Why a cat limps on its front paw

If a cat starts limping on its front paw, it may have contracted calcivirosis. This disease of infectious nature is very easily transmitted from a sick animal to a healthy one. Many cat owners vaccinate their cats against this disease to prevent it. Animals that have not been vaccinated can get calcivirosis very easily.

Scottish cat limping: causes and treatment

Does your Scottish lop or straight-eared cat limp on its front or back leg? Let's understand the most common reasons why your kitten or adult cat limps.

After a shot that hits a nerve, a cat can start limping. That's why it's so important to get your cat's shots right, although even veterinarians sometimes make mistakes. Usually the lameness caused by the shot goes away in a few days. If the lameness after the shot lasts longer than a week, you should see your veterinarian.

Lameness due to injury

By injuries we don't necessarily mean sprains, fractures or dislocations. It can be a trivial wound on the pad of the paw. The pain causes the cat to be spared the paw.

If there is no visible injury, check the cat's reaction by feeling its whole paw: gently and gently, but with pressure. It might be a deep injury after all. If your cat is reacting painfully to being touched in a certain spot, it may be worth seeing your veterinarian. He will take x-rays to find out the cause. Especially since sometimes the wounds are not due to splinters, insect bites and trauma, but to the disease described next. This disease is dangerous, so you need to make an accurate diagnosis as early as possible.

Arthritis and osteoarthritis

This kind of problem usually occurs in fairly old animals. In this case, the lameness, of course, does not appear suddenly. At first, the pet becomes only slightly difficult to step on the leg. Then the problem gets worse.

If a cat with arthritis limps on the front leg, what to do in this case? If there is such a problem, the pet will need to be seen by a specialist. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to cure arthritis or arthrosis in older animals. The doctor is likely to prescribe only supportive therapy.

Elbow dysplasia

This condition occurs in both young and old cats. Unfortunately, purebred animals are particularly susceptible. Owners of catteries often use inbreeding as a way of breeding expensive cats. In this case, kittens are born with pronounced pedigree traits. However, inbreeding significantly increases the risk of offspring development of hereditary diseases. One of these diseases and is elbow dysplasia.

Signs of this disorder in a pet may appear at a very young age. However, the most noticeable lameness in a cat with such a problem becomes on the 2nd or 3rd year of life. Such animals should not be allowed to breed, of course. Also, the cat should definitely be taken to the veterinarian.

Like arthritis, it is unlikely to cure dysplasia in a pet. However, the doctor will still choose a treatment regimen that will make the cat's life more comfortable. The main symptoms of this disease in cats, in addition to lameness, are:

What to do if a cat's paw hurts and limps

When a cat's paw hurts, the owner immediately notices it by the lameness that appears in the pet. The cause of this unpleasant phenomenon can be either trauma or inflammation of the composition. Pain in the paw of a cat can occur equally at a young age, when the animal is only a year old, or at an older age. It is important to seek veterinary care in a timely manner in order to provide proper therapy. Only a specialist will be able to determine why the cat has paw pain and what therapy it needs. The owner should only have a general idea of what to do if the cat's paw hurts and he limps.

Many factors can cause a problem in which a paw hurts. Most often it is caused by an injury, but it also happens that the pet develops a disease that affects bones, joints or muscles.

It is almost impossible to diagnose a pet correctly on your own.

