Broken leg

  Unfortunately my cat has broken his rear leg.. I have taken him to vets and they say he is to old for plating amputation. And want to put him down. He is fine in himself eating and drinking loads atm he has a compression  dressing on his leg and I have him at home in a large dog cage. Hi   He is on arnica and if it does  not heal itself then comfrey  can you examine x ray and advise if you have any advice for me please ?   It's my neighbour  who is experienced  with arnica and comfrey uses and says not to give up on him I love him to pieces. I have a horrid feeling vets think I'm not being fair to my cat 😕

Hello and thankyou for this question, which boggles me slightly.  I have been a vet for a very long time without ever hearing of anyone refusing to treat a fracture due to age.  Interestingly however, you do not actually mention your cats' age.  Most commonly when a fracture is not repairable using plates etc it is because of other issues eg underlying / conflicting disease, cancer, instability (ie amputation would be better), the shape of the frature / leg, anaesthetic risk and so on.  Where the bones line up well, bandaging or casts can sometimes be used effectively.  However, it is important that appropriate care is taken to avoid pressure on the soft tissues and to ensure that the bones cannot move relative to one another, as well as ensuring that appropriate pain releif is given.  I agree that herbs can have pain killing abilities but comfrey can be toxic to cats, so I would strongly advise against giving it without your vets' instruction.  Furthermore, I do not feel that there is evidence behind it as reliable pain releif for a fracture.  I would therefore urge you to stop giving it until your vet has looked into this and, if all is well, asking for Opiates and anti-inflammatories.  In short, depending on when the fracture occured and how the cat is clinically, the wealfare position may not be satisfactory; that fracture may be causing your cat pain (again, Im not sure when it happened), their liver may be at risk from the comfrey (your vet will check this) and evidence-based treatment, based on your vets' examination findings, should be considered at all times.