# injured kitten.



## blah87 (Jun 7, 2011)

My kitten is about 8 weeks old, and recently she injured herself jumping off my window sill. i didn't think anything of her doing so because she's done it before just fine without injury. But this time she did hurt herself. Upon landing she lifted her front left paw up, crying loudly and hobbled off to the corner for a bit. that was saturday. i took her to the vet and he seems to think she only stretched or sprang it and will be fine, but wanted to see how she does over the weekend and to come back monday if it didn't get better. So far she still gets around just fine, just a little slower than before. Still wants to play but knows she can't play to much or get to rough. sleeps more. also if you hold her injured paw, it doesn't seem to hurt her at all till you start to straighten her paw out. if you flex it completely to where her toes are closer to her arm, she doesn't fuss at all. so it seems it only hurts when it's fully stretched out, which is the position it would be in if she were to stand on it. so she doesn't stand on it at all she still holds it up when she hobbles around. i didn't take her back in yet because if it was just a sprang i figured it'd probably still take longer than a day and a half to show much improvement. otherwise the next route is xrays. and unfortunately, as sad as this may be, if it turns out to be the worse case scenario like the doc said and be what he called a "Y fracture", it'll cost a ton to fix. and i'm sorry, but i'm not able to throw down 12-14 grand on a cat let alone any animal. Anyone else have any input on this? What do you think this injury is? more likely to be a sprang or actual break?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

When my Cali was little, she hurt her paw. The E.R. vet didn't think anything was broken, but I wanted x-rays. Turned out, she had two broken toes. She had to wear a splint for a while. Everything cost less than $500. You owe it to your kitten to either pay a vet to make her well or sign her over to a vet, who will treat her and then find her a new home.

She needs to go back to the vet *tomorrow*. Imagine if you had a broken foot or leg when you were two years old and your Mom just made you deal with it.


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## madamefifi (Apr 30, 2011)

You need to find a new vet if they're going to charge you "12 to 14 grand" to fix a broken foot! That's completely ridiculous. 

As a pet owner you have a responsibility to your kitten; if she doesn't improve, x-rays are the next step. Having a pet costs money, sometimes more than one is happy to spend.


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## prairienights (Sep 10, 2009)

I'm not a vet, but I am a vet tech so I am speaking out of legitimate experience...

You really need to have radiographs (x-rays) done. You are correct that if it is just a sprain, it may take longer than a weekend to heal. BUT, if it's a fracture, it needs to be properly set and treated IMMEDIATELY in order for it to heal correctly. I can definitely understand watching it a few days to see if she's still sore on it, but you have done that and it has not improved. Waiting around any longer without being positive it will heal on its own is inhumane (I'm not calling you a terrible pet owner or saying you're currently being inhumane, but waiting any longer without getting it taking care of would be). 

Vet prices vary widely by region, but you are in no way looking at $12-14k, I promise, lol. For the radiograph alone, you'll probably be charged an office call fee (the vet I work for charges $35 to walk in the door and have a consultation), the cost of an x-ray, and possibly/most likely sedation to get a decent x-ray image without the kitten wriggling around. X-rays seem expensive just for one picture, but the film is expensive, the equipment is expensive, it takes a significant amount of time out of a busy day to set up the film, sedate the animal, take the x-ray, and develop the film. For one x-ray of the leg on a kitten, I'd say would cost between $65-150, and that would depend on your vet and your region. If it is indeed a fracture, it will have to either be wrapped or splinted depending on where the fracture is and the vet's preference. Possible but fairly unlikely that surgery would have to be done. I'd say the total cost of the ordeal will be a few hundred dollars if it is a fracture. 

I understand that that's expensive, but you took responsibility of your kitten's little life by claiming ownership. Part of that responsibility is her health care. Sometimes that's expensive, unfortunately.


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