My Pickles took a bad spill this morning. She's going on 15 but she's still thinks she's

[GreenPartyVoter]

a spring kitten.

She climbed up the linen shelves about 2/3s of the way. The only shot she has to get to the top one is to hook into the air mattresses hanging off the edge over her head. So she goes for it, and grabs my little boy's life jacket as well, which was sitting on top of the mattresses. (One of those water skiing vest kind.) She pulls and instead of going up the vest goes down and falls onto my head. She starts crying to come down and is holding her paw up. The minute I put her down she starts limping around on 3 legs. I checked her paw and it looks ok. She doesn't cry when I touch it but she does yank it away. This afternoon she started walking on it again, but is still babying it.

I found a piece of one of her claws in my hair and I am hoping that all she did was the equivalent of ripping a toe nail. I mean, if she had broken a bone she would have more to say about it, wouldn't she?? :cry:

[ThomCat]

1. I hope Pickles is okay.

Cats hide their injuries. If possible, I'd take her to a vet to be checked out just in case. You don't want her hiding a serious injury until it becomes an worse problem that can't be hidden any longer. :(

On the other hand, I really hope it was nothing serous and she's okay. :hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Trouble is we can't afford to take her to the vet. :^( So I will keep watching her to see if she

goes back to walking normally. If she doesn't I will start nagging the hubby about figuring out some way to take care her to the vet.

[ThomCat]

3. That is the big problem. Healthcare is too damned expensive

whether it is for us or for our furry family. :(

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. You are so very right. :^( I heard story after story as a kid of people

taking their pets out back to put them down when they were too hurt to heal but not too hurt to die. Heard too of kittens being put into plastic bags which were tied to the exhaust pipe of a car. Poor man's way of putting them to sleep. Wish we had known about that one when Patches was run over. She was paralyzed on one side and in great agony but took days and days to die. :cry: (I have lost too many critters to cars like that, hence the reason I keep the ones I have now indoors. But obviously you can't protect them 100% from harm, even in the house. :( )

[Dappleganger]

4. Sorry to hear that, hope she's ok. We have a kitty named Pickles, too!

He was named after a cat in the children's book, "Pickles the Fire Cat". Our kitty was a stray Maine Coon who was dropped off at a friend's barn on their farm (he and his sister), so we took him and have had him for nearly 10 years. He's the most cool, laid back cat and extremely good natured.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Our Pickles looks like that, but she is only half-coon so she has short fur. And she, too,

is named for the book! LOL Her brother is named Pretzel, and their mother was Pepper.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Update: She's walking almost normally again. And she wants to get back up on that shelf! I think

she is going to be ok. (And that she has a really short memory. LOL)

[Dappleganger]

8. Yay Pickles!

Give her a hug for me, will ya!

That's funny she was named after the same kitty, LOL. Does she have giant paws, too?

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Well, we found her sore spot. I was looking too low. It's her shoulder and she cries when

we touch it too hard, but I think it's just a muscle strain.


As for her feet, she didn't inherit her mother's coon cat frame. She is 7lbs on a good day and very, very dainty. :D

[DeepBlueC]

9. Uh oh

I remember coming home one day and finding my cat Percy limping. I could not find any injury to his paw though I looked numerous times. It turned out to be a torn ACL when I had it checked out. I hope it's nothing like that.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. It seems to be up in her shoulder area. She's walking and jumping almost normally now, though. :^)

[DeepBlueC]

13. keep an eye for swelling

The thing is that animals do keep marching around with injuries so if that little limp persists for 4 or 5 days I think she has to be seen. What could be worrisome up in that area is dislocation. The thing about that is that if you leave it for long the tendons and all shrink and it is hard to put it back so it stays. Pity you don't have a home vet like mine...I get a lot of free phone consultations, advice about what to do when the cat eats dental floss for example or what to look for when I see something like that limp. Dr. Jane would be able to tell me to relax, or to watch for certain diagnostic signs, or to head for a clinic. She saves me a fair buck and she is always willing to talk because she spends a lot of time in the truck and has little bits of time through the day and she just loves being a good doc...she's been coming here more than 20 years and she loves kitties in particular herself (and has a houseful). Maybe I'll try to get in touch with her for you. If you have any more details please PM me. :)

[DeepBlueC]

14. Check your PM

I got in touch with my vet and got some advice for you. I hope it helps. I feel reassured myself. :D

[applegrove]

12. I'd watch her. Cats are animals that will hide a wound...as they would have to in the wild.