My baby Thor who is 9 months old broke his hip…he had to have a left femoral head and neck ostectomy yesterday. Keep him in your thoughts…I hope that he has a speedy recovery. I tell you…these bengals don't know their limits. Has anyone had a cat that had this same procedure? Any advice that you can give me?

Oh geez, sorry to hear that. How did it happen?

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The little monsters 3

WOW poor baby hope he has a speedy and pain free recovery

I'm honestly not 100% sure. I think that he got spooked and jumped and caught his leg. He seemed fine, however later on in the day he was holding up his leg. I thought that it was sprained since he was still trying to go about his normal activities. His sister kept trying to play with him and as the day went on he wasn't interested (very unusual for him). By the next day he was starting to limp and try not to place weight on his legs. I still thought it was sprained!

Finally 4 days later on Christmas Eve I got a chance to take him to the emergency vet (I've been working crazy hours). She manipulated his leg and what not and thought that it was sprained since he was trying to jump and he didn't cry but she recommended an X-ray. They had to sedate him to get a good X-ray and the results were shocking. He completely broke the bone at the growth plate off the ball connected to the pelvis the vet didn't think this would be the outcome but he needed surgery. Of course Christmas day was the next day so it couldn't be done. The vet got in contact with an orthopedic surgeon and arranged surgery for Friday which is when Thor had the procedure done.

Needless to say he's been pretty drugged up so he's out of it. I have him isolated to my bedroom when I'm not home and the other times he's with me when I can monitor him. He's mostly sleeping, however he won't let me keep his e-collar on :(….I need advice on how to get him to keep it on. Scarlett his sister is pretty upset, she's hissing and growling at him since he's been back from the vet. I think it will take her time to remember who he is. It's been a chaotic week and a very expensive one too! I really cannot wait until Thor is healed and my household is back to normal.

Do you have a cloth and soft plastic e-collar or a hard plastic one? The softer ones are a lot kinder for the cat and they are more willing to keep them on.

You can roll a thin washcloth and tape it around his neck to limit his movement toward his wound. How much is he supposed to be walking and jumping? My first Bengal broke her hip, though her break doesn't sound as bad as yours. We didn't opt for surgury, we kept her in a crate until she healed to limit her movement and keep her from jumping. We also gave her KMR for extra calcium. Good luck, I know it is heart-breaking.

I will try the wash cloth idea. Currently he has a fairly flexible e-collar, maybe I'm putting it on wrong but he won't let it stay on for a minute. He actually had it off in the carrier on the way home after his surgery lol. If he can take it off while he's pretty sedated then I don't know what else to do.

Crate resting him wasn't an option, they opted straight for surgery. He's supposed to be walking minimally so I have him in my bedroom with his bed, litter box, and food/water. This past weekend when I was home he was pretty much sleeping the whole time. As he's getting stronger he is getting more restless. I had the walk-in closet designated as his resting spot but he freaked out banging his head on the door trying to get out so I gave in and let him into the bedroom. I'm probably doing a lot of things wrong but my heart breaks seeing him cry and suffer. I'm weak!

A badroom is really too big of an area for him recovering from that kind of surgury. It will take quite a while for him to heal and his muscles to strengthen again. Not to mention if he is medicated he really has no idea what feels good or doesn't or what he can or can't do. If you don't want to keep him in the closet, get a medium or large do crate for him. You can put a small, low litter tray, food, water, and a flat bed for him to lay on. If he is in a crate, he can see you and you can (carefully) move him from room to room to be with you. Your goal should be to restrict his movement and keep him as rested as possible.

If he hurts his hip worse by having too much freedom when he is still healing, you will be starting this whole process over again. I would suspect that he needs to be healed ASAP, as he is still a growing boy.

Thanks for all the suggestions! So far he hasn't tried taking out his staples…I don't think he can reach them thankfully. The vet said that he needs 7-10 days of rest then he wants him moving about to strengthen his muscles. He said to have him restricted when I can't supervise him. When I'm with him I have him sitting or laying down and he seems to stay there. The big challenge is that he wants to play with his sister, and she wants to play with him. I have them separated all day while I'm at work but when I'm home I want them to continue working on re bonding. Scarlett has been hissing/swatting at him since he went to the vet for his initial visit.

One of my cats went to the after hour vet once for several hours. When she came home with a cone on her sister growled and hissed at her for days! It seemed so cruel to me. When they go to the vet together that doesn't happen. They are such funny creatures.

I had this same problem when our little girl was spayed. She simply would not sit still and was trying to climb the curtains. I built a light-weight enclosure out of 1/2" PEX plastic pipe and garden netting material. I got the plastic pipe connectors from Lee Valley Tools. It took me an hour or less and I'm not hugely handy. I didn't make a door - it is so light it just lifts up. Everything just slides together (no glue) and you can take it apart when you're done (I'm now using it covered in plastic sheeting as a cold frame for my veggie seeds).
It was 8 feet long and 2 feet wide and tall. We put her bed at one end, water in the middle and food at the other end. She didn't like it but she stayed in it all night (we slept next to her) after the first couple of nights, she actually started to ask to go in; we let her out on the ground floor just to walk around a few times a day. Unfortunately, I never took a picture.

It worked with a minimum of distress for Scout.

Quick update-

Thor is doing much better! He has been a very good cat and hasn't tried pulling out his staples or licking them. I haven't had to put the e-collar on him at all thank God! He actually gets his staples removed this Wednesday so I'm excited about that.

As for his activity I've been letting him get back to having the run of the house. He hasn't been "running" or playing like he used to but he does like to walk around every now and then and try to softly jump from the floor the the sofa which he's doing with no problem. The vet needs him to start using his leg to strengthen the muscles so it's within the vets orders. I haven't started playing with him since he can't have any strenuous activity for about 2 months. Things are going well. I appreciate everyones comments and I will update you again on Wednesday after his followup visit. Oh I forgot to mention that him and his sister are back to being best friends...I'm sure that this will change again on Wednesday when he goes to the vet. Anytime he's out of the house she forgets him and hisses at him for about a week :/

Thanks!

So happy he is well on the road to recovery. I have been following this post for a while and wishing for positive updates so im real happy for you and your baby

Hi it's update time! So Thor had his first follow up visit to get his staples removed. The vet said that he looks great! He told me to let him be a cat now so that he can strengthen his muscles and hopefully within about 6 weeks his limp should go away and he should go back to 100%. I'm so happy to hear this and I'm so glad we did the surgery. Thor did lose about 1 lb during this whole ordeal, and his appetite isn't back 100%. I asked if this will impact his growth at all since he's only 9 months old but the Dr. said that it won't and that he will get back to normal soon. He said that he will have his good days and bad days where he will try to not favor that leg and hold it up. His current weight is 11.2 lbs.

Oh a funny thing happened. When the vet tech came in he asked what kind of cat Thor was. When I told him that he's a bengal he said uhoh let me get my gloves ready because all the bengals that come in here are crazy! Thor was pretty much as well behaved as a cat can get and he was definitely surprised. The vet also said that Thor is a very handsome fella!

I appreciate everyones support and I hope that non of you have to go through this with your beloved bengals!