# Weak Back Leg?



## vanillamelody (Oct 29, 2009)

I recently rescued a kitten from my stable who had an abscess in his left hind leg and an eye infection. It is also quite possible that he suffered a broken leg, although the vet couldn't find any fracture when he palpated him (he felt that x-rays weren't necessary at the time). The vet kept him overnight to drain the abscess and clear out most of the gunk from his eyes and I was able to bring him home the following afternoon with a prescription of antibiotics. A week later, we had a follow up appointment and my vet was impressed with the little guy's healing progress.

Now, the little guy is just under 4 months old and is almost a completely different cat compared to how he was when I first brought him home back in August. He's full of energy and loves to play roughhouse with my 4 year old female Tabby. He's had a healthy appetite since day one, and has put on quite a bit of weight (he was fairly malnourished when I found him) after a dose of worming paste.

The only problem (and my reason for posting) is his left hind leg never seemed to recover completely. The best way to describe it is that he walks like a German Shepherd, with that kind of low, crouchy walk in the back end. I figured at first that the muscles were just weak from his injury, but 3 months later, he still walks this way. The leg doesn't seem to bother him at all (doesn't appear to hurt when I poke and prod at it) and like I previously mentioned, he's constantly running around without a care.

So my question is this: is it possible that there was a fracture in his leg and it just healed improperly? If so, could this cause problems later on down the line, such as arthritis or something worse? Or is it simply just a weak muscle that needs more time to strengthen?

Thanks for any suggestions/input (and sorry it was so lengthy  )

Jennifer


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome Jennifer, and I hope someone else will be able to have a more uplifting reply than my own. :? 

IM(completely unprofessional)O, one weak leg shouldn't cause that sort of gait in a kitty. I would expect a limp, but not both back legs to carry the kitty in a low crouch. How is his jumping ability? His motor control? We had a kitty who experienced a slow degeneration in his back end motor control. It went from clutzy to sort of "fish-tailing" when he ran down the hallway and could knock your leg out from under you. Then it progressed to where he could only walk about 10 steps and then his back end would sort of sway to the side and sit down suddenly. This progressed to only a few steps before the sudden sit down. At this time, Rei also had that low back-end crouch like you describe your kitty as having. However, if I grasped his tail and gently pulled 'up' to make his back level, he could move his legs easier and would appear to be able to walk fairly well, but if I let go of his tail, he could not hold himself up and his legs would return to that crouch.

His gait changed to that low crouch you described. As Reilly would bring his back legs forward, they would usually knock into each other and most telling about the glitch in the messages getting through ... his back legs would *hesitate* in the middle of every step and this slowed his speed down immensely as he couldn't coordinate his legs at faster gaits. This eventually progressed to an inability to lift his back legs and then to where he couldn't stand/walk at all and would drag himself with his front claws in the carpet. 

Rei wasn't in any pain, he just couldn't get himself around so we made things as easy for him as we could and he enjoyed himself until his last days and the degeneration deteriorated and he became unable to make his elimination functions work. At that time, he let us know he was "ready to go", so we made arrangements with our vet to help him pass peacefully.

Turns out Rei had a spinal cancer. Treatment (over about 3yrs prior to his euth/burial) would have consisted of expensive tests, but my treatment budget would not have allowed for many of the proposed possibilities so we (vet and I) decided not to do any diagnostics since treatment would remain restricted to treating symptoms and keeping Rei comfortable. A few months after he passed, our vet attended a convention and in discussions, she brought up Rei's case among a gathering of specialists and the consensus was a spinal tumor, as they felt all of his symptoms pointed towards a spinal growth slowly degenerating his motor skills after the point of the growth.

This story I am sharing with you isn't intended to frighten you, but I did wish to share my own experience and I think this would be something I would bring up with your vet. A broken leg and weakened leg muscles could cause these things, but it just doesn't seem like something a healthy/young cat would experience after recovery from injuries.
Best of luck to you and your kitty,
Heidi =^..^=


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

vanillamelody said:


> So my question is this: is it possible that there was a fracture in his leg and it just healed improperly?


