34
The way to see if the injury is serious is to observe your cat for a couple of hours: if your cat is still limping and tries to avoid using the paw when she walks, you can start thinking about taking her to the vet.
If the paw starts to swell, it is time to call your vet.
You are saying "kitten" in your question, so I am assuming she is only a few ...
32
If she’s behaving completely normally (other than probably avoiding your dad) rather than hiding, walking funny or being lethargic, she’s probably fine. I’d keep an eye on her for the next couple days and take her to a vet if you see any strange behavior, but if she’s running and playing as usual, it doesn’t sound like she was hurt.
24
Your only option at this point is to make sure she is taken to a vet. There has been some damage done, the real question is how much.
Not taking her to see a vet would be a bad decision.
I know you said you don't have the money, but sometimes it's possible to work out repayment plans to pay for visits. There is also pet owner's insurance that you can get ...
22
Cats are surprisingly sturdy creatures. By your description, she doesn't appear to act anyway out of normal. She moves normally, eats normally, acts normally. You can keep eye on her for few days for any changes in normal behavior and take her to vet if she suddenly changes, but by all accounts it seems she is not hurt.
Well, maybe her pride and she might ...
21
In short
Untreated abscesses can heal on their own, but it's almost always a long, messy and painful process. Usually they heal without complications, but in bad cases they may lead to death, for various reasons.
The healing
Abscesses are encapsulations of foreign objects or bacteria and pus. This encapsulation prevents the inflammation from infecting ...
21
It's impossible to tell if an animal - especially a reptile like a turtle - has internal injuries from it's behavior, unless it's currently dying. A vet must examine the animal to find internal damage.
That "only a single drop of blood" came out of a wound can mean 2 things:
Either the wound didn't bleed very much
Or the rest of the blood pooled ...
19
(Disclaimer. The following information is for general guidance on your responsibilities towards an animal and is not legal advice. Local laws may vary.)
Take the dog to a vet. If you can't afford a vet, you shouldn't have a dog. You talk about your little brother, so maybe you are still a minor yourself, which nets you fractionally more than zero sympathy. ...
17
In my experience the easiest way is to be sneaky about it and peek at the wound while the cat is eiher relaxed or sleeping. The best way to achieve that is by petting. You may have to invest some time to really get them to relax and lay down.
You also may have to try several times. If your cat lays down in a way you cannot see the wound and you try to move ...
15
As well as petting your cat to get him to lie down, use a clean wash cloth or rag that is dampened with warm water when you pet him. It should be about as damp and warm as being groomed by a cat tongue. Cats naturally lick wounds so this will feel more comfortable and dampening the fur around the wound slightly will help keep fur flat and make the wound more ...
14
As covered in the other answers, your only option is to see a vet in order to have surgery done. Or in the worst case, have it humanely put to rest.
I want to stress how important it is that a professional veterinarian/surgeon takes care of this injury.
A turtle's shell is not only its spine, but its ribs as well. Below is a diagram of how turtles came to ...
14
I would second Yvette's advice for you to get a second opinion.
You should also be able to call your vet and ask for clarification, if the treatment plan they gave does not make sense.
Obviously we only know what we can see in the photos and what you have told, so your veterinarian likely had good reason for trying to treat this medically.
However, with ...
13
Cats like humans, can survive a lot of injuries even if they appear to be lethal. You should take your pet to the vet for any type of euthanasia. The most humane way to euthanize a cat is through lethal injection, which should only be done by a veterinarian.
Should I put her in the car and drive 30 minutes to the vet? Sounds like a lot of suffering. What ...
11
You should take this animal to a vet right away. Repairing the shell will require surgical skills to clean the wound and create a suitable patch. Otherwise the turtle will likely die of infection (if it survives the shock and possible internal injuries).
11
These things ... happen, especially with puppies and smaller dogs.
The good news is its probably fine. He's acting normal, and there's no real lasting damage from what you said. He probably was surprised, maybe bit himself and kinda decided he wanted a little attention. He also probably thought you were mad at you too.
We kinda accidentally stepped on or ...
10
This animal really MUST see a vet to assess the damage (if the tissue leaking out is vital organs or just muscle tissue).
Try calling some if the voicemails of local vets. In my area vets put ways to contact an emergency vet in their voicemails for things that happen when they are closed.
