Quick Barn Cat Injury Question

[BaaKaaawk]

Yes I am aware this is a Chicken Forum, but been here a long time and there are really smart people on here!!! Plus this cat lives pretty much right with the chickens... so he's probably part chicken.

TL;DR: Cat broke its leg, its a barn cat and can't justify the vet costs to fix it. What should I do? Let him recover or put the poor guy down?

The details: I have a barn cat who is a couple years old and came back 3-4 days ago from a cat walk with a broken back leg. From what I would call his "ankle" down is literally backwards and flopping. There are no external wounds, so I don't think he was attacked by a dog or coyote- I think he either fell or was maybe hit by a car or machine.

He is eating, resting a lot in his cat house in the barn with my other barn cat (which has a heat pad in it), and purrs when pet. He does get around a little like to go out in the sun and I know animals hide their pain, but honestly he doesn't seem overly bothered.

Keep in mind this is a barn cat... I called the vet and to amputate was $400 and to try and fix the leg would be 2x that or more. I am a good person, but I'm not a cat rescuer and this is a farm so I can't spend that kind of money on a barn cat when I have other animals to feed, etc - especially when there are so many kittens who need homes.

He seems to be recovering ok on his own honestly. I know the leg will never be right. I'm not willing to spend the money to fix it and he seems to be getting along- so my plan is to just leave him be unless someone says he really should just be put down.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That's a tough one.
If you leave it alone, is he tame enough that you can look at the injury close enough to make sure there's no infection setting in?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would try to help him recover. It would be good to se an xray so that splinting could be done, but that doesn’t sound possible. If you could handle him without getting injured, and using a helper, splinting of the leg in the right position might help it heal more properly. But cats can really be hard to handle. Do you have any medically trained friends or family that might help? Padding material something stiff like popsicle sticks, and vet wrap or cohesive tape can be applied as a splint.

You could leave him alone, but it is hard to know if the leg would heal without the bones being aligned. Let us know how he gets along. Here is a link about splinting that might be helpful:
https://www.wikihow.com/Splint-a-Cat's-Broken-Leg

 

[Mosey2003]

I would either try to get it splinted well (do you have any good vet tech friends?) or put him down. I don't think letting it heal while flopping backwards is going to be much good for him in the long run.