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Lameness in leg

Published on: October 13, 2022 • By: nataliemoreton · In Forum: Cats
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nataliemoreton
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October 13, 2022 at 09:12pm
Hi, looking for some advice. My 22 year old domestic shorthair cat, Lara, recently developed a limp in her back right leg. It started off as a slight limp. It progressed over the weekend and she is now unable to use the leg at all and will hop around on her three legs. She doesn't have any pain at all, we have tried feeling the leg for any breaks or if she is sore, but she seems happy, still eating and sleeping like normal, giving out fuss and purring. This morning, she has been peeing little but often. We had to pick her up and put her in the litter tray as she was trying to pee in all the corners of the living room and bedroom. She stood in the litter tray for around 10 minutes trying to go to the toilet and even fell asleep in there which we found really odd. We picked her up and have made her a quiet corner of the house with easy access to food, litter and a bed and covered the floor in puppy training pads incase of any accidents. We haven't had any changes in the household to cause her stress. We are so scared to go to the vets. Because of her age, when we adopted Lara at the age of 16, we were unable to get any insurance for her. We think the vets will either put her to sleep or it will cost us hundreds for any treatment which will stress her out when she sadly and we (ultimately) think will extend her life for at the very most a few years. She hates (and I mean hates with a passion) going in a cat carrier and in the car, hates seeing other people she is no used to and she gets very stressed out, ripping at the carrier to get out. The vets would only be an option if she is in pain Any ideas on what this could be? And any advice would be appreciated? We are tied on what is the best option for her.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 13, 2022 at 09:29pm
Hello - and wow.  I bet that when you adopted a sixteen year-old cat, you didn't expect her to be here six years later!  She sounds fantastic.   The honest truth about limping though, is that animals do it for two reasons.  A few of them have neurological problems, in which they limp because the nerve simply won't work in order to move the leg in a particular direction.  This can be because of a tumour on the leg, or a damaged nerve.  However, the very vast majority are limping because if they put their foot down normally, it hurts.  (This is why, if you think about it, we limp when we have a stone in our shoe - even if we are smiling and chatting to a friend at the time).  So the vast majority of lame cats are, actually, in pain.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 13, 2022 at 09:33pm
Vets don't usually put cats to sleep because they are lame, whatever age they are.  We tend to give them pain relief.  Sometimes (in the event of a tow-nail or foreign-body in a pad, or a wound), we can treat the problem.  However there are sorts of tumour that affect the bone, or the possibility for underlying wounds or problems to be discovered, which can be fatal.  I think, at the end of the day, it depends what is wrong.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 13, 2022 at 09:45pm
The most common cause limping in old cats is arthritis.  If she has a chronic arthritis - type problem, the vet will tend to offer an appropriate kind of pain relief for cats (do not give human pain killers to cats, as they can cause copious damage to the kidneys) which will help for a short while (and then the dose will have to be repeated).  Many cats do well on these treatments for years, but of course, Lara is already older than most cats will live for, so I cannot promise miracles.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 13, 2022 at 09:58pm
However, you didn't ask me for an essay on lameness in cats - you asked what would be best for Lara.  IN an ideal world, everyone would get a vet to visit their cat at home in order to avoid the trauma of a vet visit, but that isn't faesible for everybody.  As an alternative, perhaps phone-video a few shots of Lara moving around at home (because a scared cat often won't show them how they walk in the vets) and speak to your vet about how to approach the problem;  perhaps you can bring her to a quiet or cat-only surgery;  perhaps they can recommend or even lend you a really good carrier, with a lid that comes off for easy access.  Without them examining her, it will be hard to give the best recommendation.  When they do, it ought to take into account her great age and also, any financial concerns.  For example, I think I might prefer to avoid surgeries in an such an old cat unless they were completely curative;  or I might prefer pain relief of the kind I could slip into her food, and be less concerned about long-term blood monitoring.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 13, 2022 at 10:11pm
Finally, you do not mention the word euthanasia, but I wonder if you are thinking it (people often are when they open a consultation with their old pets' age).  It may be that this is cancer and it is already the right time;  it might be that the pain is so great that it is already the right time; it may be  that the costs of getting rid of the pain are so great or the improvement it affords are so small that it quickly becomes too expensive.  If this is the case, then it is usually best to be honest and direct with your vet;  we are very pragmatic people.  We cannot serve you if we do not know what you are thinking.  It is already quite obvious that you have served your old lady well and most vets will want to help you to work out what is right for the two main people affected - that is, you and your pet.  In the UK, what you spend in the consultation is no way transmitted to the vets wages;  we are simply not motivated by that.  In the US I think it varies State to State, but I still think that most vets are not there to sell you time with your pet;  we just want to help the patient and client in front of us to have the best quality of life that is possible.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
October 13, 2022 at 10:20pm
Good questions for your vet may include some of the following: 'Is my cat in pain now?'   'Is there a way you can reduce that pain?'  'What would that cost us (financially) and her (in terms of quality time / vet visits going forward)?'  'is there a non-invasive way we can make sure that she is not in pain for however long she has left?'   'What do you think about euthanasia at this point?'   'How can we make life nicer for her at home?'   Have your questions written down and ready before you go.  Best of luck.
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