Conference misery::feline_v1

    I have never experienced this problem.
    
    But, You have my well wishes and my prayers that W.W. comes through
    this ordeal with flying colors.
    
    	-Nancy

    Hi Joy!
    
    I adopted a lovely siamese cat years ago...that was hit by a
    car...Well, we too her for emergency surgery and all... on a Sunday
    no less.  The Dr. Was great!!!  He ex-rayed her, and kept her for
    about 3 weeks...he said her pelvis was broken in several places
    and that there was really nothing to do but hope!  She came around
    really fine...it took about 3 months but it was worth it!  He asked
    me to come to the hospital daily to feed her.  She would not eat
    for them and the iv's were too stressful, so I got strained baby
    food, turkey and chicken, and fed her with a spoon.  The girls in
    the hospital really wanted to do this, but Nit Noi would not eat
    for anyone but me...and it's not like she was imprinted or
    anything...We found her laying in the street...waiting to be hit
    by another car or something!
    
    Dr. Gleason was the Dr. in charge...because of the circumstances
    too, he only charged me $153 for 3 weeks in the hospital, ex-rays
    and meds...he was flat wonderful in that case!
    
    Best wishes to W.W.!  Keep us posted, ok!
    
    Jean
    

    Cardigan had a broken hip when she was a kitten.  She didn't live
    with me then so I have no first-hand experience of the situation.
    However, she suffers no impairment of speed, accurancy, balance,
    or leaping ability.
    
    [She does occasionally fall off of things onto her back, but that's
    because she frequently forgets that she has bones and muscles]
    
      Ann

    Wasn't there a story in here about a kitty who had a broken pelvis?
    If I remember right, it was written by someone in England.  I can't
    for the life of me remember the kitty's name, but I do remember
    mistaking it for a female name instead of a male name.  Now that
    I think of it, wasn't it Sharon Taylor who wrote it?
    
    Best of luck with W.W. (By the way, what does W.W. stand for?)
    
    Holly
    

    W.W. stands for White Waters.  He was named by his previous owner
    who considered him to be too much of a responsibility.  He is a
    beautiful pure white male who is 12 pounds of pure muscle.  Lean,
    mean, loving machine.  He is better known as "Dubbers".
    
    I do remember seeing something about a kitty with broken bones,
    but couldn't remember whether it was the pelvic bone or not.  I
    will look around to see if I can find the note - I do remember that
    the kitty in that story did have a happy ending.  It's just difficult
    to see a previously healthy cat pulling himself around with his
    claws (thank God he's not declawed, huh ?).
    
    Thanks for the good wishes - I will share them with Dubbers tonight
    and give him extra pets for you.  I really miss having him on my
    lap looking for his usual share of fussing over....
    
    Thanks again,
    
    Joy

    Yes, there was such a note.  I remember because I typed in a reply
    about my next door cat-nephew Jasper who also recovered from such an
    injury.
     It does take time, and if there is nerve damage the nerves can
    take awhile to regenerate.  It is important to note that nerve function
    can come back slowly over several months, so don't give up if it
    looks like he has that problem.
    

    Is there anyone out there that can point me to that note ? I looked
    for it, but I didn't see anything that looked like it - maybe I
    just didn't look hard enough ?
    
    On the good side -- Dubbers started eating again Friday night. 
    Thanks for the suggestion on the baby food - he loves it !!
    
    He appears to be feeling a bit better.  He has been washing himself
    wherever he can reach, but his back end is still pretty dirty. 
    He hasn't really wanted out of the cage yet, so there's not any
    problem with that so far.  He's also feeling back up to hissing
    at Punjab when she's being a pest to him (like when she's sitting
    on top of the cage and looking in), so hopefully he'll do fine.
     
    Should the baby food loosen up his stools so that it's easier for
    him to go ?  If anyone knows about this (or how to loosen them up)
    I'd like to hear from you.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Joy

    ref 1134.  and good luck - I think thr prognosis  is good.    
    A friend of mine had the same thing happen
    to her cat a couple months ago, and her cat is doing well.

