at a loss as what happened and what to do!!

ok il try to be short. my 1 year old cat kilo who up until now has been normal, a little on the hyper side and loves to stalk and plays more then anything just like always..ok now a week ago for reasons that or obsolete right now we were running low on money and could not get kilos revolution .and trust me if i had known now what could happen i would never had done this, i bought a flea color,, k he had had a bath the week before and i notice a few fleas and some flea dirt, ok anyways we put the collar on him of course he didnt like it he hates his regular collar lol, i went to work that day and the next when i got home on the second day he seemed agitated he got some lovins and seemed calmer that was around 2 in the afternoon my daughter informed me she caught him licking the collar so we removed it, around 7 or 8 that night he comins running into my room and literally climbs me his tail dripping blood! i though oh my god some thing got dropped on his tail unfortunately that would have been better, i caught him attacking his tail a few minutes later,called the vet it was sat. night they said keep him calm and keep it clean till monday well it ended up being tues. when they saw him i informed them about the flea collar and also told them he had never doen anything like this before, she thought maybe nerve damage kept him overnight and gave him pain meds and anti anxiety. they thought about takin his whole tail but they did some touch tests and found he had complete feeling in the whole tail later they gave him another pain shot another anti anxiety shot and sent him home and said to keep an eye on him which i have totally done, 3 days later,actually just this past sat. night he came high tailing into my room again and was dripping blood even worse so wrapped his tail and held him down called the vet again they said wait til mon. so now 3 hours to go no sleep for me and some sleep for kilo as long as hes held and stroked....ok thats up until this minute now ive been online for the past 5 hours trying to figure out whats the hell happened to my cat i know it has got to be that flea collar the vet said they werent sure the first time..ive talked to aproximately 20 people and have heard how bad flea collars can be and even some they say it sounds like hyperesthesia... he is hyperactive but has never shown any type of aggression towards people or animals let alone hisself.... some say it was the collar and that he will leave it alone after awhile well the tip has to be removed about 1 in is bone ive kept it wrapped and it hasnt bled all day sun but he also has been penned up and held most of the day he is constantly wanting human interaction which he was always a touch me cat but this is more like a help me thing...omg im rambling again!!.ok does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? some have said since the tip has to be removed we should do the whole tail and thats what the vet said too. and others say try meds but even after the diazapam or however u spell it shot he was still very agitated and tail twitchin alot and would stare evily at the tail if it caught his attention, which lead some to say he may never leave it alone idk what to do and would like some serious input....until revolution came out we used flea powder and just this once i f*cked up and tried a collar im so so sorrry! please help i know u guys arent vets but maybe someone has seen or delt with this before and can give me pros and cons i do know that if amputation is the only way i will do it and only once i read about people doing up 3 times trying to get it to stop but i wont do that to kilo thats horrible one surgery would be bad but 2 and 3 no i wont do it please help if u can!!

thanks and sorry so long

If he was mine I'd be hoping it would be OK if the damaged areas were removed, but they would have to go back far enough to get enough healthy skin to close and I have no idea if that would leave just a stump for your cat.  The bottom line for me is that I trust my vets,I would take their advice. 

As I see it only removing the minimum to get a good surgical result has the advantage he might be left with more of a tail, removing it all has the advantage of just one operation - and just one bill, if that's an issue.  I don't know if doing the minimal op and him messing with it again would leave the vet in a position where it's very hard to do a second op.

I am so sorry your cat has experienced this terrible episode and I hope he recovers fully. Flea collars have been proved to be very dangerous to many cats, causing fits, aggression, and even cancer. I think I lost a cat once with tumours on his neck because he had been wearing one for years.

I have no real advice to give, sadly. Your vet is obviously doing all he can, and you are trying to protect the cat from damaging his tail further. Maybe a plastic cone collar would stop him reaching it? It is a caution to all cat owners to never use these collars, or any other flea treatments that are not obtained through a vet (Hartz flea powders have also been responsible for deaths and poisoning in cats) . But you did not know, and I hope the consequencees are not permanent. Please let us know how it goes

ive noticed hes not so obessed with it the last 5 hrs or so ive held him the whole time though so lol its only when he moves his tail and it touches something that he gets twitchy...i do know he has never had any of this behavior before the collar so im hopin it can be resolved with a bath and maybe something to keep him calm...maybe it wont be permanent i am afraid the vet is going to be quick to remove the tail and id really like to see if meds would help til healed but i cant spend every minute of every day keepin my eyes on him only i dont work alot but i have the kids and other pets and thats busy busy busy all the time, my kids have been really helpful the last week they even decided to give up their trip to the county fair so we could pay kilos first vet bill my mom has decided to help with this one which is awesome... but if it comes down to another surgery idk what we will do to pay for...maybe pawn my van lol idk might if i have too!! thanks so much

amanda wininger said:

ive noticed hes not so obessed with it the last 5 hrs or so ive held him the whole time though so lol its only when he moves his tail and it touches something that he gets twitchy...i do know he has never had any of this behavior before the collar so im hopin it can be resolved with a bath and maybe something to keep him calm...maybe it wont be permanent i am afraid the vet is going to be quick to remove the tail and id really like to see if meds would help til healed but i cant spend every minute of every day keepin my eyes on him only i dont work alot but i have the kids and other pets and thats busy busy busy all the time, my kids have been really helpful the last week they even decided to give up their trip to the county fair so we could pay kilos first vet bill my mom has decided to help with this one which is awesome... but if it comes down to another surgery idk what we will do to pay for...maybe pawn my van lol idk might if i have too!! thanks so much

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All I can do is offer good vibes.  I sure do hope this works out well.  In this case I would have to put my trust in my veterinarian.  But that's me.

A few questions:

What brand was the flea collar?

What part of his tail is getting bitten/bloody?

If he's biting at the base of the tail, are you sure that fleas haven't moved there and that's why he's biting it?

I'm so sorry this is happening to your Kilo!

it was hartz and it was the tip of his tail both of the vets at our clinic agreed the total amputation would be better then partial, the one i normaly see was all for anti anxiety meds but the other doesnt think anything will ever stop the behavior and tried to get me to put him to sleep... well he is willing to do the meds he just isnt sure which one yet. he brought up prozac and ive read about it its the one ive read the most about... anyways he comes home tomorrow...

Hartz is totally known for things like this. Not many people know this, but Hartz flea products (collars and drops) have killed numerous kitties and doggies! Tell your vet it was a Hartz product right away!!! Hope that all goes well hon.
http://www.hartzvictims.org/
http://www.hartzkills.org/
http://www.hartzproducts.org/
http://hartzkills.wordpress.com/tag/hartz-dangerous/