1. Injury. This is the most common cause of why a cat's paw hurts. Most often this phenomenon is observed in young animals, which are highly mobile and often, having not calculated their strength, receive sprains, bruises, dislocations and fractures of the paw. With these phenomena the formation of hematoma and swelling is sure. The paw may become less mobile. It is not uncommon for a cat, because the paw hurts, not to step on it at all. In particularly severe cases of spinal cord injury, the cat's hind legs fail. Injuries can also occur if bitten by a dog.
2. Osteoarthritis or arthritis. Both of these diseases lead to inflammation of the joints. In addition to pain, the animal also suffers from stiffness of movement. The cat can't control the paw that hurts properly and is not confident in stepping on it. The animal practically stops jumping and running. The disease occurs more often in older pets. The disease does not develop in a day and the animal suffers from a constant slow deterioration. The back and front paws are affected by the disease.
3. Myositis. Inflammation of the muscle tissues. The pathology can occur after hypothermia or due to a bruise. Depending on the severity of the injury, one paw or even all paws hurt. When palpating in the place of inflammation, a strong muscle tension and painfulness is noted. If the cat's paw hurts for such a reason, the inflammation may recur. Older cats may have exacerbations several times a year. Keeping the cat warm can help prevent them.
4. Osteomyelitis. A purulent-necrotic disease in which the bones of the paw are gradually destroyed and the bone marrow is damaged. With pathology, the general condition of the animal deteriorates sharply. There is a rapid rise in temperature to significant values and pronounced weakness. Not infrequently there is a complete loss of appetite. The cat does not stand on the limb that hurts. If the paw should still be involved, the animal is very limp and screams in pain. Treatment is required urgently and with referral to a veterinary clinic. A kitten may also encounter the pathology.
5. Osteoporosis. A disease in which bone fragility increases and the bones gradually thin out. Each paw may be affected. The overall condition of the animal worsens. Treatment is only possible in a supportive way. It is not possible to eliminate the pathology completely. With it, you should simply do everything you can to relieve the animal's condition. The cause of the disease is usually age. It is not only the front paw that suffers from the disease, but also the entire bony skeleton.
6. Burns thermal and chemical. They are not an uncommon cause of pain in the paw in cats who are able to walk freely on the street. In this case, a blister or ulcer is found at the site of the injury. There is severe hair loss in the affected area. The lesion hurts, and the cat licks it up.
7. Radiculitis. The disease occurs in older animals. The main localization of pain in the cat in this case in the back, but it extends intensely to the paw. Because of this, at the beginning of the pathology may give the impression that it hurts the paw, and not the spine. Treatment must be started as soon as possible.
8. Pododermatitis .. An inflammatory disease of an infectious nature that affects the paw pads. In this case, the cat's paw hurts when the animal steps on it, and the animal tries almost never to use the inflamed limb.
9. A foreign body in the tissue. Even a small splinter can cause severe pain in a cat's paw. The cat hardly stays on the limb and often licks the paw. The pain in the cat's paw is particularly severe.

The cat suddenly limps.

Trauma may explain why our cat suddenly won't step on a paw. A fall from a significant height or a run-in can cause a cracked, dislocated or fractured limb. It is likely that other symptoms of pain will not show up, as we have explained, but observing the cat not stepping on the hind or front leg may give us clues as to what has happened.

In the most severe cases, the cat is limp and trembling in shock. She may have dilated pupils, bleeding or visible injuries, difficulty breathing, etc. It can occur after a fall from a window in what is called parachute cat syndrome.

Whether or not there are other symptoms, sudden lameness is a reason to consult a veterinarian. If we know that the cat is knocked down or has fallen, a visit to the clinic is mandatory because, although there are no external injuries, there may be a broken leg, internal injury, bleeding or pneumothorax.

The veterinarian will decide if the fracture requires surgery, as some can be resolved with bandaging or rest. If we are operating, we need to know that the postoperative period is very important. We will have to sedate the cat and give him pain medication and avoid infections. Cats usually recover very well from these injuries.

A cat sometimes won't step on a paw

Problems such as feline osteoarthritis may explain why a cat occasionally limps. In fact, instead of limping, we will observe a strange wandering with stiff limbs, especially when the cat gets up after a period of rest. After some walking, he seems to be able to walk normally, which is confusing to caregivers.

With osteoarthritis problems, there are other symptoms that may go unnoticed, or we attribute them to the age of the animal, as they are more common in older cats. We insist that it is difficult to assess a cat's pain, but we may notice that she is eating less, resting most of the time, not bonding with her family, avoiding jumping, losing muscle mass, ceasing to use the litter box or doing so without grooming.

Treatment is pharmacological and may include nutritional supplements to protect the joints. The environment should be modified to help the cat move around, using a low-walled litter box, comfortable furniture placement, soft bedding away from drafts, and brushing to clean it. In addition, it is important to control excess weight, if possible.

Why won't a cat step on his paw?

It's not always the case that a pet stays healthy and cheerful. Like all pets, cats sometimes get sick. Noticing that the cat does not step on the paw, the owner should find out the cause of this phenomenon and, if necessary, perform quality treatment of the pet by visiting the veterinarian. Usually the front paw is affected. However, the back of the body is not immune to damage either.

Most often, the causes of the paw pain and the cat's limp are minor and can be easily remedied within a few days. However, we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the paw has a significant injury in which the animal needs complete therapy. It is often difficult to determine by oneself the reason why the animal does not step on the paw. There is a particular danger in a situation where a kitten limps because it may have broken its paw.

Causes

There are several causes that cause the paw to experience problems, and all of them are usually traumatic in nature. The exception is joint inflammation, which older animals may suffer from. In this situation, the paw is compressed when moving, and the cat begins to spend more time lying down, trying in every way to avoid movement. In other cases, the cat's inability to stand on the paw is due to injury.

