Our 1 1/2 year old cat is mostly a house cat, but she sometimes ventures outside. Saturday, she disappeared all day, which is unusual. When she finally showed up late that evening she was so lame she could barely walk, was stressed and starving. I'm not sure where she showed up from, as I had the cat door open when she showed up. so she could've been outside. I took her to the ER vet, suspecting a bite abscess. They thought so too, but couldn't find a bite wound. They treated her with Convenia and Meloxicam injections. That did nothing, although normally it works well for abscesses. I took her to our regular vet on Tuesday. They did XRays and found nothing; all normal. No evidence of a bite wound. Her swelling had moved from her ankle joint all the way to her shoulder, and our vet said she thought the cat had the most pain in her shoulder. She gave her a pain med injection and said it would knock her out for the day. No, it didn't...it did help slightly. She said there's nothing else we can do, besides wait. My poor cat is in so much pain. I can't do anything to help her besides be sympathetic. And being a cat, it's hard to control how active she is sometimes. She is confined to the house, I did have her confined to a room, but she was getting so depressed and lonely. Vet suspects soft tissue injury of some kind. I'm wondering about a sting or spider bite. But again, nothing to see. Has anyone else experienced mysterious lameness like this in a cat? I'm really afraid it might be permanent.
