How long can a cat live with a broken leg?

can you take her to a humane society organization that may have vets on call or may offer discount vouchers for veterinary services?
I don’t know if it is crueler to let her live in constant pain [and the very likely chance that she will be permanently maimed if the leg heals without being set properly] than put her down.
If you love her do whatever you can to find free or cheap vet care.

It depends. Is it a compound fracture? That would risk infection.

The problem is that the bones will begin to knit back crookedly if not set.

Can you call the vet and try to make payment arrangements? Some vets have financing options.

We love her and we dont wont her go threw any pain but the problem is we know the vet is gonna ask us how she broke it and we dont really know. we have horses so we think they might have stepped on it. It’s hard to tell if its broke or not becuase she is walking on it a little. can we give her some asprin for right now? until we can get something worked out.

Please don’t give your cat aspirin, or any medication intended for humans, without consulting a vet. It’s very easy for a cat to OD on aspirin.

oh okay , i was reading online and it said you can give your cat asprin, but were going to call the vet. how can i keep her as comfortable as possible?

For a cat, a broken leg is not a death sentence unless you don’t get it treated. Take her to the vet, and get it set. Generally caring for a cat with a broken leg involves keeping them crated for several weeks so they’re not moving around.

It is cruel to do nothing.

Keep her immobile, do not let her walk around, do not let her outside.
Take her to your local shelter if you cannot or will not seek medical attention for her.

If you can’t afford to take your cat to the vet how can you afford horses?

What if one of your horses colics or sustains an injury, will you let it suffer as well?

People shouldn’t own any animals if they can’t afford to care for them properly. It is so inhumane to allow this cat to live with the broken leg. Take it to the vet, or take it to the humane society where they can relieve the pain one way or another. And, don’t get anymore pets.

Wow most vets will work with you if you don’t have the $$. They do not want to see animals suffer they are in the business to make sure they don’t! There are foundations that your vet may know about that can also help with the money I know they have this in Canada. But honestly see if you can borrow the money, get a loan do something, sell something it is worse to have the animal suffer. And it could end up healing and mean more possible issues maybe even amputation. And in fact some animals have been in pain so much will almost chew their own limbs off. I feel bad. Innocents usually get the shitty end :(

Why is it a problem that the vet will ask how it happened? “I don’t really know” seems like an appropriate answer if it is the truth. Do not let that keep you from getting your cat the help it needs! She may heal improperly and be in pain for the rest of her life. :(

@Supacase is on it. If you dont know how it happened, that’s just life.

Please take care of that animal, if not, send her to me. If you cant get assistance.

That is animal abuse.

Take her into in SPCA and say you found her like that.

Frankly I find it appalling that you would even consider leaving an animal in pain. How would it be if your leg was broken and someone said, well I can’t afford to take them to the hospital lets just leave it.

@GingerMinx GREAT point! I find this whole question disturbing.

I feel a bit bad cause some people don’t have the common sense, on the other hand this person came here for advice, and is it really our place to judge what their situation is or even if what they are doing is right or wrong? I mean they obviously care about the cat or wouldn’t ask a question about it at all. Money is really hard nowadays, in fact my dog got very sick and I almost lost her, it cost me 4500$ and I didnt even get a diagnosis. Now my vet soaks me every month for 100$ prescription food, if anything else happens, I’m screwed. I can really sympathize with this person, they just need to know options not judgements.

Thank you for that last commemt, and to the others who are trying to help me in this situation. My family and i love this cat to death! And we just spent our paycheck and getting our horses vaccinated and stocking up on hay and feed for the winter. she just recently broke her leg and all i asked for was some advice since i dont have the money to fix it right now. Money is tight now and not everybody can afford to do everything. Im only 14 and my parents dont have the money right now and you call it animal abuse. If it was animal abuse we would just leave her on the street to die. I love my cat and im just trying to figure out how to fix her.We are taking her by the humane society today and just tell her that we found her and then ask if we can keep her. And if you ask me i dont think its right to beat people down in their time of need.

@BBSDTfamily Thank you, I do as well.

@SoftballChix13_0 if your parents can afford to feed and house and look after horses they can afford to look after the cat as well, or they shouldn’t have the animal. To leave any animal suffering in pain is abusive. Most vets will let you pay it off and not allow the animal to suffer, they should have called the vets when the cat came in like that.

@GingerMinx you do realize that your telling a 14 yr old that their parents are animal abusers right? You don’t really know the entire story, I think that’s kind of unfair, it could be many things. The parents might believe the cats are barn cats but the 14yr old may just be privey to that particular barn cat. I am in no way saying that letting an animal suffer is the right thing, because I don’t think it is. But just think like your 14. This kid might of even overheard the parents say they don’t have the money to fix the cat. I am sure that they will not let it suffer, but I think this is a general wondering question from a 14yr old who is worried in case the parents don’t do anything. I really think you should leave the judgments up to the correct parties (animal control). I mean there are plenty of things you could ask, again this child is not the home caretaker, you should address all these things to the parent, no? The thing is is that kids draw conclusions, all I’m saying I know cause my 15 yr old does it daily. Maybe there should be a question area out here solely for kids. These judgements are like a kid calling kids help phone and the person on the other line says “sorry sweetie, I don’t understand…”. Geez craziness, this is why my 15yr old is NOT allowed on the Internet without supervision, like I always say to my daughter if you wanna know something about life…you ASK a living breathing person who you are close to, and I’d like it to preferably be me thanks.

@Meego yes I do. I have a son who turns 24 in one weeks time. Please do not assume that because I call a spade a spade I am a horrible person. Anyone who would leave a cat with a broken leg to suffer is abusing it, but, I never said that this persons parents were abusive, only that if they leave this cat to suffer they are abusive, there is a difference. I agree with you, children should get their information from their closest relatives, preferably parents, rather than the net.

Well im happy to say that we looked around and found a really nice vet. he said that we can pay him whenever we got the money. and now my cat has a little orange cast around her leg so thank you to the people who tried to help i appreciate it :)

@SoftballChix13_0

Excellent news! Very good!

@GingerMinx I was not trying to say you were a horrible person. My opinion is just a little different, sometimes a little more postive reinforcement is nessacary compared to negative reinforcement. I would feel the same as you if the question were in a different context, like for example “my cat broke it’s leg 2 months ago we are not getting it fixed what’s the next best thing?”. That to me is the difference. I think also if the same question was asked by a responsible adult I would also have your reaction. I think in this case just some education was in order. Not everyone knows that some vets will help out regardless of your money status, most won’t.
@SoftballChix13 0 That’s awesome. Sometimes it’s just a case of not giving up! Now your parents know that they shouldn’t have to just give up especially on innocent animals, that’s why we have them we have to fight for them.