badly applied bandage?

[bippa]

Hi There,
my cat has a break in its foot and the vet has put on a bandage but in doing so he has stretched the cats leg out so that it is longer than the other three legs and consequently the cat is unable to lift this off the floor and is dragging it around. I'm worried that if the bandaged foot is making contact with the floor/getting knocked, etc that this will make matters worse.
I know the vet is experienced but it took the third visit for him to establish it had been broken. He told us the previous two visits that he didn't want to x-ray it as he was sure the cat's foot wasn't broken and that it was probably a pulled muscle. He only x-rayed when we insisted that the cat wasn't improving and was in pain.
Can anyone help? Does the way it is bandaged sound about right?

[tiggerblue10]

I would take puss back to the vet and ask if this is normal although it doesn't sound right to me. If its been stretched it may heal that way and the poor cat will have one long leg.

[bippa]

thanks tigger,
I've just taken the bandage off. He is knocking it less with the thing off than on. It had slipped down his foot anyway.

[blackcat77]

Have you considered looking for a new vet ?

[jules77]

You really should go back to your vet, or find another vet, if your cats foot is broken, the bandage was on for a reason.

[Lil'Lucy]

When you bandage a leg you have to stretch it out so the joints are as straight as possible. This ultimately will make the leg seem longer as most of the time the joints are slightly flexed making the leg seem shorter.

If you are worried - just phone the vet and ask her!! This is what we pay them for and a good vet won't object if you phone up and ask.

My vets keep saying to me that they never mind if people phone/bring in stuff that is normal - however they get cheesed off if people sit on things too long and then expect it all to be sorted easily!!

Hope all gets better soon

xxxLucy

[Noweia]

It was a correct bandage - as Lil'Lucy says the limb is often bandaged stretched out to let the broken bits heal properly and to stop the muscles contracting through misuse, as the bandage has to be on for at least 3 weeks for a break to heal. If it has come off you are doing your cat no favours by not getting it replaced.