Thought I’d pass along a brief update on my declaw kitty from last week’s post. I saw him again today for the same problem—apparent discomfort in his feet post-declaw. This time Kitty walked for me and showed me exactly what I’d been waiting to see: his limp.

Sometimes it’s hard for an owner to identify exactly where the problem lies, especially in our stealthy-moving cats—they hide everything. And cats don’t exactly act normally in our offices, so vets aren’t easily rewarded with an obvious limp. But Kitty’s problem wasn’t the norm—it was easy to spot as long as he put some weight on it.

The bad news is that I caused Kitty’s limp—directly and unequivocally. His whole wrist, the carpus joint, is visibly extended with each weight-bearing step he takes on it. In other words, his wrist sinks down lower on the left than on the right—and so he limps.

The good news is that Kitty’s lameness has nothing to do with pain, as I’d suspected last week after aggressively palpating it. Ironically, the limp has everything to do with having no pain.

So how did I manage this disaster? If truth be told, it’s because I was too accurate with my nerve block. A nerve block is when you inject the area around the nerve with bupivicaine, a local anesthetic. 99.99% of the time you won’t hit the nerve (it’s so tiny). But sometimes…lightning strikes.

The good news is twofold: 1-Kitty felt no pain on that foot for several days (he couldn’t feel it at all after such a direct hit to the nerve), so he likely never felt pain after the procedure (on the left side side, that is). 2-Kitty will be OK in a matter of weeks. No permanent damage is expected after these accidents. 3-Even if Kitty’s owner chooses to get nasty and hire a lawyer, I’m safe: The injury occurred as a direct result of observing higher than normal standards for declawing. It’s considered unavoidable—and rare.

The owner? He’s taking it OK, I guess, but he’s hard to read. For the record, I did say I was sorry. I think that always helps owners to accept the situation more readily—regardless of whether some people think you accept blame when you do so.

Oh well, no one ever said medicine was perfect. And I certainly never said I was, either (though I am a good shot with a loaded syringe).