Cat has Broken Toe

[bsheehan]

My cat broke his toe Dec. 23rd. I don't even know how it happened. He just started limping and couldn't put weight on his right front leg. I took him to the vet Xmas eve. They xrayed it and found the middle toe was broke. Had to put a splint on it, which he will need to keep on for 6 weeks. I must take him every 2 wk. for splint changes. They said it would take several days till he got used to it (more like 9 days till he started walking on it and quit hiding because he was depressed). After 4 weeks and 2 splint changes; they xrayed it again. It is healing, but the vet wants the splint on at least another 4 weeks. The tape is rubbing the fur off on his leg; now he is on antibiotics so he doesn't get an infection. He is really one depressed little fellow. He is so active I have to make sure he is completely healed before removing the splint. I was just wandering if anyone else has ever experienced this with their cat? Thanks for any input or advice.

[Laura's Babies]

No experience with a broken toe on one of my babies but for depression, have you tried holding him a lot, playing with him, encourageing him to do things? That has to be hard, a broken toe.... is he maybe in some pain?

[bsheehan]

Yes, I hold him all the time. He seems to like being brushed too. The vet says he won't have pain with the splint; it will just annoy him. I noticed that he isn't putting much weight on it this time; this is the 3rd splint. Maybe this one isn't holding up as well.

[catnapper]

Much experience with broken toes. Pouncer broke a toe three separate times Ah, I love my dear boy but he really is a clumsy fellow!

Pouncer refused to put any weight on his foot with the splint for a couple weeks. Then he slowly started to put weight on, but not much. He too had missing fur because of the tape holding on the splint, but it grew back quickly. He still wouldn't put much weight on the proken paw even after the last splint was removed. It wasn't til maybe two weeks after the splint was removed that he fully used his paw. He broke his paw this past Halloween and he's now completely normal. Lets me trim his nails and everything as if nothing ever happened.

Here's the poor abused boy the last time he broke his paw (they are obviously taken with different splints on)



As you can see, he suffered greatly and had to have humans protect and baby him

[kuhio98]

Pepper broke her toe when she got it caught in a chain-length fence. She didn't have to be on antibiotics though. Now, I would never recommend going against a vet's advice, but we made it through 1 splint change before stopping. The day after Pepper's splint was changed, she leapt off of our second-story balcony to the roof of the car, slid down the windshield and ran at about 90 miles per hour into the back yard and climbed a tree!

I chased her down, took her to the vet to make sure she hadn't re-injured herself (she hadn't). When we got up the next morning, she had chewed off most of the splint. I could see raw, bleeding skin underneath the splint so I cut the rest of it off myself. (The splint was too loose and was rubbing her raw). I called the vet to let them know I had taken off the splint and they said it was no problem but they treated the sores.

So, you might ask your vet if it's possible that your kitty (name?) doesn't have to have all the splint changes. Pepper's toe wasn't badly broken, but your kitty's might be worse. Please keep us posted. Here's a photo of Pepper getting comfort from her Dadcatand hanging on the back of the couch.

[Donnaj4962]

My friends' kitten (Punkin Patch Raptor) broke his toe about a month ago. They have no idea what happened, just that one morning after coming in from "outdoor time", he was limping. It got continually worse through the day, and so they took him to the vet. The vet confirmed a break, but said that since he is young and so active that it would be best NOT to splint, as it would probably just come off anyway. So he gimped around for a few weeks, getting LOTS of attention from all who saw the little cutie with the limp... and now? He is perfectly fine. He goes next week for another check up, but he seems to be getting around just fine. I am catsitting him this weekend and believe me, he is FINE! Running through the house, tormenting his dogsister Roxie! Yep, he's just fine. Hope your little one is soon running through the house again with no pain!

[sundancerkc]

My very active 14 year old girl - Felicia - broker 3 of her toes on Friday the 13th of May. We rushed her to the vet and she wore the first splint for two weeks (with about 5 days of pain meds). At first she was limping badly with the splint - but by the end of the two weeks she was hardly limping at all - she walking on the splint almost exactly like it was her own foot!

We took her in for a splint change yesterday so they could check out her foot (which looked fine) and they put on a new splint. Now this morning she is limping exactly like she was when she first broke her toes two weeks ago.

Has anyone had experience like this? I spoke to the vet and she said she may just be getting used to the new splint....I don't know....

It makes me wish I would've just waited another week or so before I took her in....they say she needs 2 more splint changes before she gets it off permanently in 6 more weeks, but I may just take her for one more (unless she doesn't stop limping soon).

Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated!!