Cat with dislocated jaw & ruptured eye - recovery

[AlannaC]

My 1 year old cat was hit by a cat last night. Fortunately a group of strangers found him and took him to a local vet. My cat has been xrayed and his possible jaw fracture appears to be a dislocation. His left eye has repute red and he has lost the sight in it. The vet intends to operate to remove the eye in a day or two once the swelling begins to die down a bit. The rest of him appears fine on the X-rays and blood tests so far.

My question is more about the recovery of my cat. I'm worried about how he will manage to eat and what he can eat as well as the likelihood of his jaw dislocating again in the future.   Also, is there anything I should be particularly aware of when he comes home as he will only have 1 eye.

I have pet insurance and everything is covered. My cat loved going outside and I am a responsible pet owner. I am devastated that this has happened as I have already lost 2 other cats this year alone (16yr old died from old age and 12 week old from congenital liver failure). Please bear in mind that if you cannot be constructive please do not reply. I am concerned about my boys future health.

[CML2014]

Hi Alanna,

Thank God for good Samaritans like the ones who helped your kit. Wish all animals were that lucky. Sounds like you are a very aware cat owner and even have insurance , which I feel is a must these days.

We had cats at our rescue with corneal implants in both eyes, one eyed cats, and totally sightless cats---they are incredible creatures and they never lost a beat. Guess it is their keen "senses " that get them by. The Jaw will take some time to heal and you probably will have to feed by syringe. Try some baby food (lamb) I think they can SLURP pretty well, then move on to watery foods like Weruva tuna in gravy.

Good luck and keep us posted on your baby's progress.
Thanks
CML

[MsMissieinMS]

Interested in cats that had fractured jaws.  How long did it take them to get back to eating on their own.  I am now tube feeding him.  Its only been 4 weeks.  Am I rushing things too much?  Would appreciate some tips and pointers regarding his eating.

[evewisewoman]

I mean to say your kitty would disagree. He would prefer to have his
sight.

[evewisewoman]

How did your beloved one year old kitty get outside ? It's so important to
keep your kitty inside. There are so many outside dangers for a cat including the possibility of being run over. You are very lucky your cat
survived being run over. You say you wouldn't care if your kitty had
no eyes, you would still love him. That's commendable, but I'm not sure
your kitty would agree. You say you love your furbabies. Make sure to
keep them inside where they are safe.

[AlannaC]

Thanks for that - will check inbox in a min. I'm just so pleased that he's ok I don't care if he had no eyes - I love my furbabies as much as I love my human babies! The vet has been great so I'm confident that he'll give me all the aftercare info but I just want to make sure I've got all the info I can get so I can make him as comfortable as possible and make things as easy as I can for him when he finally comes home.

[opus88]

I am so sorry to hear of your kitties terrible accident. yes he will learn to eat again once the jaw is healed...but you must be sure to start feeding him really soft foods...canned food plus a little extra water added wouldn't hurt, he'll have to lap it up for awhile...but it will heal and with soft foods he should do just fine.
As far as the eye, yes of course he will learn to adapt to that also..cats are very resilient. they do adapt. he won't look very pretty for awhile but when you love them so much appearance doesn't really matter does it. :)

My loved kitty Opus, had high blood pressure and kidney disease, before this was discovered the pressure in is optical nerve built up so high it damaged the nerve ...the loss of blood supply to his eye caused irreparable damage. and he too needed to have his eye removed. he lived for 2 more years afterwards with proper medication to lower his BP...and the loss of the eye never seemed to bother him at all....I will send you a photo by PM...check your inbox. I don't want to make this photo public as it was pretty gruesome to start with, within a few weeks all the hair grows back around the eye and the stitches come out and he looked almost his normal self...he was my special baby, and I loved him no matter what anyway...
check your inbox above.
keep us posted, best of luck to your dear kitty and his future recover...