My cat is limping heavily after 3 days he had a catheter removed from his hip

My cat 3 years old, male, neutered, 14 pounds had a catheter put in his hip after a urinary blockage and is now walking with a heavy limp. We are in Oregon. link to him walking https://streamable.com/jdiqh1 The vet ER we took him to doesn't have a reasonable explanation. Every time I would call they would bring up his front paw where they put the IV in and I'd have to tell him no it was his left rear leg. Finally, after the third call they told me that is where the catheter was inserted but it was all surface level and wouldn't cause any structural damage. That's all concerning to me as it doesn't sound like something they would expect. They offer for me to bring him back in to check him out if I'm really worried but any one familiar with pet ER's knows how much they cost. We just spent quite a bit on the procedure and are a little strapped for cash now, so that combined with the fact that his blockage was likely stress induced from a recent move and that the vet and his carrier stress him out heavily, we would like to avoid that scenario if possible to not reaggravate that. It's been 3 days since we picked him up and the only advice we have gotten from them is to basically wait it out and he hasn’t shown any real improvement. He had the limp as soon as he stepped out of his carrier, and they also said well maybe he tweaked it getting out of his carrier. The DR. also told me he didn't watch him walk at all during the two days he spent there which seems a little odd to me. I'm not a vet so this is why I am posting it here as it looks structural to me, and I would like to know if anyone else's cat went through something similar or if this type of thing is to be expected with this type of procedure. He can put weight on it but can't walk further than 10-15 feet without laying down to rest. He normally walks a little pigeon toe'd in his rear legs and this is an extremely awkward outward gaunt for him with a heavy dip when he goes to step on that leg. It's honestly really sad to watch. It looks to be at the hip. When I feel around he doesn't get upset, just mildly irritated sometimes and he kicks back at me occasionally. He has a lot of trouble getting up onto his tree, and into the bed. My fiance has more video of it and I'm waiting for her to get those over to me so I can potentially update the post with that as well, as that video shows it a little more clearly.

Hello - and thankyou for sharing this interesting case.  I agree that a catheter goes only as deep as the vein that you may even be able to see, going down the front of the leg.  It is not impossible that the lameness is related (eg in the even of local pain or infection) but it's not a side effect that I've seen; it is also possible that the effects of being hospitalised (eg kennelled or restricted) on a drip might have exacerbated underlying problems or caused your cat to stiffen up.  However, what I do know is that lameness is caused by pain (except in the event of some unusual neurological presentations).  If an animal limps, it is to reduce the pain associated with putting their leg down.  Therefore it seems likely that whatever the cause, your cat may require appropriate pain releif.  It is easier for your vet to assess the leg if they can examine it, so we would strongly recommend going back to them.  I hear that money is an issue, but it sounds as though it may be important and it may be worth considering that prices often go up for the emergency cover after normal hours on a Friday.

I hope that your boy can be made more comfortable soon.

Thank you for the reply Liz, he is on two different pain medications at the moment. If it was pain related wouldn't that alleviate it?  Sometimes it seems a little better in the morning but for the most part it is very much there. I have monday and tuesday off so I will see if I can bring him in then.

That's a good question; it reflects a familiar experience with pain control. When I took pain releif for child-birth, or when my mother took pain releif for pancreatitis, or my Grandma took pain relief for arthritis, it still didn't always stop the pain.  It helps, but I'm afraid that pain killers aren't a magic bullet for pain - in people or animals.  Hopefully your vet has had chance to triage the symptoms in case an earlier appointment / yet stronger pain releif (depending what he's on) / tests to better identify the cause of this discomfort or other cause of the limp (eg neuro problem) are needed.  To be clear, I have been reading 'catheter' to mean IV.   I trust that it has long since been removed from the leg?  Please will you let us know what is found?

I am not an expert on it by any means, just going off what I have been told, I believe the IV was positioned on his front paws. They said the actual catheter was placed on or through his hip to avoid him tearing it out? I don't think that was an IV, I think that was actually inserted into his bladder.