1. Bruised or sprained ligaments. Most often in this case the cat will not step on the front paw. The problem is more often encountered by young animals who are especially active and, while jumping, cannot fully calculate the distance between objects and the height, and have not learned to control their body 100%. With such an injury, the paw is swollen and painful when palpation is noted. Breaking a limb is difficult enough, and the injury is not very common.
   There are no abnormalities in the structure of the bones, which makes it easy to distinguish the injury from a fracture. Treatment will speed up the tissue recovery process, but even without it the paw will regain mobility within 7-10 days. It is not necessary to do therapeutic procedures.
2. Injury. If a wound or fissure forms on the paw pad, between the toes or slightly above, the cat stops stepping on the sore limb because of the painfulness when the edges of the wound diverge and its fear of infection. On an intuitive level, cats try not to litter the sore spot. It does not matter if the right or left paw is damaged, the treatment is the same.
   It is not difficult to detect such a defect on examination. If the paw has no suppuration and the wound is small, then it is possible to carry out therapy by one's own efforts. It is necessary to begin with washing the damaged place with chlorhexidine and then treat it with levomecol ointment. If possible, a bandage is put on.
   If there is suppuration, everything is much more serious. In such a situation, the cat really hurt his paw is quite dangerous and needs help. Usually the veterinarian will give a shot of antibiotics and wash the wound. Without treatment, the paw will not go away at all, and the condition will only get worse. The animal may die.
3. A splinter or splinter. It is not uncommon for a cat, without noticing the danger, to step on an object that sticks into its paw. Once injured, the cat can no longer stand on the paw, as it is in great pain. The injured paw becomes swollen and somewhat hotter than the healthy ones. By examining it, the owner will most likely be able to determine the cause of the problem. If a splinter or splinter is large, it should not be removed by itself. Once the foreign object has been removed from the paw, the wound is treated according to the standard procedure for ordinary open wounds.

My cat is limping, is it serious?

It is difficult to answer this question accurately without examining the cat and observing the development of the symptom. Lameness varies in its amplitude and in its origin. As a general rule, the more severe the cat's limp on the front paw, the more severe the limp. At the same time, severe lameness is often easier to treat, such as lameness associated with a fracture. Conversely, milder lameness is more difficult to correct.

Classification of severity of lameness

• Mild or temporary lameness.: The cat limps, but the symptom disappears, so the lameness does not cause much of a problem.
• Permanent lameness with support: The cat still puts its paw on the ground, but the lameness is permanent. This is the more serious stage, especially if the symptom lasts for several days (about 1 week).
• Permanent lameness without support: The cat has stopped pushing the paw at all, this indicates that the pain is severe, which means it is very serious, it is imperative to go to the vet.

There are as many causes as there are bones (from top to bottom: scapula, humerus, radius and ulna, heel, phalanges), joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist, fingers) and paw muscles before that. As soon as one of these causes pain or discomfort, the cat will begin to limp.

1. Lameness associated with the elbow.: Most often it is caused by elbow dysplasia. Sometimes there are better periods, but they never last and are always followed by a relapse. Your veterinarian will likely refer you to a specialist who will consider surgery. Arthroscopy is often the best option because it allows you to perform the surgery without opening the joint wide, so your cat's recovery will be shorter. A little advice: have the surgery done by a specialist; it may be a little more expensive, but you will have less risk of complications.
2. Shoulder related lameness.: One of the most common causes is dissecting osteochondritis. It is diagnosed on an x-ray. Arthroscopy would again be the best option because it shortens the recovery time. Tendinitis of the biceps muscle can also be the cause of foreleg lameness. Here, arthroscopy will also be the treatment of choice. Finally, a dislocated or unstable shoulder can also be mentioned. Treatment will be delicate, so it is advisable to consult a specialist.
3. Limp caused by a bone problem: A fracture is the obvious cause, in which case the cat will have little or no pressure on the broken paw. Other causes, such as panosteitis or tumors, can also cause bone lameness.
4. Lameness due to ligaments and muscles: These can be caused by an impact on a muscle or a sprain. Severe sprains are often accompanied by a sprain, so ligament surgery should be considered. Arthrodesis, which is the fusion of the bones of the wrist, may also be necessary when the wrist is dislocated or subluxated.

Causes of a cat limping on the front leg

In addition to injuries, some diseases are also causes of lameness.

Joint Diseases

Joint pain can be caused by a calicivirus infection. The course of this disease has been observed in detail on adult cats and kittens. And it has been proven that this feline cold is often the cause of the virus in the tissues of the joints, which can cause the pet to begin limping.

Infections

Mycoplasmosis and chlamydia, in rare cases, can cause lameness. In this case, the infection affects all limbs of the animal, so it will limp on all limbs. Pain appears due to infectious inflammation.

Bone tumor

A cancerous tumor, although rare, is a very dangerous disease. It is characterized by the appearance of multiple metastases throughout the animal's body, which may result in lameness.

