Cat Limping; PLEASE HELP!
 

I recently took my cat to the vet to get a claw that had pierced and gotten stuck on his front left paw which was bleeding and giving him a lot of pain since he kept making noises. The vet was supposed to sedate him but instead figured he could use that for a blood test and said that my cat was cooperative. The vet had also updated his rabies shot as well as cut my cat's nails and took a blood test which later came out to be normal and had no problems. Now three days after my cat is limping when he walks and his back left paw seems to hurt him which has nothing to do with the claw that was removed on the front left paw. My cat is 10 years old turning 11 this May, he is also a Balinese and stays indoors. He is not very active as he's gotten older and moderately obese so it's almost impossible that he could have gotten hurt walking around in our small apartment. I am very worried that the vet may have hurt my cat's leg during the check up since my cat basically lays most hours of the day now and no longer wants to walk because i can see how much the leg is hurting him and eminent limping! It looks as though he's gotten depressed and sad. I aslo don't quite know what my rights are in this case or what to do. please help! :(

Truflow, have you taken a good look at the nails and paw of the foot your cat is favoring? Perhaps a nail was cut too short? Also, check carefully between the pads for swelling in case he has a splinter or something caught in there. Were you present while the vet treated your cat?

[QUOTE=luckypenny;982453]Truflow, have you taken a good look at the nails and paw of the foot your cat is favoring? Perhaps a nail was cut too short? Also, check carefully between the pads for swelling in case he has a splinter or something caught in there. Were you present while the vet treated your cat?[/QUOTE]


That's the thing, I wasn't present. The vet went into another room to treat my cat's paw. Wouldn't my cat be limping right after that happened? or does it take awhile for my cat to limp? also when he starts to walk he'll limp and midway he'll rest awhile and lay opposite of the left back paw and then continue to walk when he's ready. he was fine for the first two days! then the third day was when he started limping :(((

Sounds to me like you need to take the kitty back to the vet and have him checked again. It is possible he has strained his leg. Maybe the vet/assistant held it too tight. A little unusual that he would take the cat out of the room to treat it but I had a vet that did that too.
I am confused about the sedation/blood test comment. Did he do blood work on him using the blood from the wound? Did the claw actually grow enough to pierce the bottom of his paw? Do you trim your cats' claws on a regular basis? Is it possible he has a claw on his back paw that is digging in now too if they are growing that large?

Is the back paw he's now limping on the same leg the Rabies shot was given in?

[QUOTE=growler;982476]Is the back paw he's now limping on the same leg the Rabies shot was given in?[/QUOTE]

no the rabies shots were given to him near his neck just below his jaw, i dont know why that spot particularly, but i presume maybe to avoid my cat picking at it if the shot bothered him, but i'm not sure?

Just below the neck is generally where blood is drawn if not drawn from the leg.

I've never heard of a vet giving a vaccination in the neck, only between the shoulder blades or in the leg.

The Rabies vaccine is an intra-muscular shot - it must be injected into the muscle (where other vaccines are just under the skin) generally the rear leg - [I]never[/I] the neck.

[QUOTE=14+kitties;982472]Sounds to me like you need to take the kitty back to the vet and have him checked again. It is possible he has strained his leg. Maybe the vet/assistant held it too tight. A little unusual that he would take the cat out of the room to treat it but I had a vet that did that too.
I am confused about the sedation/blood test comment. Did he do blood work on him using the blood from the wound? Did the claw actually grow enough to pierce the bottom of his paw? Do you trim your cats' claws on a regular basis? Is it possible he has a claw on his back paw that is digging in now too if they are growing that large?[/QUOTE]

the vet did a blood test on my cat just to ensure that there was nothing wrong with him internally (kidney problems, etc.) He was going to sedate him at first because the vet thought my cat might be squirming too much when while treating his paw (it grew into the bottom of his paw). the vet instead took a blood test to save us money instead of paying for both the sedation and blood test.
the vet clipped all of his claws too so that it wouldn't cause anymore of the same problem for the mean time. That's why I'm wondering why he's limping now (it can't be another claw piercing into his paw because his nails were clipped at the vet). Do you think the vet/assistant may have handled my cat a little too hard?

It is possible the vet/assistant cut too short on one of the back claws which would be irritating/tender hence making the cat limp.

[QUOTE=growler;982484]Just below the neck is generally where blood is drawn if not drawn from the leg.

I've never heard of a vet giving a vaccination in the neck, only between the shoulder blades or in the leg.

The Rabies vaccine is an intra-muscular shot - it must be injected into the muscle (where other vaccines are just under the skin) generally the rear leg - [I]never[/I] the neck.[/QUOTE]

thanks for the fast reply :)
maybe its my mistake, i didn't really see the vet taking blood and giving my cat his shot, there was a big patch shaved off of my cat's neck-chest, so maybe the blood test was taken from the neck and the shots were given between the shoulder blades. The reason i said the neck was because that's the only place where i saw a spot were it looked like the shot came but now i'm sure thats where the blood was taken

[QUOTE=growler;982487]It is possible the vet/assistant cut too short on one of the back claws which would be irritating/tender hence making the cat limp.[/QUOTE]

I recently adopted my cat about 1-2 months ago so i'm still learning too
Just a question, wouldn't he start limping right after the incident or would it only start to give him pain after a few days?

If his neck is shaved - that's where the blood was drawn :)

Cats are very good at hiding pain/discomfort they don't show it often, if it is a result of too short nail clipping they would likely show irritation right away usually by washing that paw repeatedly. If it's a reaction to the vaccine sometimes it will show right away, but can also take upto 2 weeks.

I would bet the Rabies shot was given in the leg he's limping on, you can always call the vets office & mention the limping to the assistant, ask where the rabies shot was given and what they think you should do about the limp. They should note this in his chart as a reference for the next time he needs a vaccine & perhaps not use the same spot/leg.

thanks a lot growler :D, I will call the vet tomorrow when they are open, i'll definitely keep you updated. I'm am really hoping that the limping could have been from the shot *keeps fingers crossed and not from rough handling.

That was the leg where he received the rabies shot. Phew, I'm so glad, and he's not limping anymore. He's back to normal and back to his happy self :)

Glad to hear that your kitty is okay. :thumbs up

Btw, welcome to pets.ca and we'd love to see some pics of your boy. :goodvibes:

[QUOTE=truflow;982980]That was the leg where he received the rabies shot. Phew, I'm so glad, and he's not limping anymore. He's back to normal and back to his happy self :)[/QUOTE]

Good to hear he's back to himself :highfive: