Hi guys,
First time posting here but I'm a bit worried about my cat. I noticed her out in the garden crying on the shed, usually she'd just come in. I went out to her and she proceeded to spend the next half an hour crying and looking at the ground and crouching down.

Eventually she came to come down and stumbled slightly. She hissed as she walked the length of the garden and made the strangest sounds and she cried to herself for the next few minutes before curling in a ball and going to sleep.

Never seen her like this before. Do you think she is sick or maybe hurt herself? I'm worried as I don't think I will be able to take her to the vet tomorrow if she gets worse.

Perhaps she had a bit of a set-to with another cat and got up on the shed to
get away, have you checked she hasn't got an injury.
Hopefully there will be someone come along on here to be of more help.
Let's hope she is ok.

Thanks.
She's not moving but not crying anymore either.
Guess I'll just have to see how she is in the morning and take it from there.

If she was hissing it sounds like she may have been in some sort of "hand bags at dawn" situation as North Downs said...let her rest and if she is still iffy in the morning give her a good look over.
My kittybum gets into the odd ruccus (not sure on spelling lol) but he normally chills out after a good sleep and lots of attention

Hope she's ok in the morning!

Thanks for the replies.
She's hurt one of her back legs- walking funny and not putting any pressure on it so was obviously having difficulty jumping from heights.
Will see how she's doing in the morning.

Hope no news means good news.

She's obviously hurt herself because she was no better today so we have an appointment with the vet for tomorrow morning.
Will keep you posted

She could have just sprained her leg. Let us know how she is please

Aw poor puss. Hope she isn't hurt too bad. Good luck for the appointment.

Any news?

Unfortunately we had a lot of trouble getting her into the carrier so in the process she legged it and missed the appointment
We have to wait now until tomorrow morning to bring her in. Am really worried, she's no better but still has the energy to fight back making it harder to get her in.

Either way we'lll have to get her to the vets tomorrow no matter what. It appears as though her tail is hurt as well as her leg.

If her leg is no better and she's not properly weight bearing then it's likely to be broken.

My cat broke her back leg 3 times before she was 4 years old The first time was at only 10 weeks when she fell off the television. The vet just X rayed her and put her on 'cage rest'. and the fracture healed itself. The second time was while I was away and my uncle took her to the vet where she had her leg plated. The third time was just a couple of years later when she came in from outdoors limping - again required surgery.

We had no idea how these later injuries were caused. The operations were straight forward but had to be followed by a long period of slow rehabilitation which was difficult because Tabitha was such an active outdoorsy cat.

She never had any other problems with her leg but I was advised to not let her get overweight. She very rarely jumped the fences in my garden so I always assumed her injuries were due to bad falls. The vet said a car accident was also a possibility though unlikely and he said he had also seen similar injuries in cats who had bricks chucked at them by youths, again unlikely in Tabitha's case.

Hope you can get your cat to the vet tomorrow. I have a similar problem getting my other cat into his cat carrier and I always dread when I have to do it. Tabitha was fine with her carrier, she was a pleasure to bring anywhere.

I assume your cat is eating and toileting as normal?

Thanks for sharing.
It seems like the problem is more with her tail than her leg but its difficult to tell.
She can jump up on things easily enough but she can't get down again.
She's clearly in pain but she is eating and drinking but I think a little less than usual.
We'll get her there tomorrow anyway and hopefully get it sorted.
Sounds stupid but I actually can't bear to see her in pain and feel real guilty about shoving her into a carrier and getting her all distressed
I only hope it hasn't been too long, its been a good few days now since we noticed it.

Can she move her tail at all? I've always understood that broken tails may cause lack of bladder and anal sphincter control so you might notice some incontinence. Whether it's a broken tail or leg, both are treatable.

I don't think the delay will harm her long term but I too wouldn't like to see my cat in obvious discomfort. Cats conceal pain well so if she's showing signs of pain then it must be pretty bad for her.

I'm fairly ruthless about getting my male cat into his carrier despite his protests. I basically turn it so I can lower him into it keeping his head down.

It's good your cat is eating and drinking, that's always a good sign.

Not really, it just stays lowered towards the ground.

