Nerve Damage to Leg--2 yr old cat
 

My male cat, Pooper, will be 2 years old in July. He is an indoor cat, neutered, and a stray. I don't know his breed. I took him 3 weeks ago to a new vet for his shots. He had a bad reaction to the shots and was vomiting. He did not have this reaction the first time I took him for shots a year ago. So, I immediately took him back to the vet where he was given 2 more shots to his right hind leg and an IV of saline. After he stopped vomiting and we returned home, his right hind leg was not working properly. I called the vet and was told that this was normal due to all of the shots. I then took him back 5 days later and was told the vet had "nicked" a nerve in his leg. The vet assured me he would heal fine and it would just take awhile. My boyfriend took him yesterday for a cortizone shot to help him heal and the vet informed him that it may not heal.

Pooper is still able to jump. His favorite sleep/house is 5ft off the ground. He is still walking odd....where his leg is stretched behind him and he is stepping fully down all the way to the heel. I can't tell if he is pain or not.

If anyone has dealt with anything remotely similar, I would really appreciate some insight. I have googled and searched and not come up with much.
Thank you for any help.

I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties Pooper is having. I have no experience with this type of situation.

If the clinic has admitted that the injury was caused by nicking the nerve during injection, I hope they are not charging you for any followup visits or treatment as a result of this injury.

Damage to a nerve is generally very slow to heal and, depending on the extent of the damage, it is possible that it may never heal completely. How much improvement have you seen since this happened? It is also good to limit stess to the injured area while it is healing (I know, impossible for an active two year old kitty). I wonder if using a splint would help. You might want to run that by your vet.

Please keep us updated on how things are progressing.:goodvibes:

I took my 7 month old in for her shots and same thing happened to her. She was walking funny. Every time she'd walk she would stretch the back legs and fall back down. At that time I didn't think about taking her to the vet and I have no idea why I didn't. My sister told me to put a pack of ice on her back legs and I did and thankfully within a week she got better. You can also fix him bed with a hot water bottle. The warmth from the bottle will help ease his soreness. It sucks he has to go through that I hope he recovers quick! and if he doesn't I sure hope you better go have a word with that vet.

Nerve damages repair very slowly you have to be patient. For now make sure you cat isn't jumping on high places. Take away the cat tree for now. Complete recovery make take a month or so. Set him a room where he can stay in.


"
Apply a cold compress. On the first day of the injury, apply ice or cold packs three to four times a day for up to 10 minutes each setting. This will help to reduce swelling.

Apply a war compress. On the second day after the injury, apply a warm compress three to four times a day for up to 10 minutes each setting. You can create a warm compress by running warm water over a washcloth. Remember, the compress should be warm, not hot.

Buy a splint. Putting your cat's injured leg in a splint will give it extra support and help keep weight off the injury. You can buy splints for your cat at local pet stores and various online merchants.
"


and you can also look into asking another vet for a opinion :)

Welcome to the forum, [B]captnfirepants[/B]!

I know you're very concerned about what's happening with Pooper (I wonder if his name might be an interesting topic for future discussion...maybe there are issues behind that which could raise some nutrition recommendations...)

I'd certainly agree that any further treatment for this issue by this current Vet should certainly be free of charge...I'm just not sure that I would be back there asking for more. Perhaps you could find a cat-only practice and seek another opinion.

In any case, this issue of "annual vaccinations" is one that more and more of us are questioning and educating ourselves about.

Here is a good primer on the subject - easy reading and raises many questions

[url]http://www.holisticat.com/vaccinations.html[/url]

Thank you so much for the advice. I have taken down his house for the time being and trying to limit his physical activity as much as we can. Some days it looks like he is getting better and others he limps more. Just taking it day by day now.

The vet has not charged us and now that the steroid shot is behind us, we are no longer using him. When my boyfriend took him in, the vet didn't read his notes at all and had no idea what he was in for. Then he attempted to give him the shot in the wrong leg.

He got his name because he had worms for over a month. Took him to vet repeatedly and they couldn't detect them. Anyhoo..the entire time he wwas having diarreah all over the house. One night I woke up and saw something in the dark. I reached out to see what it was and jammed my hand into a steaming pile of soup. I never want him to forget how he traumatized me. Haha I know it sounds a bit mean but, it actually fits him well. We are firm believers in saying our cats names when we see them and he practically puffs his chest with pride when we talk to him. He is so sweet.

I will post pics when I am on a laptop.

Thank you again for all of the advice!

You've made my day with the story about the origen of his name!

[quote]The vet has not charged us and now that the steroid shot is behind us, we are no longer using him. When my boyfriend took him in, the [I][COLOR="Red"]vet didn't read his notes at all and had no idea what he was in for. Then he attempted to give him the shot in the wrong leg[/COLOR][/I].[/quote]

Well, we've all heard stories about healthy human organs/parts being removed while diseased parts are untouched...why would we think that our kittys could be treated any differently! Best we can do is research the best Docs and remain vigilant.

Now, there's another piece of "required reading" for all the kitty-parents here at [B]Pets.ca[/B] - topic is again "vaccinations" - it's also short and easily read/understood, and is written by our very respected Resident Veterinarian, Dr. Lee.

[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=53056[/url]

[B]captnfirepants[/B], I see that you're located in Michigan...if you decide to go the "no more vaccinations" route, it seems that you may still have a state regulation for Rabies vaccination...you can have a look here [url]http://www.avma.org/advocacy/state/issues/rabies_vaccination.pdf[/url] for that...that document appears on the American Veterinary Medical Association's site here [url]http://www.avma.org/advocacy/state/issues/rabies_vaccination.asp[/url]

If you must comply with a Rabies requirement, pay particular attention to Dr. Lee's recommendation for the "needle-less" vaccine made by Merial.

Can't wait for the pix!