My cat was hit by a car. What are her chances of recovery?

[VampireHeart82]

Let me start from the beginning... I adopted Pandora a few months ago (last August-September) from our local animal shelter as a birthday gift for my daughter. She came from a hoarding situation and has some issues with being kept inside. She will slip out any chance she gets just to be outside. Last Friday morning(the last day of school) my daughter and I were in a slight hurry to get her to school as I had gotten done late with a newspaper route I was subbing. We walked out to get a couple of things moved over in the car and she forgot to shut the door (she is only 8 ). I didn't even realize it at the time but apparently pandora had shot out passed my daughter on our way out. I barely saw it in time but my daughter was watching and saw everything! A truck driving past swerved over to the grass on the far side of the street (where apparently pandora was sitting) she jumped to run home and barely made it to the middle of the street. I freaked out of course! The truck kept going (big surprise) But it took a min for me to realize that he had swerved over to hit her on purpose. Though this is in no way the first time I have seen people in this neighborhood purposely try and hit an animal. I didn't know what to do I ran out to her and just stood there for a min. Pandora was just sitting there completely dazed, shaking and breathing so hard I thought she would explode. I stood there a min with her basically waiting for her to die. I have never seen a cat or small dog get hit and not die within a min or two. She just kept panting like crazy. I see another car coming from up down the street so I rush over and get in mine and pull out into the street to block traffic. I stood there with her while trying to call my father I am not sure why other than I was freaking out. A few seconds later I snap out of it and start looking for something to put her on. The first thing I found was of course a trash can lid so I grab it, put my jacket in it and then go to get her. She hadn't made a sound up till then. When I touched her to move her it was like she snapped back to this world. She freaked out and started meowing loudly in pain. I took her to the first vet I saw. My vet lives over 10 miles away and I didn't want to try and drive her that far. They did x-rays and such and we found out that she had fractured her spineal area where her spine and tail meet. It's where the nerves that control her bladder are so they are having to express her. She has no feeling or movement in her tail or the top of her rear end so I was informed that she has to have her tail amputated. They wanted me to make a decision by Wednesday as to going ahead with the amputation or putting her down. I feel it is way to soon to throw in the towel! If she wants to get better and has such a strong will to live why shouldn't I give her the chance to? But I don't see the point in amputating her tail if she needs to be put down in the end. Why make her go through the extra pain of recovery? I think she's been through enough for now. If she regains control of her bodily functions then I will do the amputation if she has shown no improvement by then in her tail. 

She has been off of the IV since last Saturday but is still unable to urinate on her own. She has not had a bowel movement on her own yet either. But she hasn't been eating much for long. It's now down to whether or not she can control her bowels. If she can't control it we will need to wait and see what happens. If she is able to pass them just not control when I can work with that but I was told that if she is unable to pass them at all I will have to have her put down as nothing can be done. Is that true? I transferred her to a different vet Tuesday morning for a second opinion about her injuries. I want to know I am making my decisions in the best way possible and if a second opinion comes to the same conclusions as the first vet then I will at least know I did what I could if I do end up having to put her to sleep. But I really want to give her a chance first! I am wanting to get ideas on nerve damage repair. How long it usually takes and her chances of regaining bladder/rear end control. I was told by both vets that she will not regain control if she hasn't already by this weekend. The first vet said that if within the first week she doesn't then she never will and should be put down. Hence the reason I went for the second opinion! The second says that as the days go by she has less of a chance but that it's not impossible. However most cats don't recover he said. Then I asked how much time was given to heal for the person that waited the longest. He said 3 weeks was all the owner could handle trying to express her cat so he could heal. If she only gave him 3 weeks that doesn't seem long enough to me. Everything I have read said it can take months even a year or two for nerves to repair. So how long should I try and give her? I would like to give her all the time she needs but I was told that it was taking two people to express her. She HATES it and fights them. I am wondering if she would be a little more tolerant of me doing it as she knows and trusts me. Is it possible they are squeezing her to hard? Or maybe try different positions to see if she would be more compliant in one than others. I mean this is a cat that would let my  1/2 yr old twin boys lay on her, pull her around and even try and carry her! She would just lay back and purr! She has a very unusual temperament but that's one thing I love about her!

