General Chat

I have 3 cats. One of them, George, got hit by a car at 10 months and broke his jaw.
He's 4 now and gets very upset when he gets 'beaten up' by another cat, to the extent that he'll hide in the wardrobe for 3 days!
Makes life difficult, as I need to know how hurt he is, and have to tease him out for a few minutes before he hides again.

Last night, when i went to bed, he was lying on my bed. I stroked him, but didn't get the usual reaction - purring, jumping up and being very affectionate etc. He just lay there.
He was lying on his side - with only 3 legs visible. No blood, so for some reason he was lying on his left front leg. I checked his paws and felt him, he didn't have 'scuffed' claws, but had a few lesions - he'd been in a fight.
I thought I'd leave him to sleep for the night (too late to get a vet anyway).
As I lay down, he tried to get further up the bed, but was holding his leg awkwardly, and not putting it down. I thought he'd either broken or sprained his leg.
I checked him this morning - he purred - a good sign.

I had to go to work so left food, water & litter tray in the bedroom. Rushed home from work - even caught a taxi as the bus was late. Straight up to my bedroom, ready to take George to the vet - no George.

Looked under the bed, in the wardrobe, behind anything he could hide behind. Searched the garden, calling all the time - nothing!
Decided to get dinner. The back door was open, and in strolled George - on all 4 legs, as happy as Larry!!

Taxi cost me £4 but a lot cheaper than the vet!!!
His leg's still a bit sore, but no swelling or heat, and judging from the way he was bouncing around here just now, not desperately painful.

Hello Maggie ..... I'm glad to hear that George is ok . I wonder if he had landed funny from a jump down ? One of mine did that once and his leg was a bit swollen for a day and he couldn't put it down but the next day he was fine .
I'm pleased you didn't have to visit the vets .

It's a difficult situation isn't it?
Poor George had to visit the vet quite a few times with his jaw. it was a bank holiday and he staggered in at 3am! Took him to the vet the next day (Bank Holiday Monday) - cost me £8 taxi fare (double what it normally did) to get there, the vet felt his jaw and burst an abcess - then told me to bring him back the next day - that cost me £80!
George ended up with a wired jaw for 6 weeks, with about a quarter of an inch of twisted wire coming out under his chin,(total cost £200) and one of those stupid collars on - that he immediately caught his paw in, so I removed it. I think, when he's hurt, he's terrified he'll be taken back - hence he hides.

I had a cat once that started to walk on 3 legs in the house. She didn't seem in much discomfort, and used all 4 legs to get on the sofa etc.
I was thinking about taking her to the vet, when I spotted her in the garden - climbing a tree! She carried on this charade for about 2 months - until her brother got a big abcess, then she forgot about herself and spent ages licking the fur from around his abcess!!
I had been told by the vet to 'deal' with the cats abcesses, using bread poultices, (which I'd normally done with small ones) as, when I'd taken him to get one on his face treated, they'd kept him in all night - and he howled the whole time!!

Cats can worry you so much and then turnout to be ok. Our Lizzie will go or days refusing everything we offer to eat, then justas we are thinking we must take her to the vets, she decides to stuff herself, then worries all day for more food!