I was treating my kitten for ear mites the last two weeks and noticed he was acting like a completely different cat. He meowed constantly and only wanted to be held in my arms, he lost his energy and slept all day, and had trouble passing stools. Most alarming, his back legs weren't working so well. I took him to the vet today thinking maybe he had an inner ear infection, but after some X-rays, he has a spinal injury right above his hips. It looks like one of his discs has been pulled - almost like he had his tail trapped and was yanking on it to get away.
My kitten is indoor only - and I feel terrible that somehow he got hurt inside our home. My husband and I don't know how such a serious injury could have happened. The vet thinks he might heal, but isn't sure how well, and doesn't want to do surgery since he is still growing. Some laxatives were prescribed to help him out, but he STILL hasn't passed a stool all day today and I'm getting worried. I see other people on here are helping their pets express their bladders - I don't know how to do this, and the vet didn't mention it as a possibility. Should I try?
What else can I do to help him heal? He does walk on all legs, but not very well on the back two, and they give out sometimes. Should I trying to get him up to exercise, or encourage him to lay down? So so sad about this.
Kitten with spinal injury
Re: Kitten with spinal injury
A tail pull injury can happen VERY easily, so I wouldn't worry about that. I would certainly try expressing, especially for poop, but, ideally, a vet, tech, or other such person should show you how. It usually takes some practice to get expressing down, especially for pee. Have you seen the expressing pages? http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/view ... hp?f=5&t=4Re: Kitten with spinal injury
PS--You will want to read through the neuro bb here, as well, because this is really what your baby has sustained--a spinal cord injury. In my experience, tail pulls usually recover completely or end up very high functioning--with minimal residual effects.
Re: Kitten with spinal injury
Thank you critters. I hope he can heal - it's so painful watching him try to move around, and try to go to the bathroom, and his back legs always give out. And just a couple weeks ago he was playing with my older cat and poofing out his tail. His tail is expressionless now. 
His back legs actually seem to be giving out more than last week. Can mobility get worse in a situation like this?
Also, I know this isn't the discussion board for it - but he is getting weird rashes in his ears. I've posted a picture of one of the rashes to flickr: https://flic.kr/p/yFvjMa Have you seen anything like this? What could it be? Bacterial or yeast infection?
His back legs actually seem to be giving out more than last week. Can mobility get worse in a situation like this? Also, I know this isn't the discussion board for it - but he is getting weird rashes in his ears. I've posted a picture of one of the rashes to flickr: https://flic.kr/p/yFvjMa Have you seen anything like this? What could it be? Bacterial or yeast infection?
Re: Kitten with spinal injury
Should I be confining him to one room so he moves less? Pretty clueless as to how to help him heal faster...
Re: Kitten with spinal injury
Some people recommend crating, but I never have beyond the initial stages where they feel so terrible they don't want to be doing anything anyway. Cats have a neat way of finding a way to do what they want to do and rehabbing themselves. If his mobility isn't all that good right now you can do adapted play with him--things like a ping pong ball in the bathtub (stop up the drain), track ball toys, etc.--where the toys rebound themselves to him.