Conference misery::feline_v1

    I have never heard of a cat spraining its leg, but I wouldn't have
    thought a sprain would make him sleepy particularly.
    
    If this was my cat, and he was still obviously not himself after
    a week, I'd take him back to the vet (or even a different vet),
    and have him thoroughly checked over, if only for my own peace of
    mind.
    
    Helen.

    I have a cat who pulls a muscle in her back leg at least three 
    times a year.  She favors it and walks real slow, but insists on
    jumping onto the refrigerator, dressers, TV set, etc and I think
    it makes it worse.  After two, three weeks she's fine until the
    next time.  We have taken her to the vet but there really isn't
    much they can do.  It just takes time.
    
    Diane

    
    My cat had something similar to what your cat had.  We took her
    to the vet and found out she had an absess on her hind leg.  
    
    She was sleeping quite a lot too, and found out it was because she
    had a high fever.  The vet put her on antibiotics and within a week
    she was fine.
    
    I would check again with the vet to make sure it isn't an infection
    of some sort.
    
    Karen
    
    

    Last May something happened to Gonezo.  After his yearly checkup
    in which the vet said he was too fat, I put him on a diet and in
    fooling around, was doing "kitty aerobics" with him.  Anyway, about
    2 weeks after the vet, Gonezo started to limp and favor his back
    leg.  I took him to the vet and she could find nothing wrong, except
    he had a high fever.  In this time period, Gonezo also wasn't eating
    and lost 1 1/2 lbs. (and looked great!).  The vet put him on
    antibiotics and an appetite stimulant and nothing helped.  She ran
    blood work on him and everything came back normal.  She did x-rays
    and everything looked normal except something in his chest around
    his heart.  Meanwhile, she was keeping him in intensive care for
    a few days while all the tests were being run.  After the x-rays
    and what she saw, she decided to do an EKG which showed an abnormality.
    The vet suggested I take Gonezo to Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston
    (part of the MSPCA) for an ultrasound on his heart.  This got scheduled
    for about 3 or 4 weeks later.  To make this long story short, before
    I ever got Gonezo to Angell, he got better.  I was giving him 1/4
    tablet of Ascrypton (aspirin with Maalox) twice a week and this
    seemed to help.  I took him to Angell anyway and the ultrasound
    showed up ok.  We don't know what was ever wrong with him, but when
    I notice he's getting "funny", meaning listless, not eating, and
    has that sad look in his eyes, I give him the aspirin and he seems
    fine.  I don't know why he was ever limping (and the area was sensitive
    when I touched it) - perhaps it was psychological?
    
    Good luck with your cat.  Take him to the vet and hopefully it won't
    be as involved as my trip was.
    
    Mary
    

    Re: .4
    
    Just to note that other folks should not decide to give aspirin
    to their cats without their vet's okay, as it can be toxic to cats.
    

    When I initially took Smurf to the vet she took his blood work and
    it came back normal.  She also checked his pulse in both hind legs
    to be sure he didn't throw a clot and took his temperature which
    was normal.  I don't know how he injured himself as I was away and
    a good friend watched him.  He said he was very active - playing
    wildly with the kitty tease early in the week and then later in
    the week would play as long as he didn't have to get up.  He is
    eating fine and looks fine (bright eyes), but he seems bothered
    by his lack of mobility.  Almost seems depressed.  I think he may
    be sleeping alot because hes laying around alot, not wanting to move.
    His leg seems to also bother him more when he gets up from sleeping.
    I get so concerned about him from earlier days when he was very
    sick that now I worry about EVERYTHING...  I just wanted to know
    how much time to expect this to go on.  The vet said if he didn't
    get any better to call her back, and he is better than last week
    when he had a pronounced limp and would'nt get up.    

    Just went through this with one of our females.  She sprained both
    legs on the left side but we don't know how.  The legs were x-rayed
    and there were no breaks and she had no infection.  Vet prescribed
    resting the legs and keeping her off them.  Fortunately she decided
    the same thing.  She stayed curled up in her basket or near the
    baseboard heater.  Took about 3 weeks to heal.  Don't tempt your
    cat to play since a lot of use can cause a setback (at least according
    to our vet).
    
    Frank

    
    
    I once had a cat (Oscar) that had a broken leg.  He showed up at
    my door limping badly and you could tell his leg looked out of
    proportion.  I took him to the vet prepared to spend money on this
    cat that I didn't know who it belonged to.  The vet said that the
    leg would heal just fine on its own, it would just take time.  It
    was only a few weeks before he was up and around and few more and
    he was good as new.  Your kitty should be fine in time.
    
                                   Donna
    

    re. 4 & 5 - giving aspirin to cats.  I had the vet's ok to do this.