Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all:

I'm looking for opinions on how best to get an injured stray, who was hit by a car, to eat and use a litter box.

She is a sweet little tortoiseshell that I found shortly after she had been apparently hit by a car. I took her to my vet right away (I have three rescue cats and a small dog). I've been looking after her now for 8 days.

She has an injured jaw (broken or dislocated) and a damaged eye, and has lost several teeth. Other than that she is amazingly strong. She purrs and is alert and walks without trouble. My vet feels she should recover.

The problem is that I cannot get her to eat more than tiny amounts now and then, and she doesn't seem to know what a litter box is. She was peeing in a cat bed that she wasn't sleeping in. At this point I put her in a large dog cage (labrador size) to try and confine her space and get the litter box to be a very attractive place to go. No dice yet -- she just seems to be holding it since the catbed episode 2 days ago.

She does drink water and I have had to gently forcefeed with that Hill's canned prescription diet (as her painkillers were liquid and needed to be in food). She has also started eating a bit of dry, of all things. She only seems to want to eat if I am sitting with her. She does allow her jaw to be handled gently without complaint -- she is a trooper.

I will try the advice on another thread to use baby food (lamb). But any other suggestions on food or litter box, or anyone with experience of a cat that has had an injury behaving like this and how long it might take for her to readjust? Do I stop forcefeeding or continue trying to get some HIll's into her if she isn't touching the other food? (I just put small bits on her palate and she swallows it down easily). I should add my vet has seen her twice more, yesterday being the last day when she gave her an enema to get her to pass a bowel movement (eek!) just to make sure she was empty in that dept!

Thanks for any advice! This goes beyond my experience in dealing with sick pets.

You are doing about the best you can under the circumstances. By all means you should continue to force-feed if she is not eating adequately on her own.

Best wishes to you and the cat. Keep us posted as to her progress.

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

MA has a good idea. Try getting those puppy training pads. Then put them in the bottom of a litter box. They are soft like a cat bed. She may have hurt her feet or something and doesn't like the feel of the kitty litter on them. I would continue to force feed.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

At the shelter I work at, we seem to get our fair share of jaw injuries in cats (hit by car mostly). Did your vet take radiographs to determine if jaw is injured, or truly broken? If it is broken, force feeding thru her mouth, and any handling of her jaw is not such a good idea(as things heal, any movement only would slow that, or perhaps cause it to heal incorrectly). A good alternative would be a feeing tube until she is healed enough to eat, and you can give liquid medicine thru the tube as well. Regarding the litterbox, you mention she was an outdoor cat? You could try adding a layer of dirt on top of the litter, that may make it feel more to her like her "outside" litter box. Good luck with her, lucky she found someone caring to help her thru her hard times.

Midas
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Mia Liger Fluffy Banzai Smudge Hazy
& Midas ~ Golden Retriever and honorary cat

Thanks for the replies. Two vets checked her jaw and said they thought it would settle on its own. It's clearly bothering her but not causing a lot of pain -- she will clean herself a bit, drink water, and rub her head including jaw against objects in the room. They didn't feel she needed tube feeding.

She started eating some dry food -- oddly enough that's what she prefers, and seems to swallow it down without too much difficulty. And she licked up some pureed sardines. But I'm worried at how little she has eaten overall so did forcefeed some of the invalid cat food from the vet today -- she swallows it down with no problems. This time I gave her a decent amount too just to get something in her stomach. It seems (I hope!) she is beginning to feed herself gradually.

And-- hurrah -- she pee'd in the litter box, but she also likes to lie in the box now! I've never seen this (there wasn't a lot of damp litter -- it was way down on the bottom; at least she had used it...). I don't know how to discourage that, except to hope if she uses the box more it will then not appeal in whatever way it does now. Sigh. I will try a bit of soil mixed in to the litter to see if that helps.

I am just assuming she was an outdoor cat since the litter box seems alien to her -- or maybe it's just the injury. Perhaps she slept in a wicker catbed or something that is boxlike and thus she wants to sit in the litterbox. Her coat is lovely though so she is definitely not a real 'stray' -- she was probably just doing her daily rounds when she was hit.

I really appreciate the suggestions as in this kind of case you're really looking for alternatives to try as well as a bit of assurance that you're doing generally the right things.

PS She's purring on the sofa next to me right now -- sure hope she pulls through as she's a little charmer. Here's a pic I took today. At least she looks like a cat again -- her face was like a balloon at first.

What a pretty girl she is! I hope she'll continue to improve. Perhaps you could get her a bed and see if she likes to lie in that rather than in the litterbox.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

You could try setting up a second litter box for her with fluffy blankets (a new one, so it doesn't have that icky LB smell!) That seems to work for some of the shelter cats who prefer sleeping in their boxes.

Midas
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Mia Liger Fluffy Banzai Smudge Hazy
& Midas ~ Golden Retriever and honorary cat

>>You could try setting up a second litter box for her with fluffy blankets (a new one, so it doesn't have that icky LB smell!) That seems to work for some of the shelter cats who prefer sleeping in their boxes.
>>
>>Midas
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>> Mia Liger Fluffy Banzai Smudge Hazy
>>& Midas ~ Golden Retriever and honorary cat

Hey I was just going to say the cats at the shelter slept in litter boxes. We had a two sets the bathroom set and the bed set.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Thanks for the litter box bed suggestion -- I'm going to try setting that up right now. All the advice much appreciated!

I forgot to add that it really helps to know that other cats have opted for their litter boxes as a bed... :^)

Hope the ideas help...for some reason, they seem to feel safe having those high sides, and a solid base.....sort of a "if I duck down low, I can hide....but I can peek over the top"....cats are on odd bunch, but so wonderful

Midas
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Mia Liger Fluffy Banzai Smudge Hazy
& Midas ~ Golden Retriever and honorary cat

Hi all:

Just thought I'd update and let people know that Maisie (she has finally been named!) is both eating and using her box properly and now, is making herself at home in the rest of the house (LOL).

One eye remains partly closed, and her jaw is of some bother to her but she can eat, drink, clean etc. However she also seems to be at least partly deaf. She is almost oblivious to most noises including vacuums but seems to be able to hear some high pitched sounds. She shakes her head a lot so I am suspecting the deafness is from the accident and I'm hoping she may gradually recover her hearing.

Other than that she is like a new cat -- she crossed some line a few days ago, started eating and moving about, and in the last day, decided to venture somewhere other than the one room she's been confined to until recently. It took her a few days to decide to go out the door and have a look around.

Thanks for all your advice -- I used a lot of it over the past week!

Thank you for the update. It sounds like you have a success story on your hands! Bless you for caring for this kitty and giving her a chance a life and love.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Hi all --

Just an update to say thanks for everyone's help and good advice. Maisie now lives permanently with me, joining my three other rescue cats, Pippa, Jessie and Ambrose. She eventually began eating on her own and using her litter box. My vet believes her jaw has healed on its own though it still bothers her from time to time. She has had a slow but continual recovery from her head injury, and has never stopped purring! Maisie is an all-indoor cat like the rest of my gang.

Thank you for this wonderful update. I am happy the purrbox found a loving home with you!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!