Kitten With Swimmers Legs

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Pessimisticat

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This is a process!

First, what kind of tape is that? You need to use sports tape, which I mentioned in my Post #7. Sports tape is available in the first aid aisle of stores. Sports tape is what you see on the legs of the kitten, "Twister," in the link I provided.

Second, you cannot tape her legs in place until you have worked her tendons for a few days to get them malleable.

Then, her legs need to be BRACED with splints and taped. You can use popsicle sticks as braces. You cut the popsicle stick to fit the leg below the joint. The kitten needs to be able to bend the leg.

Third, the whole thing needs to come off at night so the kitten gets a break. It's too much all at once.

I would caution you NOT to use a hairdryer as they get very hot very fast.

You may also want to hold off on making your video until you get used to what you are doing and can show some progress.

Be aware that the kitten will still not be able to use the legs normally right away, as this is a process that will take several weeks, and must be done daily while the kitten grows so that the tendons grow properly.

The tape is micropore surgical tape, as that is what I was being recommended to on some of the other articles given, too, and wasn't sure if sports was better or what. Is sports tape more stiff? We can get some if it is better.
So we should do the physiotherapy and then just let her keep dragging her legs around, and not brace or tape them, for a few days? Do you think it would be noticeable when they would be ready to be braced?
We are going to pass on the hair-dryer, then.
And yeah, I deleted the video since the taping method didn't work just yet! Wasn't sure if she would be able to stand up once taped, anyway. Makes sense since her legs are still very weak.

Sorry for all the questions! I know this is a process and will take time, I just want to make sure I am doing everything right and not harming her anymore.
 

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I would trap mom any chance you get. She can stay in the trap if she has to, but you must catch her.
 

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Once warmed up, work her legs as though she is riding a bicycle. Do this one at a time and very gently so as not to cause pain or force them.

The tendons need to be stretched and worked regularly for a few days before they can be splinted and taped.

You should be able to tell from working with her when her legs are getting stronger and bending more easily, and so therefore ready to be splinted and taped.

She may also be uncomfortable with the splinting and taping initially, so you want to only leave it on for short periods, building up to longer periods over time.
 
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Pessimisticat

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I would trap mom any chance you get. She can stay in the trap if she has to, but you must catch her.
I am definitely trying to, but if we manage to trap her say..tomorrow night, we would have to leave her in the trap till Monday morning next week. Since it is raining so much, I really don't think that would be fair to her. Also, that long in the trap might hurt her. Like I said earlier, if we are unable to do it by next Tuesday, then I will contact my neighbors, or try to convince my roommates to keep trying. I definitely want her trapped because it would totally suck if she had more kittens, especially since no one would really be there to take care of them! Then they would totally overpopulate this complex. I wish the apartment managers would participate in TNR :/
 
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Once warmed up, work her legs as though she is riding a bicycle. Do this one at a time and very gently so as not to cause pain or force them.

The tendons need to be stretched and worked regularly for a few days before they can be splinted and taped.

You should be able to tell from working with her when her legs are getting stronger and bending more easily, and so therefore ready to be splinted and taped.

She may also be uncomfortable with the splinting and taping initially, so you want to only leave it on for short periods, building up to longer periods over time.
Alright, we will continue to do only the physiotherapy then, for a couple of days!
Her legs are actually pretty bendy already, like we can bend them all the way to her underside without her whining. I've noticed she can actually kick off us with her left leg, but the right leg seems to be the more problematic one. Plus it looks kind of more...wonky, in the hip area, like it seems to go inwards towards her tail instead of more out like a hip should be. We were doing some bicycle exercises earlier, so I am glad to know that that was a correct way of going about it.
I think her legs are really just super weak, mostly.

Also, is the micropore surgical tape okay? Or would you recommend I get the sports tape? Like I said, some other articles from the same site you linked to suggested surgical tape, too. I am not sure of the difference between them.
 
