Injured back foot?? Advice!

[Pippin]

Before I begin to talk about it, Pip is scheduled to see the vet as the first patient in the morning. Sadly, even though the clinic is open 24 hours, his vet isn't in til morning.

This, to my knowledge has just happened tonight. I've had him out before and he was fine. My boyfriend said Pip was scaling the side of his cage. It sounds like his foot got stuck between the bars, which are already very small. I got him out and set him down and he won't put his foot down and walk on it and it looks a little crooked. I know that Chins normally don't show any signs of pain or illness until it's REALLY bad, so I'm scared that I might lose him in the middle of the night. Has anyone had this happen before? If so, how did them? Not looking for a way to treat it myself, as I said he has an appointment in the morning. I just want to know if he's in jeopardy of dying before morning. And I want to know what to expect for the treatment, like if they want to put a cast or amputate. I'm a very paranoid pet owner and take my fur babies in for every little thing!

 

[tunes]

I know this is a little late, but try not to panic. This happens more than you would think. Some people choose to do surgery and pin or put a cast on it. Others choose to amputate the leg if it's badly broken. I wouldn't even worry about that right at the moment. It might just be a bad sprain. If that is the case, you will want to keep him confined in a very small space, like half the size of a small cat carrier. Keep him on paper towels or something where you can clearly so if he's peeing and pooping, and allow now out of cage time for a couple weeks. Unfortunately, sprains take longer to heal than actual breaks, so can be a pain in the butt to deal with.

Just make sure you get an x-ray so there aren't any small hairline fractures or chips that the vet might miss. Pain meds are up to you. I think if you give too much, then the chin thinks he's not in pain and becomes his usual spastic self. This will not help at all with healing.

 

[Pippin]

Thank you for replying. The vet didn't find any breaks or fractures. She prescribed metacam. He wasn't limping the entire time, I just noticed the first time he started, and for several hours after that, he was fine til about 7 AM when he started limping again. I've only given him 2 doses of the meds. I do have his smaller cage that I can put him in. He hasn't had any meds yet today and hasn't limped at all, infact, he's his spastic self right now. Doing his little popcorn dance. He's still eating, drinking and going to the bathroom just fine. Been a lot more cuddly lately. She told me to wait a week to see if he shows any signs of not healing or getting worse then to bring him back. I just love this little guy so much!