Broken Bones and Falls: Splint in 5 Minutes, Don't Reset

Numbers decide most fall injuries, not the bone you can see. A cat that fell 2 floors or more, or was hit at 30 km/h or faster, needs its gums and its breathing checked before anyone touches the leg. Splint the limb where the cat lies, keep the spine in 1 straight line, and carry the cat on a board at least 60 cm long. The first 60 minutes belong to shock, not to the fracture.

Do not reset, pull, or test the limb

A broken femur often looks like a limp with the hock dropped 1 to 2 cm, and a fractured pelvis looks like a cat that will not stand for 10 seconds. Rotating the leg 30 degrees to compare range of motion tells you nothing you can use and can cut the femoral artery that runs 1 to 2 cm behind the bone. A bone end through the skin is an open fracture: cover it with a 10 cm square of clean gauze, add a dry pad, and leave it. Never push it back in, because you drive dirt 2 to 3 cm into the tissue and turn a break that could be pinned into an infected one.

Splint with a rigid strip and a rolled towel

Use a wooden ruler, 3 layers of corrugated cardboard, a paint stirrer, or a 20 cm strip of plastic chopping board. The splint has to run 5 cm past the joint above the break and 5 cm past the joint below it, or the fracture moves inside the wrap. Pad it with a rolled hand towel at least 1 cm thick, so the padding fills the gap between a straight splint and a curved leg. Wrap from the toes upward with self-adhesive bandage, tight enough to hold and loose enough that 2 fingers slide under the wrap. Keep the toe pads visible and check them every 15 minutes for the first 2 hours, then every 30 minutes. Swelling, cold pads, or a colour change means the wrap is too tight: unwrap for 2 minutes and rewrap looser. A 3 kg cat takes a wrap about 2 cm wide and a 6 kg cat about 3 cm.

Carry the cat flat, spine in 1 line

Slide a board of at least 60 by 40 cm, a baking tray, or a folded ironing board under the cat without lifting the body first. Tape or wrap at the chest and at the hips, 2 straps minimum, so the body cannot twist. Keep the head within 5 degrees of the spine line instead of letting it hang over the edge. Do not scruff a cat that fell from height, because scruffing pulls the neck 20 to 30 degrees into extension and can worsen a cervical injury. With 2 people, one holds the head end and one the tail end, and both walk at the same pace for the 20 to 30 seconds it takes to reach the car.

Falls hide a split palate and air in the chest

A cat that lands chin first often splits the roof of the mouth. Suspect it when blood appears at the nose with no nose wound, when water comes back through the nostrils 5 to 10 seconds after a drink, or when swallowing makes a click. A cleft palate needs surgery within 24 to 48 hours; a bowl raised 10 cm off the floor or a syringe buys hours, not days. Air around the lungs is the other silent killer: a rib edge tears the lung, air leaks into the chest, and the lung loses 30 to 50 percent of its volume before the cat looks distressed. Breathing faster than 40 per minute at rest, elbows held out at 45 degrees, and a belly that works hard while the rib cage barely moves all point to it. Both problems are invisible from outside and both worsen within 6 hours.

Shock: pale gums, refill over 2 seconds, rate over 200

A normal adult cat runs 140 to 220 beats per minute and a kitten 220 to 260. A rate above 200 with pale gums, ear tips 2 to 3 degrees cooler than the belly, and a capillary refill over 2 seconds is shock, and shock kills faster than the fracture. Press a finger on a gum until it whitens and count: colour should return in 1 to 2 seconds, and 3 seconds or more is a red flag. Wrap the cat in a blanket, put a hot water bottle at 40 °C under a folded towel, and give nothing by mouth. The window from injury to intravenous fluids is usually under 60 minutes, and a shocked 4 kg cat may take 40 to 80 ml in the first 20 minutes, which is 10 to 20 ml per kg.

Injury, splint length, and recheck interval

Injury	Splint length (cm)	Recheck (min)	Never
Front leg fracture	25, from shoulder to toes	15	Pull the leg straight to compare length
Back leg fracture	30, past the knee joint	15	Splint over a bleeding wound
Open fracture	30 plus a 10 cm gauze square	10	Push the bone end back under the skin
Suspect spinal injury	60 flat board, 2 straps	5	Scruff, bend, or let the cat twist
Suspect broken ribs	0, no wrap at all	5	Tape the chest tight

Pain relief is not a home job

A single 500 mg paracetamol tablet is 125 mg per kg in a 4 kg cat, more than 10 times the dose that destroys feline red blood cells, and one 200 mg ibuprofen tablet is 50 mg per kg, enough to injure the kidneys. Clinic pain relief starts within 15 to 20 minutes of arrival, using drugs dosed at 0.1 to 0.3 mg per kg that a cat can clear.

The car ride

Put the board on the back seat with a person beside it, or fold the seats flat. Call the clinic while you drive and give 5 facts: the fall height in metres or floors, the surface, the time of the fall, the breathing rate you counted over 30 seconds, and whether the cat has stayed conscious. A cat that fell from a third-floor window, about 9 m, and walks away still needs a chest X-ray and a mouth exam within 6 hours, because internal injury shows up late. Hold the car at 22 to 24 °C with the windows shut; a stressed cat in a 30 °C parked car overheats in 10 minutes.

The triage logic is the same for a high-rise fall and for a cat hit by car, and gums that stay pale after either one should be read against the signs of anemia in cats.

Do this now

1. Look at the gums before the leg, and note the colour against a white page.
2. Cover any open wound with a 10 cm gauze square and leave the bone where it is.
3. Splint 5 cm past both joints, then check the toes every 15 minutes.
4. Slide a 60 cm board under the cat, use 2 straps, keep the head within 5 degrees of the spine.
5. Call ahead with the height, the time, and a 30-second breath count.

Frequently asked