Has this ever happened to your cat?

Question

Yesterday my cat's back hip was dislocated when he was hit by a car. The vet can't put it back and will be removing the head of the femur (Top of the leg bone), I'm told that afterwards fibre will grow and the muscles will become larger and stronger to hold the joint in place. Apparently after he recovers from the op he will have no problems with movement, walking, running, climbing and the like. I need a bit of reassurance that he will be alright. He has infected wounds from the accident and is due for the op when his wounds and bruises heel.

Answer 1

veterinarians do not assure you that everything will be fine if its not going to be.  There job depends on their reputation. Cats are very good at surviving things and coming through. if is good that you are doing this for your cat, and your vet will take care of him so ease your mind, its okay, just try not to let him out of the house anymore its a dangerous world for cats.

Answer 2

He will be fine dont worry to much, he sounds like a fighter and iam sure with the vets best advice he will make a full recovery hope it all goes well. You sound like you have alot of affection for him he is in good hands :)

Answer 3

Only time will tell as all cats vary with how they recover and progress. You are so lucky that your cat has survived, I know it will be a big change but you should consider keeping your cat indoors from now on, cats dont learn from near misses like we do!

Answer 4

sorry i wish i could help . the best i can say is what you have said is what i've been told too. i hope you and your baby get through this ok . best of luck, my heart goes out to you  

Answer 5

Howdy! Sorry to hear about your cat, always a big shock when they get hurt isn't it?

My cat had to have a femoral head resection when he was aout 9 months old after being hit by a car. Like yours the surgery was delayed until he was fit.

Relatively speaking it's a fairly routine operation although not always straight forward in that to get to the femoral head the surgeon has to get through fairly tight muscle layers. My kitty was in a fair bit of discomfort post op. but at the time there wasn't the same pain relief available as there is now. He did fantastically well & was using it well after a few days - they don't usually have to be kept too confined as it's not as if you are trying to help broken pieces knit together.

Hope he does ok just be prepared for him being sore for a few days!

Good luck x

Answer 6

Not to me personally, but to friends. their cats had a run in with a four wheeler, and a semi. the semi cat had to be put down, but the four wheeler cat is doing fine. he took about three weeks to heal up completely from the op, but she gets around fine.

Answer 7

something like that happened to my cat.  i don't think it was her hip, but it was operated on and now she is fine, except that sometimes that leg sticks out at a weird angle when she sits, but that was at least 6 years ago and she is still healthy.. however, be sure that the doctors don't give your cat his shots and vaccines if he has already had them, they did this to my cat and now she gains weight like crazy

Answer 8

Cats and dogs recover extremely well after the loss of a limb. I've seen it on Animal Planet and the vets and officers talk about how most of the time the animal gets around very well, and doesn't even show that it knows or cares that the limb is gone. You need to understand that a cat's brain is much less developed than a human's. It's not going to care as long as it can still get around. At first, it'll have a little trouble jumping, but then the muscles in its other back leg will develop more and it will just be like a normal cat! Do not worry. Just keep your cat inside now, because it's much harder for a cat to walk on 2 feet!