Quick question for anyone around, is it cruel to take her in a cardboard box? We decided today it might be easier as its deeper and we can leave her bed in the bottom and we're having difficulty getting the carrier closed quickly (its quite stiff). Its strong and we put small holes in it but we will have to tape her in and I'm worried she'll freak out as she won't be able to see.
The problem with the carrier is that the one we have is quite small and we are having to force her in on the area she's injured and she's managing to hunch herself up.

You can get carriers made out of cardboard like the ones rspca use. It might be ok, are you going in car. I dont think it would be adviseable in these curcumstances. She could panic and hurt herself even more. I usualy borrow a cat carrier from my neighbours which is slightly bigger than my other one which is also my neighbours for mine. Guinness goes in them all right then usualy has a panic attack once inside and starts to cough like he is bringing a furball up. He once did it whilst waiting for the vet and they had too rush him through once out he was fine. Let us know how you get on.

Ideally you use a decent size top-opening carrier - the wire ones are ideal but you need to put them on plastic and newspaper if the cat tends to pee or throw up in cars. Top-openers are far easier to get the cat in and out, and the wire ones with a rod to hold the lid shut are escape-proof unlike some of the plastic ones - a few of them are far too easy to accidentally knock and open. (seen that happen) Not as cheap as some of the plastic ones but they will give you years and years of service. This is the sort of thing I mean - I imagine there are cheaper places to buy them:

http://petcarrier.co.uk/category/wire-wire-door/

A cardboard box would have to be very well secured to be sure it's cat-proof - the cat escaping in the car is a problem, but it escaping in a carpark at the vets is a very big problem.

Don't be afraid to hold your cat by the scruff of her neck to get her in - it usually calms them, and lets you handle the cat with less risk of getting scratched or bitten. Be firm, and hold her back legs as well to support some of her weight. You won't hurt the cat. That's why a top-loader is so much easier with a difficult cat - you just lower her in, partly-close the lid and finish closing it as you slide your hand out.

Also do it in an enclosed area so if she wriggles away she can't escape. Hallways with all the doors shut are good as they don't usually have furniture she can hide under, though stairs can lead to a bit of a chase up & down.

Just to let everyone know we managed to get her there is her carrier in the end (she was going wild in it in the car) and it is her tail rather than her leg which is injured- looks like maybe another cat bit it.
She has to go back again during the week and they gave her antibiotics and anti inflammatories (her temp was sky high). If the tail shows no sign of recovery it will have to be removed but they won't do that unless absolutely necessarily so we'll have to see. Am hoping it won't come to that.

Will let you know what happens anyway. Thanks for the advice

It just sounds odd that she was limping and unable to jump down just because she had a bite to the tail. I wondered if she had been clipped by a car.

Pleaes never transport a cat in a cardboard box - especially a distressed and angry one. They will shred the box to bits in minutes.

We had no money for a cat carrier when I was a child so used one of those cardboard carriers from the RSPCA. By the return journey I was literally holding my arms round the box to try to keep it together to stop the cat escaping. Toploading catbox is the way to go.

We didn't, we managed to get her in in the end, but to be honest my priority was trying to get her to the vet so if it called for it, it would have had to be done. Luckily we avoided it, I know its not ideal. We'll probably buy a better carrier for the future.

They couldn't find any injuries elsewhere so I'm just going to have to trust what they say although I was very surprised- it seemed liked both the leg and the tail but I guess they use tails for balance so maybe she was struggling. Not sure though. They said she was moving too well her it to be a problem with the leg.
Glad she's got some pain relief and she'll be back there in the next two days. Just hoping it doesn't have to come off.

Glad you got her there ok. I am sure with ab that she will be on the mend realy fast. There is a injury with the tail it is called something but spersific too the tail area.

I know you didn't use the cardboard box on this occasion OP, I was just adding my experience in case you were tempted another time. Cardboard is also hopeless if it is raining, for obvious reasons!

How is she now, does she seem to be a bit better after the treatment? The anti-inflammatory should have brought her temp down at least.

Yes she seems a good bit more comfortable and a bit more active- chasing insects etc. so they've obviously relieved the pain, obviously still not right but visibly less distressed.
Fingers crossed she's on the mend

Good news. Hopefully her tail will recover normal function. I don't suppose you'll ever know what happened to her to cause her injury.

I can never understand why cats feel the need to walk backwards when being sick?

surely it would be better to stay in 1 spot and be sick? but they prefer to do the Michael Jackson moonwalk.