Cuddly cat now growling when picked up or leg touched

Hi, sorry me again (these animals will turn me grey I swear). My cat, he has a small limp with his back leg this morning. He has eaten some food and gone to curl up to have a nap. Now I don’t know if this happened last night as I didn’t see him when he came back indoors (partner stays up to let them in) or this morning when I let him outside for a wee (he was outside for all of 5 minutes, I’m in the UK so no snakes etc). He’s normally cuddly and loves being picked up but this morning I tried to pick him up and he growled and hissed, I then noticed his limp. I tried looking at the leg, feel for any lumps etc and he growled. There is 2 small sections of fur that are clumped together (imagine hard setting hair gel or glue in the hair) so I can’t see if there are any wounds, it doesn’t look bloody though. He’s only 2 years old so very young. When I pet him elsewhere he nuzzles my hand and purrs/squeaks as normal but his leg seems to be a no go area. I aim to keep an eye on it but I wondered if this warrants an immediate vet visit or would a case of monitoring to see if it’s more a case of a sprain from jumping awkwardly would be ok for now?

Hello - you should always ask your vet to triage such cases, as they will have criteria as to what they consider an emergency and now may be the last time they are open over the weekend.  For me, limping usually implies pain so pain releif and an examination may be warranted.

Hey, thank you for responding so quickly. I called the vet and they said to monitor until Monday, unless he has significant changes like doesn’t eat at all, gets lethargic etc. thank you again!