Serious tail injury
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 5:54 pm
Can anyone advise me? My cat George has a serious tail injury and the vet thinks she is probably going to have to amputate it! He was fine when I left for work on Tuesday morning but when I came home in the evening he was in obvious pain and hadn't touched the food I'd left for him. His tail was just hanging down limp. He had pain at the very base of his tail (both me and the vet agree) but no sensation or movement in the rest of it. I don't know what has happened to him ?Another cat, ?a car, ? ?a nasty person. I took him to the vet straight away and she gave him painkillers.
By Wednesday morning it was moving very slightly and he was no longer in pain. Two vets have seen him since and both think he has 'tail pull injury' and the nerve has been damaged. They don't think there is a fracture or other bony injury and don't want to X-ray to make sure because they think it very unlikely in George's case and because he is 15 years old with dodgy kidneys they don't want to risk the anaesthetic.
the vets have told me to keep him inside because of the risk of further injury but I can't do that as he will go bonkers (he's always loved the great outdoors) and I also have another cat so I need to leave the catflap open for him (I work full time so can't be there to act as doorman).
There is some movement in it now (not much though) and he isn't in pain but the vet wants to leave it a couple of months then amputate if it hasn't improved because of the risk of him getting it trapped because he can't feel or move it.
Does anyone have any experience of this? Should I let the vet amputate? He seems fine in himself at the moment and I'm guessing amputation will bring its own list of complications. I just want to do the right thing and not make matters worse for him.
By Wednesday morning it was moving very slightly and he was no longer in pain. Two vets have seen him since and both think he has 'tail pull injury' and the nerve has been damaged. They don't think there is a fracture or other bony injury and don't want to X-ray to make sure because they think it very unlikely in George's case and because he is 15 years old with dodgy kidneys they don't want to risk the anaesthetic.
the vets have told me to keep him inside because of the risk of further injury but I can't do that as he will go bonkers (he's always loved the great outdoors) and I also have another cat so I need to leave the catflap open for him (I work full time so can't be there to act as doorman).
There is some movement in it now (not much though) and he isn't in pain but the vet wants to leave it a couple of months then amputate if it hasn't improved because of the risk of him getting it trapped because he can't feel or move it.
Does anyone have any experience of this? Should I let the vet amputate? He seems fine in himself at the moment and I'm guessing amputation will bring its own list of complications. I just want to do the right thing and not make matters worse for him.