[CarolC]

Thanks goodness she survived. I can't say what I think of that driver. I agree on giving it more time. If you are willing and able to express her bladder 2 - 3 times a day, really you can give her as much time as you want. Even if she doesn't regain complete control, it won't matter. It is not surprising she is fussing at being expressed. Most cats don't like to be at the vet, period, and she is probably still quite sore. Your description of her personality, so tolerant with the kids and everything, makes me think she is a great candidate even for long term expressing if needed. I have a small dog I have been expressing since 2003, it's no big deal. Regarding bowel control, if she seems to have an issue of not pooping you can help keep her regular with diet, medication (for example stool softeners, though many cats don't need it) and massaging her abdomen. You just want to avoid having her become constipated. I have used lactulose syrup with several pets. You just squirt a little in the mouth and it keeps the stools the exact consistency you want. A bottle is between $15-$20 and lasts for months because you only have to give a little. None of my pets seem to mind the taste, I've had 2 that would lick it off a saucer. The x-rays showed her pelvis was not broken, right? I think it would be great if you could start getting lessons on expressing her bladder so you can bring her home. She'll be happier and it will save you money. Here is some information about expressing, including many videos at the end.

Watch the video of Pookie to see how they handle the tail.
Watch the video of Sasha to see how to handle intestinal massage.

http://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Express_a_dog_or_cat

[FYI]

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... ourceID=42

[VampireHeart82]

Thank you both for the info!! All I can say is thank God I followed my gut instead of what the first vet told and tried to push on me! Had I listened to him she would be dead now and I would feel worse than anything if I had learned all I have in these past 4 days!! Though it makes me angry that I was mis-informed so! I do not know if it was intentional or not but either way had I not been skeptical she could have been put down yesterday! I was told plainly and directly that if she could not pass on her own then there was nothing to be done and she would need to be PTS! I have a feeling he just didn't want to mess with the whole ordeal.

Anyway, I am going to talk to our new vet tomorrow and find out exactly what type of fracture she has and exactly where it is! I do know that it is at the sacrum but I am not sure what type of fracture. No other breaks, fractures or injuries were sustained. The only reason as to why she is so lucky in my opinion is because the jerk was in a huge truck! It must have beem to high off of the ground to do any major damage thank God! I was so concerned with finding a vet that wouldn't try and discourage me from doing what I think I need to do as for now. I was also informed today that she is not as difficult to express as I was lead to think at first. The other vet must have done something she really didn't like or was to hard on her maybe.

On the brighter side! She started pooping small amounts on her own in the litter box. She is also pawing around in there and acting like she is going pee but she still can't. I was told by someone else that that is a good sign and that means she is feeling urges and her control may start to come back slowly! The best news yet though is that she is coming home around 4pm tomorrow! My vet is supposed to show me everything tomorrow. This part is what worries me though! I tried getting help learning this week but no one seemed to have time. Now I am stuck having to try and do it all weekend alone! I am assuming I will be here a lot especially if we have trouble.

[critters]

Thank you both for the info!! All I can say is thank God I followed my gut instead of what the first vet told and tried to push on me! Had I listened to him she would be dead now and I would feel worse than anything if I had learned all I have in these past 4 days!! Though it makes me angry that I was mis-informed so! I do not know if it was intentional or not but either way had I not been skeptical she could have been put down yesterday! I was told plainly and directly that if she could not pass on her own then there was nothing to be done and she would need to be PTS! I have a feeling he just didn't want to mess with the whole ordeal. Sadly, not unusual.