Arthritis and osteoarthritis

Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints that is characteristic of older cats. It is an inflammatory disease resulting from pathological changes in the joints. With it the animal at rest does not feel pain, but when walking and, even more so when running, the joints begin to hurt. Arthritis can be recognized by a lack of appetite, weakness and fever.

Further information! Among the causes of arthritis can be a bad environment. It has a negative impact not only on people, but also on animals.

Lameness after the injection

Sometimes the needle can make you feel pain. This can happen if the needle has hit a nerve or if the medicine you are taking has side effects. Usually the pain in the paw goes away after a few days.

Age-related changes

The musculoskeletal system of cats, like in humans, works worse with age. As a consequence, the bones become brittle and the joints wear out. This is an extremely rare phenomenon, but when lameness appears in an elderly cat, it is worth considering such a cause.

First aid

First of all, when a bruise is detected, the animal should be soothed. Then, ice or a cold object should be applied to the sore spot. If the pet has suffered a fracture, the paw should be secured and sent to an animal clinic. Here, the doctor will take x-rays and decide on further treatment.

Important! Do not give the cat medications from the medicine cabinet. They help humans, but can cause serious harm to the animal.

What the owner must do

When the cat's owner notices that the cat is limping and starts to clutch the paw, he should try to determine the cause of the gait disorder: examine the paws, feel their soft tissues. In some cases he can help himself.

• If the cat limps after a shot to the hip, or it seems that he just has a bruise, sprained tendons, but no soft tissue injuries – you should give the animal a few days sparing treatment. It is recommended not to let him out in the street, not to provoke him to energetic games.

Attention! If the lameness in the cat is expressed strongly and clearly accompanied by pain, or does not pass for more than a week – it is a reason to show concern and show the pet to the doctor, regardless of whether the cause of the gait disorder is identified.

• If a splinter or other foreign body gets into the paw, you should try to remove it with tweezers, and then treat the area with antiseptic.
• If it is found that the lameness is caused by a grown claw, it should be carefully shortened and the cut should be filed.
• In case of damage to a paw with a sharp object, the wound surface is cleaned from contamination if necessary, after which it is also treated with a disinfectant solution. Shallow soft tissue injuries usually heal within 2-3 days and the lameness disappears.
• If you suspect that a cat has broken a leg (if the animal doesn't tread on the limb, holds it in place or walk with a limb hanging down), it is recommended to immobilize the animal or put a fixing bandage on it, and then take your cat to the vet immediately. There the cat will be X-rayed and the cast will be applied.

Attention! If the lameness in a cat is severe and clearly accompanied by pain, severely swollen, or does not pass for more than a week – it is a cause for concern and show the pet to a doctor, regardless of whether the cause of the gait disturbance is identified.

Diagnosis

Successful treatment of lameness is directly dependent on proper diagnosis and timely application of therapy. During an orthopedic examination of the cat, the veterinarian will observe how the cat walks, stands, sits, and how mobile the joints of the limbs are. It will be revealed whether there are painful papillae, swelling, whether there are abnormal joints or areas with fever.

In complicated cases, additional examinations may be prescribed to clarify the diagnosis of the cat:

• Blood and urine tests. They are necessary if infectious or autoimmune diseases are suspected, as well as if the cat is to undergo surgery under anesthesia;
• Biopsy;
• Analysis of synovial fluid that fills the joint cavity;
• Radiographs of the joints or spinal canal (myelography);
• Ultrasound of the joints and/or spine;
• Magnetic resonance imaging.

What to do if a cat's paw hurts and he limps

If it is not a tiny wound, not a slight bruise, but a prolonged limp, the animal must be shown to a specialist. Elementary inattention, negligence to the health of the pet and attempts to treat lameness yourself often lead to complications, even disability, since it is impossible to make an accurate diagnosis without medical training. In most cases, X-rays and tests are required. Only based on the results of a complete examination, the injured area or disease requiring medication is identified.

Important! Many dangerous diseases that cause lameness can only be treated with surgery. In any case, only a doctor can identify the disease and prescribe treatment.

Prevention of lameness

To prevent lameness due to lack of vitamins and trace elements, arthritis and arthrosis, the cat's diet must be balanced. If you use dry food, only industrial quality. Before buying it is worth carefully reading the composition. It is necessary to limit the consumption of canned foods, fatty foods, flour products, and add more boiled vegetables.

Only a veterinarian can prescribe vitamins. Many four-legged feline pets are allergic to vitamins.

Whatever caused the limp, it causes discomfort and pain to the ward. Trying to treat it yourself is a waste of time. What if it is a serious illness that requires urgent surgical intervention? It is not difficult to show your pet to a specialist, thereby saving his health and, in some cases, his life.