Injured Cat
Something different for this week.
We have a cat who keeps me company during the daytime when I’m writing. Unfortunately as of the weekend he’s been quite badly hurt. We came downstairs in the morning to find him unable to walk properly, and when we took him to the vet they X-rayed him and told us that his pelvis is fractured in several places.
The good news is that the vets don’t think it requires surgery – the fractures aren’t on load-bearing parts of the pelvis, so if it’s left alone it ought to heal. The bad news is that this requires for him to move as little as possible, so he’s been put on cage rest.
Which he is thoroughly unimpressed about.
Apparently cage rest is the standard treatment for cats with these sorts of injuries – the vet told me you can’t put them in a cast or they’ll do their best to scratch it off and cause more problems, so the best you can do is leave them to heal naturally and stop them jumping around. The normal time for these sorts of injuries is six to eight weeks, so this is going to be a long haul.
I know a fair few of my readers are pet owners, so if anyone has any experience/advice with injured cats on cage rest, leave a comment below! So far he seems to be adapting as well as can be expected (if a bit bored), but let me know if there’s anything I should watch out for.
newest »
Anna wrote: "Bored is good. You don't want to give him stimulation. Covering the cage with breathable cloth, like bird owners at night, might help. It's something we do for our cat when she's upset. Not sure ..."
Thanks!
How's your cat doing? Hope he's healing well, and not too board.
Covering the cage with breathable cloth, like bird owners at night, might help. It's something we do for our cat when she's upset. Not sure it will work for your cat, but our cat Mika calms down and goes right to bed every time. I think it helps her feel safe and simulates a den like environment. She hated the cage when she had ringworm and had to stay in it, away from the other cat. This helped.
Hope this helps!