Anyway, I am going to talk to our new vet tomorrow and find out exactly what type of fracture she has and exactly where it is! I do know that it is at the sacrum but I am not sure what type of fracture. No other breaks, fractures or injuries were sustained. The only reason as to why she is so lucky in my opinion is because the jerk was in a huge truck! It must have beem to high off of the ground to do any major damage thank God! I was so concerned with finding a vet that wouldn't try and discourage me from doing what I think I need to do as for now. I was also informed today that she is not as difficult to express as I was lead to think at first. The other vet must have done something she really didn't like or was to hard on her maybe. My boys never liked it, but I can manage to get it done, even today.

On the brighter side! She started pooping small amounts on her own in the litter box. She is also pawing around in there and acting like she is going pee but she still can't. I was told by someone else that that is a good sign and that means she is feeling urges and her control may start to come back slowly! The best news yet though is that she is coming home around 4pm tomorrow! My vet is supposed to show me everything tomorrow. This part is what worries me though! I tried getting help learning this week but no one seemed to have time. Now I am stuck having to try and do it all weekend alone! I am assuming I will be here a lot especially if we have trouble.

Yes, the fact that she can feel is a good thing! Try to get them to give you steroids for her to help her spinal cord heal. She will, in turn, need more expressing, but it may make a world of difference in the degree of her recovery.

[VampireHeart82]

.[/quote] Yes, the fact that she can feel is a good thing! Try to get them to give you steroids for her to help her spinal cord heal. She will, in turn, need more expressing, but it may make a world of difference in the degree of her recovery.[/quote]

Thank you! I will talk to him about that and see what he will do about it! He has been much more caring than the other vet and I feel like he actually listens to what I say so I hope he will. If not then I will move on to the next vet. But I think he will listen. I am so glad I stumbled across this site! I haven't gotten any support from anyone around here except my daughter of of course and my hubby thank goodness! Everyone else I know including my whole family thinks I should have just "thrown her away" it's hard when you don't have support and even more so when money is tight! I had to get a loan just to pay for this. Because my family wouldn't "waste it". Even though I would have paid them back. Then none of the animal aid type of places could help because of low funding. I tried everywhere! Apparently Tulsa, Oklahoma isn't a good place to live if you love your animals as much as I do (and aren't rich). Maybe I should move to a different state lol. I am scared right now. No one has had time to show me anything about expressing and I have read everything I can and watched the videos but it's not the same as hands on earning. I'm afraid that I won't have enough of that for this weekend. The vet is closed all weekend. I did mark the number and address of the closest animal ER though just incase.

I am going to get as much info on her injury as I can and post it here. I would love any info/opinions as to possible recovery rate for her tail. I was told it will never function but then again look at what else I have been told this week! If the chances of her tail recovering are low or high and in what amount of time should I see some recovery of sensation if she does have the possibility to recover. I need to know because I still need to look to the amputation if it doesn't recover. As I said earlier I have two 1 1/2 year old boys and I am going to have to keep her closed in my room away from them as they just love her tail! It will def have to be removed if it can't be saved completely just for her own safety as my boys like to pull on her and she let's them. Half the time it looks like she goes over to them on purpose because she would go and lay down roll over and stretch right in front of them in the middle of the floor. She's a nut!

[VampireHeart82]

And last night someone's small black and white dog got hit on my same street! I am sure if it wasn't on purpose it was at least because stupid people drive down out street going 40 or so when the limit is 25. One of these days a child is going to get hit!! I am trying to get ahold of the city to see about speed bumps. That would be nice!!

[critters]

. I would love any info/opinions as to possible recovery rate for her tail. I was told it will never function but then again look at what else I have been told this week! If the chances of her tail recovering are low or high and in what amount of time should I see some recovery of sensation if she does have the possibility to recover. I need to know because I still need to look to the amputation if it doesn't recover.!

I'd leave the tail alone for the foreseeable future. My Koi, who was shot in the spine, never got 100% of his tail back, probably about 50-75% of the length was mobile. The tip dragged a little, but it didn't bother him.