    My wife's cat (she has one, I have two) somehow broke the ball off
    the top of the femur a couple of months ago. The vet said that the
    cat would probably recover just fine without sugery, in fact the
    only recommended procedure in this case was to remove the ball from
    the socket but this will only speed up recovery as the ball would
    be re-absorbed anyway. Cats can replace the bone joint with what
    he called a "false" joint made up of muscle and a short tendon.
    At this time, Isiah is walking with only a slight limp and can climb
    trees and run with no difficulty. The vet looked him over two weeks
    and was pleased with the recovery and stated that by Spring there
    wouldn't even be any limp.
    
    This ability dosen't suprise me at all, I've been saying for years
    that, although cats have bones, they're not connected.
    

    Re .9 and the "false joint" - odd as it sounds, it is true. My
    wonderful grey tabby, Gunslinger (of beloved memory), came home limping
    one night and proved to have had the ball of the femur crushed - the
    vet thought by another cat in a fight. He removed the fragments, and
    within a couple of months Gunslinger was as good as new, save for a
    slight limp (almost a swagger) that was very much in keeping with his
    name. Never slowed him down in the least.
    
    As for pelvic injuries, we had two different cats suffer them, and both
    recovered completely.
    
    Hoping it works out as well for you,
    -b

    re: .7/stools
    
    You might want to ask your vet about whether or not to be concerned
    if he doesn't have a stool by..when....  At the surgeon's
    recommendation,  Sweetie gets Metamucil added to his food to make
    things easier for him (he had his pelvis crushed before I got him.)
    He'll be taking teh Metamucil forever.
    

    p.s.  If he doesn't defecate, he can get something called megacolon,
    which can be bad.
    

    .11 is a good suggestion. If the cat refuses the Metamucil, try stiring
    in a little toasted bran. (Now my cats won't eat their moist food if
    I don't mix in the brad)
    
    Deb

    Good news !!!! He pooped yesterday !!!! (Sounds pretty silly, doesn't
    it, but it sure is a good sign !).  Will still keep an eye on him
    though, to make sure it happens again.
    
    He appears to be steadily improving.  This morning when I got up
    and went to say hello to him, he stood up using his hind legs. 
    I was _SO EXCITED_ !!  It only lasted about ten seconds, so I think
    he just wanted to show me that he was getting better.  I'm so glad
    to see it.  (I just hope he doesn't try to do too much before he's
    able to.)         
    
    Thanks for the good wishes (and the pointer to note 1134).
              
    I will keep you posted.
    
    Joy
    

    Just wanted to give you all an update on Dubbers.
    
    He seems to be doing very well.  He escaped from his cage last week-
    he didn't mind sleeping in there at night, but didn't want anything
    to do with it during the day.  Since then he hasn't been back in
    the cage.  He's not jumping around or anything.  He just walks (very
    crookedly) into another room and snoozes.  He's coming out to greet
    us when we get up in the morning and when we get home at night (meal
    time, you know?).  The past couple of nights he's been coming around
    to get on our laps.  Of course, we have to pick him up and them
    put him back on the floor when he's had enough, but he loves it.
    He's going to be one extremely spoiled cat when he's finally done
    healing.
    
    Joy (who can't wait to see Dubbers walk a straight line)

    Glad to hear that Dubbers is making such progress.

    I just wanted to let you all know that Dubbers is doing very well
    now.  He's walking straight, he plays with Punjab (chases and gets
    chased by her), and jumps around as if it's no problem.  He sometimes
    has a problem getting up into a lap if he tries to do it without
    a running start - and compensates for his lack of balance on his
    hind legs by using his front claws to pull himself up.  This appears
    to also be improving over time.  It's wonderful to see him back
    up and around as though he never had a problem.
    
    Within the past couple of weeks, he has also shown interest in heading
    back outdoors.  Since he was hit by the car he has been a lot more
    skittish than he used to be.  Maybe this will be enough to discourage
    him from wanting to go outside.......
    
    Thanks for the support,
    
    Joy

    GLAD TO HEAR IT!
     Nancy DC