If you cannot find a vet today, gently rinse the area with clean (...
10
First of all, it is irresponsible to adopt any pet if your current financial situation is such that you cannot afford to provide for its needs, which includes regular veterinary checkups and the possiblility of medical emergencies or other medical costs if the animal turns out to be unwell. Especially in the case of a feral cat, your first act as a new pet ...
10
If you've ever watched a cat squeeze through an impossibly small hole (of course you have), you can understand that cats have extremely deformable bodies.
This means their organs can move out of the way to some degree, and reduce the chance of damage. Really, I'd be surprised if a healthy cat that age would get much of an injury even by someone's full ...
10
As this source writes, there are some main issues, that horse's legs make special in cases of broken legs:
The leg bones are small in relation to the horse's body weight
Under the knee (which is not the knee in anatomical sense, but everybody think about this as knee) there is nearly no tissue to give the bone some stability (even with a cast around, this ...
10
I am a vet who sees a lot of cats each day.
To examine a cat who tends to bite or scratch, there are a few things I do commonly:
Go slow and gentle. Cats don't like sudden movement. Let the cat acclimatise to the exam room for a few minutes if possible. Avoid tugging them out their carrier - either let them come out on their own, or take the carrier apart ...
9
Rabbits lose toe nails when they are torn off. It is not normal, but neither is it rare. The two biggest contributors to this painful occurrence are untrimmed nails and places for the nails to get stuck (wire bottom cages, gaps in ramps, etc).
When this happens, check the rabbit to find the extent of the injury. If most of the nail is still there and it is ...
9
Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital has a handout on Treatment options for cranial cruciate ligament injury/disease of the dog knee which states:
There is ample evidence that perioperative rehabilitation therapy by a
trained rehabilitation practitioner can advance and hasten the
recovery from surgery. There is little/no evidence to ...
9
TL;DR
You have a conflict where your neighbor's self-interest and yours don't seem to align. You also have a moral responsibility to take preventive action before your dogs are hurt, rather than punitive action after the fact. You have options; they're just not the ones you want.
Analysis and Recommendations
The neighbor refuses to train or keep the ...
9
This is what might happen.
Your cat gets sepsis (blood poisoning) and dies.
The abscess ruptures, and your cat's immune system fights the infection.
This is Lillepus, a feral cat I had a couple of years ago. He got lost for two weeks. This picture was taken the day after he returned. The abscess ruptured during the night.
I did visit the vet for treatment....
9
Your cat is not going to let you "study his wound". He's a cat and it's going to be difficult to accomplish such a task if he won't let you already.
What I suggest is taking a video using a good device like a 4K camera or smartphone. It'll give you the few seconds of time looking at the wound that you need to get an in focus shot of the injury ...
8
First aid for a fresh (minor) cat injury is to clean the area with fresh water (no hydrogen peroxide). On noses, lips, and paw pads I'll apply either a 100% shea butter or vaseline (something that they could lick off and be okay).
Keep an eye on the injury for the next few days, if it becomes infected you'll need to take your cat to the vet. If your cat ...
8
Cats don't like admitting that they're hurt. Observe, and if there's significant behavior change, the vet is probably a good idea.
Cats in good condition can survive some surprising falls -- if you don't have problems with the concept, web search "feline high-rise syndrome" for some surprising results that suggest how -- but they don't always land well. My ...
8
We have the existing question Should I take my cat to the vet after a big fall/jump? as indicated in one of the answers there, cats mostly land on their feet automatically.
If you cat fell and landed on it's side, there is very possibly something going on prior to the fall. In other words you should be concerned that he fell and landed on his side ...
8
The ONLY responsible thing to do is to get your cats SPAYED AND NEUTERED.
Intact male cats will fight and get hurt. You will save yourself a lot of money and problems by getting the cat(s) neutered.
As Harry V. correctly says in his answer, male cats do not go into heat. What happens is the male cat has a powerful reaction to the female cat that is in heat....
8
Male cats do not go into heat — this is a term referring to estrus which only females go through.
There may be some seasonality to male cat sexual activity but in general a sexually mature male cat will not have a problem mating at any time of year.
Aggressive behaviour between intact males is normal, it is dominance and territorial aggression, only the ...
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