Cat staved his front leg sometime yesterday

[Dr_Rick]

So our 5kg NFC / Tabby thing, Magnus was limping quite heavily yesterday evening on his front right. Gave him a quick once over and there were no cuts or scrapes anywhere, and both front legs were fine (i.e. no recoil / tenderness to the touch). However, when I got up to his chest / pectoral area on the front right he wasn't that impressed with a gentle prodding.

I think he's just jumped down from our back wall onto a hard surface and staved his front leg, either avoiding the magpies or another cat on the cat-highway.

This morning he's walking better, but I think still feeling sore. He can jump up and down from a kitchen worktop so I don't think there's anything broken. Plus, he'll quite happily turn turtle for a belly rub and purr away to himself, including not being defensive over the sore area.

My wife is still concerned, and I've got him booked in to the vet around dinner time (earliest available), but I'm half a mind that he'll just be fine (and I'll cancel the appointment).

Any views one way or the other?

[Dr_Rick]

I've shut him inside for the day just so he doesn't start going mental all over the place, but he's booked in for 1740. We'll take it from there.

[Dr_Rick]

ali_kat said:

Bast came home limping but was fine with belly rubs, purrs etc.

But looking at her pads & claws she'd been clipped by a car.

First thing I did was work from the toes up and look for scrapes / blunting to the claws, any blood anywhere and how his pads were. I was also considering bees; we have a number of bees in the garden what with it being spring and having flowers out (even in Scotland), and all was fine. Then moving up the legs checking for mobility, swelling and heat, plus condition of fur coverage; nothing. Only when I got to his chest did he comment. Still he's a soppy bugger so the worst he could come up with was a muffled mew. He doesn't raise a claw to anyone, or teeth.

The only thing I could come up with was a broken rib or a muscle tear / jar from leaping down a wall onto a hard surface.

We'll see what the vet says. Still, he's not visited since Christmas

[Dr_Rick]

Don't... he got two out of hours visits at the weekend within 2 months and even the vet was commenting that he was making an expensive habit of things.

[Dr_Rick]

Sorry, yes there's an update; the little fecker wandered into the vets bold as brass, started purring when prodded, and turned over for a belly rub while she did a full exam!!

Details wise; no swelling, no hotspots, no blood, no breaks in skin or bone, no temp, no gut issues, no mouth issues. We mutually agreed I'd brought in a perfectly healthy cat weighing 4.4kg and cooking at 38c.

Vet concluded it was probably muscular as there was no evidence of skeletal or digestive problems. Then did the usual, if you think he's still 'off' in 24-48hrs, bring him back, which is fair.

Cats can be gits, but it was worth checking.