Sprained ACL

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

So Diesel started limping 2 weeks ago, he got up from a nap and was limping a little. It seemed to go away as he moved around more so I didn't think a whole lot of it. I just kept an eye on him over the course of the week. By the weekend he was limping all the time, he is toe touching but not putting weight on his right rear leg. Took him to the vet, they did an exam and felt he had just pulled a muscle. Sent him home with some anti inflammatory pills and said to bring him back if it doesn't improve.

So 1 more week of watching him and he got even worse :rolleyes:

. Any time he tries to run he holds his leg up and he cries if he tries to sit or if he lays down on it wrong (breaks my heart!). So back to the vet we went on Saturday. It took 2 technicians to hold him down for x-rays and a more thorough physical exam of the leg and the vet had to wrap him in a towel to bring him back to me because he was MAD :evil:

. She's pretty sure he sprained his ACL as there is a small amount of movement in his leg that shouldn't be there. His x-rays were good, hips and knees look great, nothing out of place or fractured.

Right now he's on baby aspirin every 3 days and a glucosamine supplement to help speed the tissue rebuilding itself. We're trying to limit his activity (haha!) so he doesn't keep reinjuring it but she said it could take 2 to 3 months to heal :eek:

.

Has anyone else ever had a cat sprain their ACL?

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

Donna, I'm so sorry to hear about Diesel. I'm sure other cats have had this same problem. I thought aspirin was toxic to cats. I guess a vet would know best. I certainly hope all the treatment helps Diesel. It's hard to keep a cat from being active. Keep us informed on how he's doing.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

I know you can't give Motrin, Tylenol or Aleve to dogs or cats. From what I've read Aspirin is ok for cats but only in small doses and they have to be 48-72 hours apart because cats metabolize it MUCH more slowly. She told us to do one buffered 83mg dose every 3 days, he got one Saturday when we got home from the vet so I'm not giving him another one until Tuesday night. I'm hoping he won't need to be on it for too long.

She said if his pain gets worse or he's crying out more often we can put him on a pain blocker, but those can be hard on their liver and if he's not feeling any pain at all he'll probably start jumping too much and make it worse.

Right now I'm keeping him (and his 2 best friends) in the master bedroom when we leave for the day and I'm shutting the closet so he's not tempted to jump up on the shelves.

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

Poor Diesel. It's painful to even watch when our fur babies are limping. Neither of mine have had that particular problem, but with Hendrix he has fractured a front paw and has loose knee caps and I know how difficult it is to try to limit their activity... I don't envy you one bit. I was always lifting Hendrix down from the kitchen counters or if he'd jumped on a fence I'd get him to jump on my back to break the jump into two levels. Only problem now is that when he is on a fence and I'm nearby, he actually expects me to act as a step for him!

Diesel sounded ever so cross about the x-rays lol - Hendrix was given anaesthetic for his x-rays, I guess our vet didn't even want to go there with an angry Bengal!!

I really hope Diesel starts to feel better soon, it was 6 weeks for a fractured paw and the estimated healing time was pretty spot on. Another thing I found though was by giving Hendrix anti-inflammatories, it just meant he couldn't feel the pain and started charging around again! It's a difficult one to know what to do for the best!

Keep us informed how he is doing and I'm sending him some healing chin rubs! x

brianj12 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:42 pm

Ugh, that sounds really tough, to have that injury on a bengal. I'm kind of surprised they are not doing anything to enforce the "staying off of it" thingy.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

I was surprised she didn't tell me strict cage rest but there is a part of me that's glad she didn't. It's bad enough limiting him to a couple of rooms. He yowls the house down when we get home because he wants to be out with us, if we had to keep him in a cage it would be non stop - there would be no living with him :lol:

If it doesn't seem to be getting at least a little bit better I am going to get the Great Dane cage out of the garage and set it up for him in the living room. It's big enough for a litter box at one end and his food & water at the other end. He won't be happy but he will be forced to rest if he's in there.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

We're seeing small signs of improvement. He's not crying when he tries to lay down or sit, and he's not holding his leg up as much although he still does when he tries to run. He's been stretching it out too, he'll pause while he's walking and stretch the leg out behind him and just stand there for a second, or he'll stand on his tip toes with his back feet to stretch his leg out. I'm hopeful that this means it's feeling a little better.

I forgot to put him in the bedroom on Tuesday when I left for work and I definitely noticed he was walking more gingerly that night. So I'm making sure I put him up before I leave now. He's been good about eating the canned food with the glucosamine supplement on it too so hopefully that's helping.

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

These types of injuries take time and it will take even longer with an animal who still insists on walking! Since it was only a sprain, it should heal a lot better and Diesel will let you know how well he's doing by how much weight he puts on the leg. Confining a bengal to a cage is probably not the best idea! They want the room to roam. Unless he re-injures it, he could get a little better by the day.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

10 steps forward 5 steps back!

He was finally starting to really show improvement, late Friday night when the house was quiet and he was lazily walking around his limp was almost gone. Then Saturday morning he went to jump on our bed and didn't quite make it :rolleyes:

he spent most of the day hopping around on 3 legs again.

He's limping on it again today, so at least he's using it and he's not crying so that's good. I don't know what to do with the little stinker!

On the flip side he's been SUCH a love bug. He just wants to be held and have his head and chin scratched. I think he's "over" all of this too poor guy. If only he would just take it easy for a couple of weeks - yeah right! :lol:

brianj12 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2015 7:23 pm

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

We tried steps but he isn't using them. He would rather jump - or try to jump. I think we may have to try cage rest :eek:

I'm going to bring the giant cage in and set it up and see if we can get him play in it so it's not a total shock when we put him in it.

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

Donna, I've been wondering how Diesel has been doing! Such a shame that we can't get cats to settle down to help heal the injury! Bengals love to jump -- that's all. I doubt he will enjoy being caged in, but even if you can keep him there for several hours, it will help. Rest is the main thing -- we all know that, but cats don't.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

Well the crate didn't work at all, he was climbing it and sticking his legs out. I was afraid he was going to get a foot or toe caught (he did that as a kitten).

We're still restricting him to our bedroom most days while we're at work. He's walking pretty well, still a slight limp but it's noticeably improved. When he runs he's still limping quite a bit and he still doesn't want me messing with his leg although I do not get the screaming biting reaction I got when he first hurt it. So he's making progress, it's just really slow. We're going to start enticing him to exercise a little with da bird - he's lost some muscle tone in that leg (the vet said that was expected) and the only way he's going to get it back is by exercising so hopefully chasing da bird around on the floor will help.

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

Bless him, at least things have improved a bit... They are pretty accurate with the healing times they advise as we were told 6 weeks for hendrix's fractured paw and it was pretty spot on. I thought it was never going to heal but all of a sudden he just stopped limping.

Not easy for a Bengal to not charge around like a lunatic!

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

You can't keep a good kitty down, that's for sure. They are going to jump and run regardless. It may take longer for the injury to heal, but a cat is going to know his pain tolerance and shouldn't be doing anything that causes him to hurt. At least Diesel seems to be getting better.

Sprained ACL

Who is online