Feral with hurt leg, no money for vet, what to do?

[revenwyn]

There's a feral here with a hurt leg. She is feral though we have had contact with her since she was around three months old. (she is semi tame, would not make a house cat but accepts petting occasionally.) We saw her yesterday afternoon, all seemed okay. Then around 10 PM we come home and she's walking with a decided limp. At the joint, her back left leg is leaning to the right by about 7 degrees. She can use it to stabilize herself but won't walk on it. We put food and water out for her (we normally don't because several people in the neighborhood do.) We were able to take a look; there are no bite marks or anything, and it doesn't seem like it's broken. We don't know how it happened, though we saw a large dog not far away. I don't know if he caught her or she got hurt jumping down from a tree she used to escape, etc. Point is, is there anything we can do to stabilize the area? I think, if we were to see her again we might be able to wrap an Ace bandage or something similar around the area. She has never fought us. Or should we just continue feeding her until she's well enough to go to other areas in her territory?

Thanks.

 

[bastfriend]

I would not try to do an Ace bandage - even a fully tame cat would flip out on that I'd think and need an e-collar.   Maybe just give extra food support and watch her for a couple of days.   I read somewhere that cats have superior powers of healing for joint and tendon injury compared to dogs so maybe just give her a safe place to recuperate for a couple of days and see what happens first.

 

[feralvr]

I also would not attempt to stabilize that leg. I highly doubt she would tolerate it anyway and you might be seriously injured in the process. Plus IF you wrap the leg too tightly, then you have a circulation problem. If you wrap it too loosely, then she could get caught up in a tree or bush and cause more damage. Best to leave her be for right now and watch. This seems to be a common issue with some feral cats, limping on a leg now and again. They seem to be able to recover without intervention as long as it is not broken. Although, I trapped a feral cat once that had a very crooked leg. Poor thing must have broken her leg and it healed on its own. She was fine walking on the crooked leg and it didn't seem to hurt her one bit as it was completely healed. Life is harsh for feral cats. I would continue to do what you are doing in feeding her. Hoping her leg will heal on its own. :cross:

 

[ritz]

I agree with everyone.  Give her extra food so she doesn't have to hunt (run) for food.  You *might* also put 1/4 of baby aspirin in her food for pain relieft/anti inflammatory.

"Twiddledee" is part of my feral/stray/abandoned cat colony.  When I returned from vacation, I noticed he was limping on one paw, and I was concerned about his ability to hunt for food.  I scruffed him, took him to a cat professional for evaluation, best guess:  sprain or tore tendon (TD showed no reaction to his limbs being manipulated.)  If the paw doesn't improve in three or four weeks, then I may take TD in for an x-ray.  Also, he may develop arthritis in that limb.

Question:  can you tell if initially when she walks she is stiff and then walks with more ease?  That's a good sign. 

So I decided to take him home and put him in my spare bedroom so he could rest that paw.  He was previously owned, very friendly, and I'll adopt him out soon.  (Any takers?

Like the others have said, cats can adjust to walking on three good legs and, according to the cat professional, they can hunt just fine with limited mobility.

 

[revenwyn]

Thanks guys. We continue to put food out for her, but we haven't seen her since. It's possible that she is coming when we're not around but there are also other (very well fed, I might add) ferals in the area that might be getting the food for her. We cannot bring her in at the moment; she and Binky were rivals before we brought Binky in, besides she might hurt her leg more trying to escape. I'm trying to hold out hope that she's just laying low for a while.

 

[callista]

If the other ferals in the area are well-fed, perhaps there are other cat-lovers in the area. One of them might simply have taken the cat in; perhaps they have money for a vet, or a spare room where the cat can recover. She seems semi-friendly; perhaps she wouldn't freak out if someone put her in a quiet, covered dog crate. Or the cat might have just wisely gone to ground to rest for a while--it's better to come out of hiding a little skinny than to go out for food and get caught on the wrong end of a dog's hunting instinct because you can't run fast enough.

Are you doing TNR on these ferals? IIs she spayed? f you can trap her, you can get her in for her spay and an exam on the leg at the same time. Bonus for the vet, because she'll be out cold and the vet will be able to get a good look at it. You can often get spay/neuter for free, for ferals.

 

[revenwyn]

I would love to be able to TNR but there are no traps in our area; the area is anti TNR. Also, she is a cat who we see one day out of about three or four weeks; her range is extremely large. She is, to our knowledge, the only unfixed female in the neighborhood. However, with her range being so large (we have seen her a mile from our house in any direction) it is nearly impossible to trap her because we don't know when she will be in our area.
 

 

[feralvr]

I would love to be able to TNR but there are no traps in our area; the area is anti TNR. Also, she is a cat who we see one day out of about three or four weeks; her range is extremely large. She is, to our knowledge, the only unfixed female in the neighborhood. However, with her range being so large (we have seen her a mile from our house in any direction) it is nearly impossible to trap her because we don't know when she will be in our area.

 

I also have a feral tomcat whom passes through so infrequently that I have never been successful in trapping him. Sometimes I won't see him for weeks and then one day I see him stroll through and leave. Makes it really tough to trap those types of feral cats because they are impossible to get on a schedule. for this kitty and her leg.

 

[revenwyn]

We saw her last night. She seems to be putting a little more pressure on the leg. It's not bending quite as awkwardly though it is very stiff. I imagine she will have a limp for quite some time if not the rest of her life. We put some food and water out for her but she didn't seem to want petting (it's on her terms, she either headbutts your hand or doesn't want it at all.)

 

[callista]

Ha! There you go. Those feral kitties are tough!

for a full recovery!

 

[debster747]

We've been spotting a limping cat in the neighborhood for around 3-4 months now.  It's rear leg was stiff.  The limp is now less pronounced, and this cat can run, jump. chase things with the best of 'em.  Hopefully your little kitty will heal on its own.  One of our ferals suffered a dislocated tail a few months ago.  Amazingly, the tail is about 90% back to normal and is healing on its own. 

 

[feralvr]

We saw her last night. She seems to be putting a little more pressure on the leg. It's not bending quite as awkwardly though it is very stiff. I imagine she will have a limp for quite some time if not the rest of her life. We put some food and water out for her but she didn't seem to want petting (it's on her terms, she either headbutts your hand or doesn't want it at all.)

for this girl. She sounds like she really wants that connection with you especially if she is bumping your hand occasionally. Hope she continues to heal.

 

[revenwyn]

for this girl. She sounds like she really wants that connection with you especially if she is bumping your hand occasionally. Hope she continues to heal.

Yeah, she comes every so often and when she does she follows me around like a dog. However she doesn't want more contact than that. It's petting on her terms.

She is likely the mother of our Carly and Simon; there are no other unfixed females in the area, and she was so thin earlier this summer, having just weaned a litter. We had just brought Binky and Cookie in so we were not feeding her for a while so they could feel that the house was theirs. Also she would come and go. She knows us and trusts us and I think it's likely that she got Carly and Simon to the point where they could make it without milk before she brought them to the house. I remember when she was a kitten just two years ago.

Carly and Simon smelled her by the door the other day and wanted to see her. She took two steps into our house (it's always just two steps) and she sniffed them and gave them each a little lick on the head before she began loudly demanding food. She's a pointed cat with a Siamese type of voice though her body shape doesn't suggest the modern Siamese breed.