My cats tail will not heal...

Well, I'm at work and really don't have much time to type, so I'll try to keep this pretty short.

A few months ago, my cat would constantly chase after his tail each day. Nothing really weird for a cat, but he never really did it much before. We then went to Ocean City, MD for the weekend about a week later, and came home only to find blood all over our bed room walls and furniture. We then found out that he had somehow managed to slice open his tail. Nobody knows how this happened, but we were worried regardless.

So, after going to the vet numerous times, and him constantly trying to attack it(with a collar guard or not!), it still has yet to fully heal. I got a call from my wife today saying he had partially hurt it again, and we're running out of options. I don't want him to lose his tail, and even then they say that might not stop him from going crazy over it.

The thing that is strange, is his tail starts to twitch every time before he goes after it, as if something is biting him(but nothing is there) or he has nerve damage somehow. The vets keep saying it just needs to heal, but it can't heal if he doesn't leave it alone. And short of the protective collar, they haven't done much to help prevent him from getting it.

My wife is taking him to the vet again tomorrow, but we simply don't have the money to continue taking him in for visits to hear the same damn thing over and over again from the vet. Especially with Christmas around the corner, we need money to buy atleast SOME presents for people.

This is my first pet of any kind that I've ever been responsible for, and I refuse to let him go. He's about 3 years old, a very large cat(not fatty large, just BIG. People call him a miniature panther!). I'm very worried about his tail, and his health in general. But is there nothing they can do other than throw a collar on his head and say hope it gets better???

I am not a vet nor do I claim to be any type of expert on the topic, but what you are describing sounds a lot like feline hyperesthesia ... I found a couple of good links for you to check out, maybe the information contained there will be of assistance to you:

http://www.petplace.com/cats/feline-...sia/page1.aspx

http://www.lclarkecushingvmd.com/sho...=178&Private=0

Hoping for the best for you and for your little guy,

GayeF

Thanks a ton for the links Gayef. I had heard of this before, but had never really payed enough attention to the symptoms. This certainly has opened my eyes to the possibility that he is suffering from this. I'll mention it to my vet tomorrow.

Thanks again!

You are most certainly welcome! I sincerely hope you can get to the bottom of this issue quickly and easily. Let us know how it goes?

~gf~

MIL has a cat that will attack his tail viciously. I had the vet look him over in the past and she had no idea what the problem could be, but at the time gave me some Valium to help calm him because he had bitten into his tail and gotten an abcess. We only tried that for a very few days as MIL and I neither one liked seeing the poor cat drugged like that.

That being said, I'm going to suggest you talk to your vet about something to calm the cat at least till his tail heals. Maybe even some Rescue Remedy, Feliway, something not too potent, but enough to help the poor guy be a little calmer.

I know the agony of seeing your fur-baby hurt himself like that. I looked up info on it some years back, but it looks like the vet world has been busy since I last looked.

I wish you luck with this and hope you can get your little guy healed.

Well, I just spoke with my wife. She made an appointment to see the owner of the place so that we could get some real help for once. He said that even though at one point his tail had completely healed, there was simply too much nerve damage for him to leave it alone, which was why he kept attacking it. He doesn't believe he has any type of mental or physical sickness other than the injury, so luckily the above mentioned illness is not a problem here. However, they will have to amputate part of his tail(more than likely all of it) on Monday when he goes in for surgery.

It's only going to cost about $200 total to have the surgery done with the medicine and all, so that isn't too bad. I hate to think about money when my cat is in this much pain, but at some point it affects you. They said he'll take about a month for heal(he's been stuck inside for 2 months, so that's no biggy at this point). He'll take pain medication to help him along the way as well. They also said at times he may try and get after it as if his tail is still there, but obviously he can't do any more damage because it won't be there.

After the month or so of healing, they said he should be back to normal without any long-term side effects. So while he won't look quite the same, atleast he'll be alive and healthy...and able to go outside and bring home dead animals for me again after beating up on the neighbors German Sheppard.

Thanks to all that gave me advice here, and I certainly now know where to go when I'm in need of help. Thanks to all! Have a great weekend and a blessed holiday!

enforcer_upu said:

Thanks a ton for the links Gayef. I had heard of this before, but had never really payed enough attention to the symptoms. This certainly has opened my eyes to the possibility that he is suffering from this. I'll mention it to my vet tomorrow.

Thanks again!

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I'm having similar issues with my cat. She had her tail caught in a door over 2 months ago. We've been using an e collar since it first happened. She has it wrapped. Its been uncovered a few times and that's when she reopens the wound. She behaves the same way as you wrote about your cat. Twitching and getting aggressive with her tail. Anyways, I realize this happened many years ago but I would love to know how things ended up. Did your cat eventually leave the tail alone and it healed. If so, how?? Looking for answers. Thanks!!!