"blkcatgal" wrote in message
...
My 16 year old cat began limping 2 days ago. He was fine in the morning
and
when I came home from work, he was limping on his front leg. I'm not sure
how he may have hurt himself, if that's the case, but it may be that he
fell
or tripped on the basement stairs because when I came home from work that
day the basement door (which is usually closed and the cats don't usually
have access to the basement) was opened. The limping doesn't seem to
deter
him from jumping up on the couch or bed. And I've checked the leg out and
it isn't swollen or anything. And otherwise he's acting normal.

I'll have him checked by the vet if he doesn't improve in the next day or
so
but my question is can cats get muscle pulls or strains, etc. like humans?


Yes! I flipped out because my little tabby was limping and wincing when
she put weight on one of her back legs. (She had a new cat shelf and I
*knew* she must have slipped getting up there because she was not
yet used to it.) Took her to Emergency Care, where she refused to limp.
Later that night she was clearly in pain, so the next day I took her to my
vet, where she refused to limp AND jumped from the floor to the table
and back again with no sign of pain. An hour after we got home, she was
wincing and cringing again. I actually took her back to the after hours
place where she again refused to limp! This time I made them give me
kitty narcotics in case she showed symptoms of pain--more for me
than for her, as I was clearly having more trouble with her being in
pain than SHE was. The next day she was fine and never showed
a problem with that leg again.

Point: if you can STAND to, you might wait a day and see what
happens. But of course that limp might be a symptom of something
serious. *sigh* That is always the risk you take when you wait. I will
always err on the side of superfluous vet care rather than scanty vet
care, but that's just me.