Last year I had a crisis my little family. I thought I'd share my experience for anyone else going through a tough time in life. This story has a happy ending and I hope yours does too.
My cat Steve, being a youngin, is very full of energy. He likes to run around the house like a mad one, knocking into things as he charges about. Last year during one of these sessions of madness, he managed to knock over a full metal airsoft gun I had leaning against the wall. The gun fell and smashed his hip as ran past...
At first I didn't know anything had happened. I heard a crash from the other room but I didn't immediately see the gun on the floor, or my cat. It wasn't until about half an hour later I noticed Steve limping down the hall. It didn't take me long after that to piece together what had happened. At first I wasn't sure how bad it was. I talked to my girlfriend about taking him to the vet. We said things like "Maybe he's just hurt a bit and he'll get better in a few hours." but Steve was limping badly.
We decided we would take him to the vet as soon as possible. It's at this point I will remind anyone who has a pet: Make sure you have a vet you like, and make sure you know where you can take your pet in an emergency. The first vet we took him to decided it looked bad and asked if they could take x-rays. Sure enough, Steve's hip had been completely popped out of it's socket. Meanwhile Steve shivered with pain on the vet's table
Steve waiting at the vet
The vet informed us that the only option if we wanted to help him was expensive surgery. It would cost $1500 not including the large supply of pain medicine and antibiotics we would need to give him for weeks afterwards.
The girlfriend and I decided to look for other opinions and, in our case, this turned out to be a minor mistake that prolonged Steve's suffering a couple days. At least one other vet offered a slightly lower price but couldn't perform the surgery for a couple weeks. We wanted to get Steve the surgery asap, so we ended up back at the first place pretty soon. Within a few days Steve was in for his surgery. He'd have to spend the night in the hospital so they could monitor him. The doctor informed us that this might have happened due to a genetic trait that gives him weaker than normal hips. I looked up his condition myself and found it might have been caused by bone development problems brought on by neutering him at six months instead of waiting until he was fully grown...
The next day Steve was back home. We had bought the recommended antibiotics and pain medication. These drugs came in individual syringes that we had to try to spray into his mouth. He didn't like us very much for that.
Steve's Staples
We had to discourage him from walking around too much or trying to jump onto things. We later got him a cage we had to keep him in for this purpose. We moved his litter box close as well as his food and water. We put a blanket on the ground for him to lay on. It was terrible to see him in such a state.
This went on for about a couple weeks before the unthinkable happened. Steve began limping on his other side.
We brought him back to the vet where our fears were confirmed by more x-rays. Steve's other hip, likely damaged by the same event, had become dislocated as a result of his overcompensating for the weak side. We were distraught by this news and my girlfriend cried in the vet's office. Another surgery was performed soon after that.
A visit at the vet
The second surgery went well though, and $5000 later Steve was finally recovering. Though he wasn't happy to have his entire back half shaved.
My butt was cold for months!
About a year later, we've just about recovered from the financial hit haha. Steve is still getting stronger all the time and his fur is now totally grown in. We made sure he felt loved throughout his ordeal, and he never gave up.
Thanks for taking the time to read my story!
May your health be good, and your vet visits cheap!