How do I care for my cat with a broken pelvis after discharge?

The fracture in the pelvis can affect the nerves to the bladder, making him unable to pee. Because there was urine produced, yes it does mean Allie's kidneys are still working, it just may be that his nerves innervating his bladder have been damaged with the fracture pelvis. Hopefully nerve function will restore over time. Best of luck.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can purchase water-less shampoo and bath his hind end. And yes you can pick him up and snuggle. Just do not put him down. To ensure proper healing follow your Vet's recommendations and have him rechecked for X-rays to be sure he is healing properly. It worries me a bit that he can't urinate on his own. That shouldn't be an issue. I would have an X-ray taken at 4 weeks. Good luck!

Unfortunately, without performing surgery, there isn't a good way to immobilize a broken hip. Placing a cast on the leg will only add weight to the leg and further pull the fractured hip out of place. Often what we mean by staying still is the equivalent of bed rest in humans. The best way to accomplish this is to get a large dog kennel and make this your kitty's new home. You can place a litter box, food, and water inside the kennel, and he should be confined to the kennel until the hip is stable. This can be quite stressful for a cat, so make sure spend plenty of time with him, find toys that he can safely play with, and consider supplements for stress like Zylkene or Feliway feline pheromone diffuser.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Manual bladder expression typically does not hurt if done properly. If you search on youtube, there are some useful videos that veterinary clinics publish on how to manually express bladders. As long as there was no irreversible damage done to the nerves of the bladder, he will likely be able to urinate on his own again in the future once everything heals. At 5 weeks old, he is young so healing will be fast. I usually say about 4-6 weeks for healing time for a bone fracture in a young animal. Pelvic fractures that are unstable in a young animal may take longer. You have to remember that there is nothing stabilizing the fractures so any motion of the fractured bones will delay healing. Healing may take longer but that is a rough estimate. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Poor girl. This is severe break and the pieces are not at all aligned. Unfortunately because the two bones are not aligned properly to heal back together naturally, this likely needs surgical correction. Poor kitty. : ( I recommend discussing with the vet about surgery for this poor kitty to help align the bones. I am not an orthopedic surgeon however, so a consult is needed to discuss if this particular break is repairable surgically or if there are other things that need to be done. Best wishes with your stray kitty Wen. Take care!

It's hard to know what's going on with him without seeing the xrays and knowing which pain medications your cat is on. Hopefully there is an opiate on-board like a long-acting buprenorphine injection to help appropriately with the pain. Usually with adequate pain medication cats will start eating after an injury if there is no other issue like kidney disease or a ruptured bladder (like from trauma). If he has not had bloodwork and a urine test done, I recommend these tests to make sure there isn't something else going on besides the fracture. Appetite stimulants like Mirtazapine may help him to start eating on his own, or you may have to force-feed him with a syringe and canned cat food. Hope that helps!

I'm sorry to hear about all of Co's recent struggles. He has certainly been through a lot! Lactulose would be my first suggestion as well. There is a fairly wide dosing range. So it might be some trial and error to get the stool soft enough to pass, but not to cause him diarrhea. Encourage him to drink as much water as possible (fountain water dishes, letting him drink out of a running faucet, changing the water more frequently). Extra moisture will keep him hydrated and soften the stool as well. You can also add canned food to his diet for the same reasons. Fracturing his pelvis would be a last resort, so hopefully you are on the right track and he will be more comfortable soon!