Kitten getting her tail docked...

I have a 13-14 week old kitten. We found her about 2-3 weeks ago in the middle of the road. She had been run over and had a broken leg. At the time the vet didn't notice her tail had a scratch on it, and I didn't think anything of it. She was on pain meds and anti-inflammatories for the broken leg which hid the sore on her tail. Two weeks later the little scratch has turned into a massive infection (her tail is probably broken as well). The vet said there is nothing to do other than to dock the tail.

Finally, my question. I am going in Monday for the surgery. Would it be best to try and leave the tail as long as possible? Or dock it more like an american bobtail? I know they use their tails for balance, but will having half a tail make a difference versus a short docked tail?

Thanks for reading!!

Aww, poor little one. How's the leg healing?

I think you answered your own question, half a tail's gotta be better for balance than almost no tail. I would leave it as long as possible. Why would you want to go shorter if you don't have to?

Good luck

I am for leaving as much of the tail as possible. Poor baby - I am glad you found her and are taking care of her!

I'd leave as much as you can, but your vet will know how much can safely be left without risking leaving the infection.

Our Freya came to us with an abcess on her tail that had actually killed off 3/4 of the tail - she had it amputated to about 2 inches. The good news is that it doesn't bother her at all. She still moves it around to balance and can jump into plenty of places that she isn't supposed to go .

I remember growing up that one of my mom's friends had a cat with half of a tail... I used to make up stories about what happened to the other half!

I would definitely ask them to save as much as possible, without risking continued infection.

Given that she's so young, she shouldn't have much problem adapting no matter what length it's amputated to - but the more you can leave without risking leaving the infection, the better.

Your vet will determine the best approach. Cats are highly adaptive and can do fine without a tail.

Carly came to us with a tail injury. She had no control or feeling from the base of the tail to the tip. We decided to remove the entire tail because she ran the risk of reinjuring it without knowing it. We knew it was bad when DH was standing on it and she was oblivious.

The vet removed the tail to the base. She left enough to give her a little stump.

This is her after the surgery.
The hair has grown back and she now has a cute little butt. She has no problems with jumping up on things and no balance problems.

We also had a Manx who we lost last year. Much actually was a very good jumper and again, no balance problems.

Growing up, we had a tom cat (named, creatively, "Thomas" LOL) who lost his tail in a fight. He actually came home with it hanging half off and it fell the rest of the way off on the way to the vet as he wriggled around. I still cringe to think of it, but he lived a good long time afterwards and was a great cat!

There are some species of cats that do not have tails, and they do not appear to be significantly hampered in agility, and are in fact excellent hunters.

The Japanese Bobtail is a naturally evolved breed of domestic cat in Japan that has only a short stump of a tail for example.

Personally, I would dock it leaving a little stump for aesthetics.

Thanks for all the replies!
@ Milu- Her leg is actually healing very well! They didn't even need to cast it, and it doesn't seem to bother her very much. She still runs around and causes trouble

I am just so worried about her. It just seems to be one thing after another, I just want her to be happy and healthy! I just want to do everything I can for her, but I know so little about cats :/.

Her surgery is tomorrow at 3, I'm so nervous. I'll ask the vet what he thinks is best, she'll probably have about a 4" tail. I just hope she isn't to mad at me after all this

Aww, she won't be mad at all. Once she is all healed up, pain free and healthy, she will love you even more.