Hello, on christmas day, I found a cat outside in the rain/cold. He was extremely skinny, I could see/feel every bone in his body, he was shivering & crying. I brought him in. & bathed him & fed him. He has put on some weight since then & is all around an amazing lovable cat. Yesterday he started limping on his front paw. I am pretty sure it is sprained from playing with my much larger full grown cat. I keep feeling it & do not feel anything out of place/”crunchy” & it does not seem to be swollen. I have been putting an ice pack on his leg 2x a day for 15 mins at a time. Times are tough right now & I can not afford vet cate at the moment. I just need advice on what I can do to help him. My children and I have grown very attached to him & he is the sweetest most cuddly boy.

Teddy sprained something in his left hind leg about 3 weeks ago. He is a standard golden doodle, weighing 72 lbs, and before this injury, was having a hard time getting up at the end of the day, from lying on the floor. The vet said, without x rays, that Teddy has arthritis in his back legs, even though he is young for this, at 5. I’ve been giving him Dasequin, 2x a day for this. I thought he was starting to improve, when he took a bad step, running up some stairs into the house from outside. He let out a yelp, then cried for less than half a minute, and would not put his left rear foot on the floor. Eventually, he did try putting the foot down, and walking on it, but immediately picked his foot up again, and would not use that leg. I took him to the vet, who x rayed Teddy’s back legs and hips. Everything, bones and joints, looked normal and healthy. The diagnosis was a sprain, and I was given a bottle of carprofen to give Teddy, 2x a day. Teddy now is using his leg, but with a slight limp. I have taken him out of doggy day care, where he was going twice a week, to play with other dogs. I didn’t want to risk the sprain getting worse. I’ve also been taking him out on a leash, to potty, and for short walks for exercise. At the end of the day, however, he is obviously sore, and has a harder time getting up from lying on the floor. He is back to getting onto the couch, but can’t climb on the bed yet.
He’s also very bored, as I won’t play fetch with him (I don’t want him running on that leg yet), and is probably depressed at not seeing his doggy daycare friends. Poor guy won’t play with his toys, and now is turning up his nose at everything but treats. He will eat breakfast-at about 5 pm, then wants more kibble at bedtime. I’ve been reducing the amount of kibble late at night, and giving him apple slices and carrot sticks for treats.
So….how long will this sprain take to heal? How long until I can let Teddy go outside, and let him run around as he usually does? And, how long before I can let him go back to doggy daycare?