Yesterday, our black cat (Shadow) got back home from surgury to repair a "blown knee" -- the true knee (not the ankle) broke and part of a ligament sliced in two. So I have a black cat with a white cast on her left hind leg, and she was hobbling and flopping all over the upstairs, and I had to stay up until Dad came in and took over for me.
Today, we installed some emergency gating that she could never climb, so she could be put in the hallway outside. *UGH*