While outdoor adventures help keep cats active and mentally stimulated, they also mean that our feline friends can be at a higher risk of injury. If your cat goes outdoors beyond the confines of your yard, read on to learn more about two of the most common reasons for them to return home limping, including what to look for and how we can help.
1. Cat fight injuries
While cat teeth are relatively small, their bites can be nasty because they are particularly sharp and pointy, acting like needles that can “inject” bacteria from the cat’s mouth deep into the bitten tissues. This means that although the injuries caused may at first appear as small and innocuous punctures, they can rapidly become infected. In many cases, these infections can progress to cellulitis or abscesses.
Cellulitis is inflammation and infection spread diffusely through the soft tissues beneath the skin. The affected leg will appear swollen and will be firm and painful to touch. Cellulitis requires treatment with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pain relief.
Abscesses are pockets of pus beneath the skin. They will be swollen and painful, but may feel a bit wobbly too. If they haven’t already burst on their own to allow the infected material to drain out, they will require surgery to open them up and flush them out. The cat will then need pain relief and sometimes antibiotics.
2. Trauma causing musculoskeletal damage
Musculoskeletal injuries in outdoor cats can be caused by falls, road traffic accidents, or them getting a leg caught as they launch over a fence to escape danger. In many cases, we will never work out exactly what happened, but will simply diagnose and treat the resulting injury.
Common injuries causing limping in cats include sprains or torn ligaments, torn footpads, skin wounds, or a broken pelvis or limb. When assessing your cat’s injury, we will try to gently palpate the area (although your cat may be too sore to let us do this without having something to say about it!), as well as watch them walk. Cats with one damaged limb will usually step lightly on that paw or hold it up completely, whereas cats with damaged pelvises often have an uncomfortable, wonky walk. We may recommend proceeding with a sedation or anaesthesia for a proper assessment, X-rays, or treatment.
Large or deep wounds will be cleaned with shaving and cleaning of the surrounding skin and flushing of the wound itself with sterile saline to remove any debris. If your cat’s injury is deep, we may need to open it up a little further to check the full extent of the injury before stitching it up again.
Broken pelvises in cats can often be managed with pain relief and strict cage confinement for around eight weeks, unless they are significantly displaced (bone pieces out of their correct position). Cats will also need to be monitored to ensure they are able to pass urine and faeces normally. Broken limbs may be managed with a heavy supportive bandage or may require surgery, depending on the severity of the injury.
When it comes to feline injuries, our cat-competent team has seen our fair share. So, if your cat ever comes home limping, the best thing to do is to hot foot it to our clinic!