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Jaw and head injury, can anyone offer helpful advice?

Our 5 month old cat was attacked by dogs on Christmas day. She is an outdoor cat. We were able to save her. There are no vets in the area of the world where we are living.

She was bleeding through her nose and eye. After her initial shock she is breathing normally. She is lethargic but is walking about. Her head is swollen and her jaw dislocated, or at least I think so. I also think she has a concussion. Sounds like liquid or blood squishing if you touch it.
She cannot eat or drink. I have fed her with a syringe. She went to the bathroom twice since the accident. Her top and bottom jaw seems to be okay, not broken, from what I can feel. They are totally misaligned.

I've put warm compresses on her head and next to her body. There is a lump on the side around her stomach area.
If we stroke her she purrs and has been purring and making sounds like she used to. She doesn't seem to be in pain, no yowling. She has opened the eye which she was bleeding out a little. Now it remains shut. From what I could see is that there is a scratch on the white eye covering.

Is it possible to realign the jaw by ourselves? Should I just let her be? How many times a day should I feed her.
Our main concern is the jaw. I don't know if it would make things worse if w try to realign it.

We have other cats two adults and another kitten, same age. When we feed the others she sniffs at the food and makes licking motions but cannot eat.

Any help would be much appreciated.
34 Responses
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587315 tn?1333552783
I meant, have you done a search for a vet in your area on the yahoo or google search engine.  That will turn up many results.  You don't have the time to waste waiting for an answer.  Now, the Ask A Vet forum will be worth it!

If you're not sure how to do the search on yahoo or google, then post back!
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Avatar universal
if you have any site suggestions. Please list them. The ones I've written to so far have not answered.
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587315 tn?1333552783
Did you find any vets on-line?  I hope you can find one.
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Avatar universal
@zodiacqueen
Yes I am telling the truth. Thank you for your advice. I've read on the internet of people who have set the jaw themselves. But the reason not to do so was my fear of doing more damage than any good. Like you just described. I'll ask around in the Village tomorrow and hopefully someone can help me. Besides making the suggestion of putting her to sleep...
Helpful - 0
541150 tn?1306033843
I'm so sorry about your cat. Just try not to touch the swollen areas too much. She is purring because she is probably in pain or still a bit scared. Cats not only purr when they're contempt but also when they're in pain. That jaw looks pretty messed up and I can tell it is fractured. There is no way you can get that fixed by yourself, and if you leave her be, the jaw will not fix itself and she will always have problems eating. Have you tried googling vets in your area? Perhaps a vet tech?

A vet can perform surgery or wire the jaw shut to heal. Your cat needs to be fed a liquid diet with a syringe until you can get her to a vet.

I wouldn't leave it broken and hope it gets better on it's own. Eating will be excruciating and your cat can develop more problems from not being able to get adequate nutrients. See the chain reaction?
Helpful - 0
587315 tn?1333552783
IF you are telling the truth, do NOT set the jaw yourself.  You can do more damage-blood vessels and nerves run through the jaw that you do not want to mess with.  AND, on top of that it is horribly painful to set it yourself.

These are life threatening injuries, and you must find a way to get that kitten help.
I say life threatening because there is a major risk of a massive infection from the dog bite that could lead to a full body infection.  It's more dangerous because the bite is to the head, which gives easy access to the brain.  And, your cat's jaw is broken and locked into place.  Honestly, there is no home treatment that will cure these problems.

You must find a way to take care of this.
Helpful - 0
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