My family's cat

[Cleo]

My family's cat was injured the other day when I backed out of the driveway. Had no idea he was under the car, he apparently didn't move or not quickly enough anyway when I started the car-the underside of the car running into him. Very shaken up about it at the time. I believe he didn’t move once I started the car because of his already weakened state (he has a pretty bad skin condition due to a severe allergy to fleas I believe which we were going to have looked into).

Anyway, we took him to the vet as soon as we could and ended up at the emergency vet -where we found out he has a fractured jaw. He's now been at the emergency vet for a couple days.

Now, my family and I are trying to make a decision about whether surgery is really necessary. The expense for surgery, which could run a couple thousand, is on top of the already hefty emergency vet care expense.

The vet today did say he was doing a lot better even though, a veterinary dentist will need to do the surgery, not the veterinarian at the emergency vet. My parents said they will help out with the expense and not to worry soon after it happened. Now the realization of how much it will likely cost and the decision of whether to go ahead with the surgery if it's not absolutely necessary..

He’s an outside cat btw, and was originally a stray 10 years ago when he showed up at our house.

 

[lilyalic]

If it were my cat I'd try anything to get him back to health, but that's just me. It must be confusing with the financial stress this may cause, is there no other vet you can go to? here we have a PDSA and they'll do surgical procedures for much much cheaper than branded vet stores, alls you have to do is put in a donation..

Depending on the condition he's in, i'd wait a few days to see if the surgery is needed. Try providing the cat some Vit C, and feeding him some good meals. Lots of love and care!

I hope he turns out alright Cleo, best of luck

 

[davey72]

Hi Cleo. What is the alternative to surgery? Is it euthanasia, or do you think it possible to care for him until it heals?

EDIT:Out in the country this solution seems to be easy for most. To lessen suffering with a bullet. Sorry if this sounds crass, and i am not one to make a decision like this lightly. In fact i usually try to help first. Just to show you that it really can be more kind sometimes to let them go. I think sometimes it can be selfish to keep them around for more suffering. Then again, perhaps that is their lesson in this life with you? This is always a tough one for me. I wish you and the kitty luck.

 

[Laura]

Considering age, general condition, cost factors, euthanasia is the better option. It is a painful thing to consider but reality bites. And one of the lessons of this is to not have a critter unless you can afford to take care of him/her and/or to always look under the car before driving out if you know you have a pet loose.

 

[skycsil]

Maybe this is not the case, but sometimes vets advice expensive surgeries or treatments that will not improve your pet life, just for the money. I had this wonderful black lab mix, she was the kindest dog ever. Well, she got sick and the vet said only a surgery could save her, a very expensice one by the way, so I agreed. She was never the same after that, she lived a few more months but her life was so miserable that I would rather have her euthanized if I knew the vet was only making her agony lenghtier in time.

 

[Keit]

Considering age, general condition, cost factors, euthanasia is the better option. It is a painful thing to consider but reality bites. And one of the lessons of this is to not have a critter unless you can afford to take care of him/her and/or to always look under the car before driving out if you know you have a pet loose.

Unfortunately it is probably the best option all around, unless it's possible to immobilize the jaw and allow it to heal by itself (actually saw something like this today, but it also depends on the place of the fracture). But since you said that the cat is already in the weakened state, and considering the age, his chances of making a full recovery are minimal. :(

 

[Cleo]

Thank you all for your input, was pretty stressed yesterday when I wrote the above.

I also didn’t see your responses till today, after the surgery was already done. We eventually went in to the emergency vet yesterday to talk to the doc in person about the price and procedure. We were kind of pressed for time to decide because the veterinarian dentist could operate that evening.

A concern was whether he could heal on his own without surgery-as cats can be really resilient that way. We were advised that because of the type of fracture he has (a mandibular fracture involving his lower right canine tooth) if he didn't have surgery, his jaw may not heal completely and he'd experience a lot of pain, especially if he tried to eat. We didn't want to go the route of euthanasia, and the price today ended up being on the lower end of what was quoted so that was a relief. My parents kept saying they would pay what needs to be paid (within reason of course) and we were able to cover it. Really it's my parents who are covering the most.

He also has a maxillary fracture but apparently that heals without intervention. The mandibular fracture had to be stabilized using a wire so he gets to wear an e-collar for many weeks till it heals. I'll be looking after him mostly for now. Earlier, he was walking around, trying to get up on furniture and purring when we pet him (he was also on pain medicine at the time). He's a really affectionate cat, when he feels better he likes to be held and just about hugs you when you do. Looks like he'll be an indoor cat from now on.

It is concerning that we didn't get his skin checked out sooner, could have likely prevented a lot of this from happening. I think he may have flea allergy dermatitis or an allergy to his food (the fleas here this summer are pretty bad). We told the doc the type of flea medicine we used and I think she even said that the type was useless. I think it may have even aggravated his skin condition.

 

[Z...]

You were advised correctly, mandibular fractures cannot heal properly without surgery and are very painful. Its actually very straight forward surgery that rarely goes wrong.

Do make sure to put him on proper diet though, you can find all information you need on this thread: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,27321.0.html

 

[patty2292]

Glad to hear you got the price lowered and your parents where there to chip in for you to avoid going down the road of having him put to sleep.

The very best of luck to his healing!!

 

[Cleo]

Do make sure to put him on proper diet though, you can find all information you need on this thread: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,27321.0.html

Yeah, this has been on my mind as well. Just yesterday my parents bought wet commercial cat food in bulk to feed to him and my family's other cat. Kind of cringed at the sight of it. It is the type of food they have been feeding them for years, although they also feed them canned tuna and salmon. He's been eating canned salmon the last day or so. Anyway, I'm going to read up more on flea control and diet (thank you for the link) and probably go the raw diet route. It is expensive but probably the most healthy. I don't see my parents buying him the raw food-so it'll likely be on me to pay for it. We'll see how that goes over when I tell them. If they're fine with it, he may just become more my cat as time goes on. I'm planning on moving soon (not far from where they live) and I can have a cat there, so I'll need to think about how this is all going to work when I don't live at their place anymore.

This has all become quite the responsibility…

Glad to hear you got the price lowered and your parents where there to chip in for you to avoid going down the road of having him put to sleep.

The very best of luck to his healing!!

Thank you, definitely a relief to have him home yesterday, and to see him doing much better, considering. He's also adjusting well to being indoors. Wasn't sure he would as he's been an outside cat for most of his life.

 

[davey72]

Im glad your cat is ok Cleo. The way i see it is that if you can afford that surgey, then the raw food should be a cakewalk. And cheaper in the long run. :)

 

[lilyalic]

So glad to hear your Cat is OK after surgery, hopefully he heals fast! :)

It'll definitely be best to convert your Cats diet to the raw one, and it sounds pleasant to be able to take him to your new home :)

here's a useful article http://www.sott.net/article/292942-SOTT-Exclusive-Natural-Pet-Health-Top-10-issues-facing-pet-owners-when-it-comes-to-your-pets-well-being

 

[Cleo]

Thanks for the link, Lilyalic.

His skin and coat is gradually looking healthier, since we gave him the recommended flea medication and vacuumed a good portion of the house. Still more to do in that area though. His condition does really seem to point to flea allergy dermatitis, coupled with a food allergy.