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.