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Pessimisticat

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Can you get her hip x-rayed by a vet? I wonder if it is displaced.
Possibly.
Last time we took her to the vet, we waited over an hour after our appointment time to be seen, then sat in the exam room for 45 minutes. The vet looked at her for maybe 20 seconds, told us she had Swimmers Syndrome and there wasn't anything we can do, and didn't charge us for the visit. And by looked at her, I mean just held her up and stared at her face. Didn't even really touch her legs or try to move them around. Their x-rays were only $65. So maybe I can go back and have them x-ray her. They were just rushing us, and I get it cause it was a small vet and they were busy, but it was still pretty discouraging.
 
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How about trying a different vet office for a fresh opinion?
I will have to make some calls tomorrow, to figure out pricing and such. Since we are moving in a week, dropping $100 on a visit and $150-300 on an X-RAY just isn't entirely feasible. Once we move, and my SO starts his job it won't be a problem monetary wise, but it might be a problem for her since that is still a bit away.
 

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I am definitely trying to, but if we manage to trap her say..tomorrow night, we would have to leave her in the trap till Monday morning next week. Since it is raining so much, I really don't think that would be fair to her. Also, that long in the trap might hurt her. Like I said earlier, if we are unable to do it by next Tuesday, then I will contact my neighbors, or try to convince my roommates to keep trying. I definitely want her trapped because it would totally suck if she had more kittens, especially since no one would really be there to take care of them! Then they would totally overpopulate this complex. I wish the apartment managers would participate in TNR :/
You would have to move mom inside in the trap.
 
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You would have to move mom inside in the trap.
She doesn't really let us go near her. Like, since we've been feeding her and playing with her babies she will get close, but we've never been able to pet her. Plus, forcing her into it might just end up with people and herself getting hurt. :/
 

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She doesn't really let us go near her. Like, since we've been feeding her and playing with her babies she will get close, but we've never been able to pet her. Plus, forcing her into it might just end up with people and herself getting hurt. :/
Are you using a humane trap? I am saying that if you catch her in a humane trap and it's not a business day at the clinic, you would bring the entire trap inside, not leave her out. I think you need to use every chance you can to nab her.
 

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Do call around. An office visit should be minimal, certainly not $100; and one x-ray should not be more than $75.

I understand that you need to watch your finances right now though.
 
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Are you using a humane trap? I am saying that if you catch her in a humane trap and it's not a business day at the clinic, you would bring the entire trap inside, not leave her out. I think you need to use every chance you can to nab her.
Yeah, it is a humane trap. The clinic doesn't take them any other day because they only do the spays/neutering on those specific days (M/T/W mornings at 7am), so they wouldn't even take her at all. I can call tomorrow and ask if they would hold her or something before then, but I doubt it, since that is the time frame they provided us with. If that is the case, even if we brought her inside our home, she would still have to be in the trap until Monday, which wouldn't really be good for her I feel. I mean we could let her out but it would probably be near impossible to get her back in, unless we were super rough which I am not comfortable doing, ahha.
 
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Do call around. An office visit should be minimal, certainly not $100; and one x-ray should not be more than $75.

I understand that you need to watch your finances right now though.
So far the quotes I am getting for a typical office "first" exam is $100, because it includes all the vaccinations and testing. Since she is still too young for vaccinations and such, and I just want an x-ray and maybe another look at her legs, maybe it won't be so much. I will definitely have to ask! Maybe they can give us more advice on how to properly brace and tape her legs, too.
The place we took her too initially was free for the first visit, which is why we chose it. Now I see why it was so cheap, though, even though it had good reviews.
 
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Just wanted to update ya'll that it is day two of physiotherapy, and I have actually noticed some subtle changes.

First, we found out Legs is a male! His nutter butters are a bit smaller than his brothers, so it is kind of hard to tell.

