Cat Care Advice

[curlyred]

Hello, my lovely cat had an unfortunate injury a few weeks ago (not sure how it happened). She came in limping one evening and after a trip to the emergency vet clinic and a sleepless night (!) I found out that she had a cruciate ligament rupture, and she had an operation to help her heal. Since then she has been doing well. However she has lost a little weight, I suspect maybe as she isnt so active at the moment she is eating a little less. Has anyone else had experience of a similar injury? If so, how long did you find the healing process? And any tips on how to nurse my kitty back to her usual playful self?

 

[modaz]

every animal, like humans will heal at their own different rate, just take things into consideration like take the food to her, small amounts often is a better idea, leave it there for a while and see if she eats, if she doesnt eat over the next few days inform the vet again and see what they say as im sure they could give her something to increase her appitite, im a true believer that extra EXTRA love and affection is the best way of healing anything, but then it sounds like your doing this already, GIVE HER LOADS of MASSIVE cuddles and dont forget the water too as this will help her more than the food itself. good luck with her

 

[clareandkarl]

My rotweiler cross german shepherd, sadly passed away now, had an cruciate operation at the age of 14!!!!!!! The vets said he was such a strong charcter they thought he could take it, although at that age most dogs would never walk again.
he had the operation on the Wednesday, and stood up on his own by Sunday, through sheer damn willpower.
Can I just stress that georges death was NOT in any way linked to this operation, he had 2 more happy years of life after that.
With George it was little bits at a time, important to get him using the leg again, but getting the balance between rest and keeping using it, just right.
I also agree that love and reassurance is very important, they don`t understand why they can`t walk all of a sudden, or why it hurts, and that it will eventually get better.

To be honest, he wasn`t off his food during that time, but I think maybe your cat is feeling a bit down, because it can`t be as active as usual. Maybe some stimulation that doesn`t involve jumping around, a cat nip mouse, or a new bed or something to give it some interest.

Good luck anyway, and try not to worry, with these kind of injuries it takes time for things to heal, but they get there in the end.
Clare

 

[Aussie_Dog]

I think it's rarer for cats to have ACL injuries (at least, I've heard of only 2 or 3 cases), but it's pretty common in dogs. With a dog, the recovery usually entails making the dog take it easy, NOT putting ANY weight on his leg for at least a month, and then you take it sloooooooooow. My dog tore his ACL when he was 7, had surgery, and I took things so slow and cautiously with him. When he went up or down stairs, I had a towel around his belly and lifted him up so he couldn't so much as touch the stairs with his back legs. For the first month, he was crated and was only allowed out to poop and pee (the towel went on during those, and I quickly mastered the art of moving the towel away at the right time so it wouldn't get splashed with pee). After a month, I started letting him walk farther than the "Pee Tree" (the tree he'd go to pee against before we headed back to the house), and then I'd take him to the end of the street and back. After a month, I allowed him to start going for walks again, without the towel, but we started from scratch again. We'd go to the end of the street and back, without the towel, and gradually increase the distance. He started at a walk and was only allowed to start jogging again when he could prove to me that he wouldn't limpy-skip. When he was allowed to start jogging, he wasn't allowed to go faster if he showed me the limpy-skip. Basically, I just took it all slow and I didn't allow him to even run for at least 3 months. 4 months later, he was pretty much "cured", and after 5 months, there was no question about it. Now, he doesn't even limp, even in cold weather. Well, maybe once or twice during winter, he'll wake up from a deep nap and have stiff hips, but he's also 9 years old now, so some of it's arthritis.

With a cat, I think it'd be pretty much the same stuff: try to prevent her from overexerting herself, and especially keep her from jumping around if you can. Last thing you want is for her to overextend her knee again and ruin the good surgery did for her. She may have lost weight due to pain, personally. Did she gets meds? Jake had some pain after surgery and he got some Medi-cam (that was delightful to give to him, lol) and some antibiotics (and when the incision got infected and puckered, he got more antibiotics! lol). Jake didn't lose weight (unfortunately), but it did take a week for him to have a bowel movement. Apparantly surgery can do that, can make the bowels slow down for a little while.

 

[clareandkarl]

If the ligament is repaired then rest will be more important, but if it replaced with a false one like our dog had then they need to get mobile again. Youe vet is he best person to give the appropriate advice because he knows how he has repaired or replaced it.