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Maine Coon Shot with a .22 Rifle

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X Ray of cat leg shattered by .22 bullet

X Ray of cat leg shattered by .22 bullet

Quentin is a rescue, rescued from my back yard this winter. I thought at first he was a Raccoon because of his size. I turned on the deck light and realized he was a Maine Coon eating bird seed under my feeder. When I watched him walk I noticed a limp. I went outside with a bowl of cat food and called to him.

He talked up a storm to me and limped my direction. I coaxed him into the garage and he was lovable and friendly. The next day I took him to my vet and he was full of fleas (he slept with me that night away from my other cats lol)  and also had a tapeworm.

Right now I am debating whether or not to get his leg fixed. My veterinarian said he was shot 3 to 6 months ago. He is approximately a year to year and a half old and a wonderful family member now.

I don’t know if fixing it would be to his benefit you can see by the X-ray it was pretty shattered. I don’t want to put him through any more trauma and would appreciate some opinions.

Thank you…

Carol

Comments

Maine Coon Shot with a .22 Rifle — 17 Comments

  1. imho, Carol, if you would like additional advice, take the x-ray , actually, email it to Cornell. They may be able to give you some advice. And you may want to try a human ortho. My oldest cat, Lucky, has a severely fragmented leg, which was not set, they couldn’t. I give her a dose in her food of Glucosamine Chondroitin w/ Vit C every day. It seems to help. She is overweight, nineteen yrs of age, and she is more mobile than ever. Blv me. (500mg 2x/day.)

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  2. I’m looking into it thank you Ruth 🙂 If anything the fragments removed, but I am not so sure about a rod… I have to see what the vet says

    Love and Light
    Carol

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  3. Poor Quentin, how could anyone be so cruel! I’m so glad you rescued him.
    As he is so young I’d definately have his leg fixed if I was you, it must be causing him some pain and a worry is that one (or some) of those fragments could shift and cause problems in the future.
    After his surgery you could help him heal quickly using your Reiki, most cats love it!

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  4. I appreciate all of it from everyone Michael! I have to be completely honest of my mental attitude, I was wild when I saw the xray my vet took. She said what we are seeing is fragments from the .22! At that time she didn’t suggest surgery we just made sure he was given all his shots, flea medicine and tapeworm medicine. When he went back for round two of the Feline leukemia shot is when she suggested surgery down in Port Washington or at the Appleton surgery clinic. I want whats best for Quentin so he has a full and happy and pain free life as much as possible. Quentin is such a joy!

    I lost a Balinese last March 2012 to Feline leukemia, he was the love of my life and lived beyond all expectation after diagnoses. I told Quentin “Aristotle” sent him to me because he knows Quentin will be loved.

    I will contact my vet and see what they have to say. Thank you so much for all the comments…

    Love and Light
    Carol

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  5. I am so happy to hear that Quentin found you.

    I can’t offer an informed opinion, not being a vet, and not exactly understanding the extent of the injury. But, I have same question as Kevin as to what does vet suggest.

    Here’s a story from long ago, fwiw. Long story, to set the scene. I was in grad school, and my housemate and I had 2 cats. House was a rental (fwiw)- she was looking for a housemate. The 2 cats were from my mother’s ever growing brood of cats, and Pat, housemate was happy to have them join us as she had just lost her beloved cat.

    At some point, cat Freida disappeared and we did what we could to try and find her, to no avail for at least three days. I was working at the lab when Pat called me- Frieda had dragged herself home, literally, using her front legs. I couldn’t get home right away, so Pat took her to the vet.

    Frieda’s pelvis was fractured, most likely b/c she’d been hit by a car. She couldn’t use her back legs and her tail was dragging. The only thing to do was to wait and see if she would recover, as surgery wouldn’t help.

    So, Frieda basically lived in a cardboard box lined with towels for at least 6 months. I would put her, in the box, in the back of my VW van every day when I went to work, and came out to check on her several times a day. (Cool shaded parking space.) I am guessing the time frame, but after about 4 months it seemed that her pelvis was healing, as she was able to move her legs, and then eventually was able to stand up, and then later could walk normally. But, her tail was still dragging. Amazingly, after more time, she recovered use of her tail. The vet had warned earlier that for her own safety her tail might have to be amputated, so this was the final part of an amazing recovery.

    What I’m wondering is if it would be possible to bind the broken parts of his leg, or put a cast on it, in a way that would stabilize his leg, and gradually force the bones into a more normal position? So that the leg doesn’t have to bear weight around the broken bones, and allow them to heal? My experience with Frieda suggests that bones can heal, although it takes a while.

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  6. wow that is so cruel that someone would shoot a cat like that.acts of animal cruelty like that break my heart.the x-ray picture looks pretty bad.as far as surgery goes,i’m not sure what to say.I think it all depends on how old he is,how much pain it’s causing him and how much it impacts his ability to live a relatively normal life.if he is a mostly indoor cat it might be a better idea to leave the leg alone at this point in time.the surgery to repair his leg would be very complicated and would probably require a rod to be put in his leg.what did the vet suggest?

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  7. I agree with Dan. This is about pain. It is almost certain that Quentin has some pain, at least discomfort. Well, that is my opinion. Cats won’t show it but common sense says he is likely to have some pain.

    Quentin is a young cat too so he has a long life ahead. All the more reason to operate.

    I agree the operation carries some risks and it will be a difficult time but if he was my cat, I’d discuss the matter with my vet and I’d expect her to recommend surgery, perhaps a limited kind of surgery. I note that the vet has discussed rebreaking the leg and resetting it to straighten it. Like you I am not sure the surgery need be that extensive.

    Of course a good vet will know far more about prognosis, pain and outcome than me but I believe that some sort of surgery is required and would be beneficial. I guess an operation just to remove the bone fragments would be helpful wouldn’t it? I am assuming those pieces are bone fragments or am I wrong?

    Thanks for sharing and well done in saving him. Good luck to Quentin.

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  8. I think he will suffer with it in that condition anyway. He may be better off in the long run. I say get it mended. Kudos to you for reaching out to him. You will have a friend for life.

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