Maine Coon broke 2 hips in 2 weeks. The breed is susceptible to Perthes disease.

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We know that Maine Coon cats are predisposed through inheritance to develop hip dysplasia. It is a major problem with this breed. However, there is another but slightly different hip disease called Perthes disease. It is also called 'Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease'. It is a hereditary disease and it affects humans as well. It affects children.

Maine Coon broke his hip twice in 2 weeks. They are susceptible to Perthes disease
 Maine Coon broke his hip twice in 2 weeks. They are susceptible to Perthes disease. This is the cat. Sad. I hope he improves after surgery. Image: Reddit.com.

If the blood supply is cut off to the hip joint which describes what happens in Perthes disease, the head of the femur which goes into the socket of the hip degenerates and the bone dies as does the surrounding cartilage.

The joint can't function anymore because of the misshapen femoral head and this is, as mentioned, Perthes disease.

Like I said, it is very similar to hip dysplasia. As I understand it, they are to different diseases however but the symptoms are going to be similar such as:

  • Limping
  • Progressive lameness
  • pain
  • decreased movement
  • reluctance to jump or play
  • abnormal gait
  • irritability because of the pain
  • the joint may click
  • the cat may lick the affected joint
  • one leg might be shorter than the other

The idea for writing this article comes from a social media (Reddit.com) posting by a lady who lives with a Maine Coon cat - see the image above.

Her title to her post is a bit shocking: My boy (not even two years old) has broken 2 hips in 2 weeks.

She says that she doesn't know how he incurred the first hip breakage. He is an indoor cat and there's not much to get hurt on. He likes to climb which is typical of all cats including Maine Coons. He may have jumped from a platform that is too high and he does run around a lot so he could have banged into something.

Apparently, he did bang into something and she thought that it wasn't too big an impact so she believes that there is a weakness in the joint which is correct.

Well, they are, this is another apparently inherited disease which can be suffered by a Maine Coon cat. He had surgery and it is going you damned tough for both cat and caregiver after the surgery. This is what she said.

So, he gets his second operation today, exactly 2 weeks after the first one. He’ll be crated for the foreseeable, but given he hates sitting still and doesn’t seem capable of it, it’s going to be a long few month’s trying to keep him quiet and still long enough to heal. Wish me luck!

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