[VampireHeart82]

Yes, I would like to leave it if I can. I def don't plan on having it amputated anytime real soon as I feel that she has been through enough and I wan her to be home and have time to heal. I was thinking about giving her 6 months or so before deciding on a route with the whole amputation thing. Besides her tail is cute! She's a tiny little thing. She is a Torti Point Siamese mix that only weighs 6.6lbs! She is almost a year old so she's done growing and yes she is spayed. I wouldn't keep a cat without getting it fixed first! Way to many unwanted kittens around here.

I have caught a couple of the Tom cats and some of the females over the last couple of years around here and had them spayed/neutered through Street Cats and Spay Ok as well. You can't beet the prices and I am starting to see a slower flow of kittens around here! Well, on my street anyway! Of course this is why I didn't have the money for the vet. I need to be more careful in the future and make sure I have money saved apart from what I have set aside to work on the strays around here. I don't keep them if course! They are way to wild but at least they only have to worry about themselves out there and not babies!

[VampireHeart82]

Ok, she has a displaced fracture so she will more than likely not regain tail function I was told. It looks as though it were severed. I wish this site had a mobile app! I will put the pics of her X-ray up in photo bucket later and then post it here so it can been seen. I do not like that her bladder was left over 24hrs again because they wanted to see if she would eventually go on her own. She was expressed this mourning at least. Her bladder was easy to find but i still need to express it myself. He did it showing me which didnt help me much! Ugh! I am going to need all of the help i can get! I have a strong feeling i will be on here at least 5 times a day freaking out! I am still looking for any kind of advice and info I can get about any and all of the above posts! Thank you!

[VampireHeart82]

Pics of Pandora's X-rays. Open to comments, thoughts or suggestions about them.

[Jean]

I just read through your posts and I just wanted to say that your kitty is so lucky to have a "mom" who loves her so much !!!!!!!!
I have 5 cats that I express. One was Hit by a car like your kitty. One was mauled by Pitt Bulls and 3 have Manx syndrome. Jaime who was Hit by the Car (HBC) I pulled off of a highway after seeing her dragging herself along the shoulder of the road. She had a fractured pelvis and was only 6 weeks old. I have been expressing her for almost 14 years. She has never shown any adversion to being expressed. Actually it is a bonding time when I pet her and sing to her. She is my baby and I have my other special needs cats because of her. If I had euthanized her which the vets all said I should do, I would have missed out on years of bonding and happiness. Plus, I would have missed out on helping so many other special needs pets.
Pets heal at different rates. I wouldn't put a time line on when you need to see progress. Find a knowledgeable vet and one who is willing to teach you to express. My vet and his techs spent weeks helping me learn to express. Have several of the techs work with you and find the technique that works best for you. Even if she never recovers you will develop a bond that you will never regret in helping this little kitty. Disability for a pet is not like it is for many humans. Your kitty will likely be very happy just to be with her family. You can enrich her life and what she has lost will be overshadowed by the love that she will receive from her family.
Don't hesitate to ask questions there are very knowledgeable pet "moms" on this board and we want to see you succeed. Bless you for caring so much about little Pandora !!!!!! /Jean

[VampireHeart82]