Yesterday, we noticed that his right leg was weaker than the left, as it was not pushing off of our fingers as well, and as I mentioned above the hip seemed to be kind of wonky. Today, his right foot is working just as hard as the left, and his hip seems to be moving smoother than it had the day before. My guess is that his hip might have had some stiff tendons or muscles around it, which could have led to the weird-ness of it. It still kind of does it, but definitely not as bad, and at least we are able to move his right leg into a bicycle-like motion a lot easier! We also noticed, after the second session, that his legs don't splay all the way straight back now. He curls them up, and his legs quiver and shake as I think he is getting used to the feeling of them actually being in a more proper position.
So, definitely some awesome improvement in such a short period of time! Even if subtle. It lifts my spirits, and makes me feel better.

On a sadder note, his orange brother disappeared tonight. We put them out this morning, since the mom was meowing for them. We left at around 6 to run some errands for our move, and they were all there because it was raining. When we came back, he was missing. The mom was there with the other three babies! So I am not sure what happened. They never go far down our boardwalk, especially alone, and in the rain. I think someone grabbed him, if they were out and about, and since it was raining maybe they felt bad. I hope it wasn't *something* that got him.
It just sucks, it makes me want to keep them inside all the time. :/
We searched in the rain for 30 minutes, and no such luck. Couldn't even hear a mewl, which is what leads me to believe he is either inside someone's home or well...you know.

Anyway, just thought I'd update you guys with some good news and some really bad news.
 

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Ugh. Please keep them inside.

If not, they will all "disappear" soon. :(

Please do not leave them outside unsupervised any more.

It's good the legs are showing improvement already!
 
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Ugh. Please keep them inside.

If not, they will all "disappear" soon. :(

Please do not leave them outside unsupervised any more.

It's good the legs are showing improvement already!
Yeah I'm definitely not leaving them out unsupervised anymore. Let them out earlier with momma so they could nurse, but we sat there and watched. Once she started walking away we brought them back in.

We have signs posted, talked to the property manager and maintenance teams, and some neighbours. Going to go door to door later tonight once people start coming home.

I wasn't expecting them to do much since it was raining all day, and they never go too far down our boardwalk :/ I really hope someone saw him, was like "oh no poor kitten in the rain" and brought him in.
 

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It would be ideal if someone took him.

Are you able to grab mom while she is nursing?

Also, how are the legs doing today?
 
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It would be ideal if someone took him.

Are you able to grab mom while she is nursing?

Also, how are the legs doing today?
No, if we get close to her she starts running away. I don't want her to bail if she is feeding them. We still have a few more tries, and I was talking with some other neighbors about getting our complex to team up with the TNR place and try to catch all of the cats. Some of them are fixed, but I know not all, just like our momma, and obviously whichever ones got her pregnant.
He is doing good! We are going to start the first physiotherapy session for today soon so that we can try to squeeze an extra one in than we normally do. Since we were searching for the other kitten last night, we only were able to do two sessions with him. Both were bath-oriented since he pooped allllllllll over his feet and back-side before-hand. He surprisingly isn't covered in poop today. We are going to try some water therapy tonight, like dip his toes in the bathtub and see if he can kick.
Some good news, the other kittens are pretty much litter box trained at this point! One of them, I think the girl, doesn't know to cover it, though. The orange one was trained too, and was covering it. Sigh, I really hope we can find him. :/

We have two potential homes for the kittens. One is one of our maintenance guys, who wants one of the gray ones. He said he wanted a barn cat, so I am still not sure if I want to give it up to him for that purpose. At least not at this young age. After losing two indoor/outdoor cats last year, I pretty much am against most cats going outside unless in an enclosed area. The other home, was to an old coworker of mine, who has kept in touch. She showed the orange kitten to her fiance and they've been talking it over the past few days. Of course now that they're about ready to accept him, he goes missing.

JUST UHGUSDGHjkhdafjsd. I just really feel like someone took him. It just makes the most sense to me, based on the time of day, the weather, and the fact that these kittens do not wander by themselves. If the mom was there she wouldn't have left him alone, I feel. Plus, she was there when we came home with the other three.
 
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