently moved there so when we discovered this we contacted a local humane society to spay/neuter and release the adult cats. So far several cats have been altered and released back into their colony as they are wild cats and can not be tamed down to human contact. The humane society is holding 8 of the females from the colony that are pregnant. There was a litter of 4 kittens within the colony that my husband and I volunteered to foster with the humane societies approval, to tame and then find homes for. They were young enough that we could with time tame them down to be adopted. We didn't take the kittens away from mama cat until after we made sure they were weened from her. There's an old lady across the street that brings buckets of cat food over to feed the colony, when the kittens were showing up there regularly for food like the others rather than going to mama to nurse we removed them from their mother and took them in.

    The first week and a half we had them confined to a small walk in closet with a litter box, food, water and a giant cat bed. By the end of week 2 they were vet checked and given all their starter shots and tests. All came back with healthy reports and negative for FIV and feline lukiemia (<-- unsure of that spelling sorry) All in all the four kittens are all healthy and coming along well. After the second week we slowly introduced them to our other 2 cats that live with us and after a week of hissing and growling our house is now peaceful once again. We've had the kittens now for about 5 weeks, and though the original plan was to adopt them out, being we managed to cover the initial vet check and our other 2 cats are also both healthy, we decided to adopt the 4 kittens as permanent members of our family. And yes all 4 will be spayed and neutered when they're of proper age to do so.

    Now on to my question after all that :P


    Yesterday evening we noticed that one of the kittens is limping around the house. I'm no vet but I know the general once over, checking the pads and in between toes for splinters or other objects. Checking the claws to make sure none are broken or over grown into the foot etc etc. I've come up with nothing. The kitten even sits quietly and relaxed during the check I did with out showing any discomfort especially when I squeezed the paw gently to check each of his claws for injury. Yet he's still limping, and up until this morning I was at a lose for what could be wrong. It seems as though our 7 yr old son decided to play with the kittens the other day and claims he may of squeezed the kittens paw a little too hard. ( I say claims cause if anyone has kids and your looking for a straight answer they'll say anything to avoid getting in trouble, we know he did it and are still working on the reason why, he's since been barred from the kittens and we've confined them to the ground floor away from his play room and toys so we can keep an even closer eye on the kittens and him)

    My question is more a less, is it possible the paw is just bruised because the kitten is only limping and not freaking out when I press on the paw to check his claws or should we schedule another vet visit for an x-ray? We know x-rays and the likes aren't cheap so before we rush out and spend money that's not in our budget for that I'm looking for advice from others who may have had the same problem or experienced this before. He still gets around and attempts to play with the others, but not being able to keep up with their racing around he'll often just sit and watch, it's breaking my heart watching him do that so we've separated him from his siblings for the time being so that he can rest and stay off that paw till he heals up or if we have to take him to the vet. He's really turned into a little sweetheart, I'd hate for something like this to effect his quality of life or anything extreme like that.

    thanks in advance - TQ
    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #2

    Jun 5, 2009, 01:34 PM

    It could be something higher up his leg, not his foot? One of my cats had jumped off something higher than usual and sprained his knee. We took him in for x-rays, and the vet said it will heal on its own over the next week or two.

    I know with all the cats I've ever had, I've always taken them to the vet when I thought it was needed, but often, the problem has resolved itself before the vet visit or if I give it a week or so to resolve before I panic.

    I'd give him a few more days (if he doesn't seem to be in pain) and then take him to the vet if he still limps.

    Thanks for doing the TNR thing. I do too and end up adopting the friendlier cats.
    TQ79's Avatar
    TQ79 Posts: 27, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #3

    Jun 5, 2009, 02:28 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    It could be something higher up his leg, not his foot?

    I got to thinking about that after my original post, so I tried gently stretching and bending his two fore legs didn't seem to bother him just like the paw check he was just chilling in my arms again. I'm worried about the little guy cause he's got his 3 siblings running around he obviously wants to join them. But as I mentioned in my original post we moved him into his own little private area for awhile till he starts walking on it better.

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