Thank you Jean! I wish I had known about this place and people like everyone here last month! One of my neighbors kittens(they have WAY to many cats!) was in my yard dragging his lower body. I knew his spine must have been broken somehow. I told him about it and he said to leave it in his yard that something would get it by the morning! I mean really?!?! I told him he needed to take it somewhere he refused so I asked for it. He gave it to me saying that he didn't know why I cared so much about a dying kitten when there were plenty of them around! I took him to the 24hr vet as it was around 9pm on a Sunday night. They put him to sleep. I had asked even then if anything could be done! I mean the poor little thing was only about 7-8weeks old! They said no. Had I known about this place I would have kept him anyway! As it is I now have pandora this way lol and one of the old Tom cats I had neutered lives on my porch and he is completely toothless. I was advised to out him down when I took him in for the neuter. Apparently he has some genetic disorder where his gums are allergic to his teeth and were fighting with them as a result they were rotting and turning black and comeing out. So they had no idea as to his real age. I decided to keep him alive anyway and I had the last 7 teeth the had surgically removed to stop his constant pain that he must have delt with for years. And I started feeding him a special canned food made to be a complete meal. That was almost 9 years ago which means this cat has to be al least 13-14 now. He is perfectly happy outside. I never succeeded in bringing him inside though as he would never stop spraying my house. He was even harder to keep in than Pandora. Any ideas on where I could get a good harness for her so I could take her outside to the porch sometimes? I'm afraid she would get out of the regular ones. Maybe a toy dog harness? Not sure, do they make them for cats? I can get a lite lead to put her on but I need to be sure that the harness will not be easy to get out of.


I need all the help I can get. I am not doing to great with the expression. She doesn't like it but at least she isn't trying to kill me lol... I think a big part of her problem may be because she CAN feel her bladder she just can't release it so it's probably very uncomfortable for her. Other than that she is as happy as a clam (well other than wanting outside!) she has tried several times to get out of the house so she has spent a bit of time shut in my room. The vet was retarded saying she had control over her bowel. I have already figured it out and she hasn't even been home 24hrs yet! She can't control it it comes on its own but she CAN feel it. She tries to make it to the litter box when she feels it comeing. So that's great for me I won't need the diapers. Just to make sure that she has a low litterbox in the same room with her so she isn't trying to get across the house. I can find her bladder easy its the expression I am having trouble with. Any pointers? The vet is closed till Monday. Also, does anyone on here have any idea of a good vet within an hour or so of Tulsa Oklahoma that would help me work with her? The track record of the two vets I have worked with isn't good at all when it comes to this sort of thing. I don't want to be like the others and end up giving up by 3 weeks like they all did. Then again they may not have decided to educate themselves as I did and followed the vets advice. I am going to go back through and re-read the expression info and try again. Poor Pandora has been more tollerant than any other cat I have known my whole life! I just hope she can pu up with me long enough for me to figure this out.

[Jean]

Just a quick reply and then I will write more later.
We are nearly neighbors. I live in Kansas.
The only vet I know in Tulsa is Dr. George Carley of Carly. He is a homeopathic vet and helped me out a lot when my dog had thyroid adeno carcinoma over 10 years ago.
You really need to at least get Pandora's bladder expressed at the very least 1x daily by someone who can totally empty her. I express my cats 3-4 times a day. Do you know any of the vets techs at the clinics who would let you run over to their home and express her for you? If you let the bladder get fuller and fuller it can become distended and flaccid and stretch. Then, it gets harder and harder to express and with the distention you may end up with permanent damage to the bladder. Several of my cats are on bladder meds because they are so hard to express. Even after expressing for 14 years, I couldn't express some of mine without their meds.
You really need a qualified vet who can assess her and get her on any meds she needs. Wanna run up to Kansas. My Vet would love to see her !!!!!/Jean

[VampireHeart82]

Where at in Kansas? The vet techs at the first place I went didn't know anything and the place I am going now doesn't really have any. He's an older country vet. I have been consistently disappointed with both of them. I was lucky if they expressed her once a day! They both admitted to not messing with it. The first said it was just to hard and the second claims that if I help her she will never start doing it on her own. They both frustrate me so much!! Then again I also think they were limiting her water intake so they wouldn't have to do it as much. The first day I took her in after the accident they had her hooked up to an IV and it was OVER 24 hrs before they realized she wasn't peeing on her own. I mean really? I just hope she hasn't had to much damage done to it already! I need to get her on steroids. The vet said it had already been a full week and didn't need them anymore. I don't know if that's true or not but I plan on looking into it and pushing it if it's not. I'm tired of these people acting like they know everything when it's obvious they don't! It's a good thing they are vets and not doctors! They would be in jail right now!