Yes, that's possible, and your vet should be able to diagnose that with xrays.



> If so, could this cause problems later on down the line, such as arthritis or something worse?


Anytime the natural gait is affected, it puts extra strain on leg structures and will very possibly result in arthritic changes over time. You can help slow that process by giving your kitten a glucosamine supplement as part of his permanent, daily intake.



> Or is it simply just a weak muscle that needs more time to strengthen?


If he was malnourished in early kittenhood or even in utero, this could be the result of malnutrition and lack of proper development. If that's the case, it may or may not improve with excellent nutrition as his body continues to develop.

That said, one of my dogs tore her achilles tendons in both hind legs, resulting in the dropped hock, "German Shepherd movement" that you describe. It's possible that your kitten suffered a torn achilles during whatever trauma resulted in the abscess in that leg. The achilles will not repair on its own. Surgery is the only option for repair, and even that may fail (it did with my dog). In my dog's case, after surgical repair failed, I opted to have custom orthotic braces made for her hind legs to support them and hopefully help prevent further injury to her leg structures.

As I said, xrays will identify bony abnormalities or improperly healed breaks. Xrays won't, however, necessarily be able to identify tendon tears or other soft tissue problems. If you want the best chance of an accurate diagnosis and treatment options, I recommend you take your kitten to an orthopedic specialist.

I wish you and your kitten all the best.

Laurie


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## vanillamelody (Oct 29, 2009)

Heidi- Well, I suspect that the crouchy walk is just a result from the injury because it's how he relearned to walk when his leg was still hurting. His right back leg would more or less carry the weight, since the left wasn't strong enough. He'd try to put weight on it, but was ultimately unsuccessful and thus he did limp around for about a month. He seems to be getting better at walking every day, but it's just a slow process.

His jumping is just fine - he has no trouble jumping up on the small table I have the cat bowls in, jumping in and out of his kitty box, jumping up on the couches and beds, and he's even managed to jump into the tub (to his surprise, it still had water in it). His motor skills seem to be alright - he'll kick pretty severely with both legs when I turn him upside down and tickle his tummy.

When I hold him up in the air it almost seems like his left leg may be shorter than the right? My thinking is either the leg really is shorter, or the muscle just hasn't relaxed fully after the injury. Any thoughts?

Jennifer


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## vanillamelody (Oct 29, 2009)

Also - here are some pictures of him, from the day he came home from the vet up til about a week ago.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 95bf0840fb

(my apologies if the link doesn't work!)


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I think he looks adorable, but I can see that *something* funky is going on with his leg. I think your vet would be your best bet for answers and it seems as if the vet is unconcerned. As it is, the kitty will have a great life with you and certainly a better one than as just one of a number of Barn Cats.
Will he let you *move* that leg around? ..._I guess I want to know if he has a full range of motion and if the problem is muscle or bone._ Probably need the vet and an x-ray to determine for certain?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Geesh!  I didn't mean unconcerned in an I-don't-care manner, but more of unconcerned because it isn't a life-threatening problem.

_I re-read and thought my reply could have looked judgemental, but it wasn't in that manner._


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## plenty (Mar 24, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> This story I am sharing with you isn't intended to frighten you, but I did wish to share my own experience and I think this would be something I would bring up with your vet. A broken leg and weakened leg muscles could cause these things, but it just doesn't seem like something a healthy/young cat would experience after recovery from injuries.
> Best of luck to you and your kitty,
> Heidi =^..^=


Hey Heidi,

Is there any sign of weak leg muscles in cats? Would they walk kind of awkwardly or something like that?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Hi Plenty, welcome to CF.
I'm not a vet, a vet tech or even anyone who has ever worked at a vet hospital... I've had a lot of cats and a handful of horses so I have experienced a good range of various problems with my animals but I've certainly not encountered all of the possibilities. 
The only signs of weak leg muscles ... will be an obvious and visible reduction in mobility and ability ... and yes, you should be able to notice an obvious difference or variance from what the 'usual' gait and ability should be. 
Are you seeing something like this in your kitty?


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