Possible broken tail

I found another thread on here addressing tail issues and read through it but none of it seemed relevant so I'm starting new.

For the record: I AM taking my cat to the vet. She's GOING. I'm trying to determine how soon I should take her. Is this an emergency or something that can wait for an appointment?

I've had her since 2008 when I was married to a man in the Navy, living in Hawaii. She just started coming in our house as soon as we moved in and we found out from neighbor's that the people who lives there before us left her when they moved. So now, she's indoor/outdoor. And she's a genius so I can't keep her fully inside, I've tried. She's smarter than I am apparently.

I know she was inside last night, I saw her sleeping on the top of a shelt I built for the cats to climb on. And I remember letting her out around 6:30 this morning when I went outside to have my morning coffee. Then around 9:30 I noticed she was missing fur on her tail.
In a straight line, no skin missing, no broken skin or blood, just fur missing.

She had been sitting on top of the truck and jumped down on her own but when I called her over she was dragging her tail and meowed a few times (nothing alarming-sounding but she is a pretty silent cat so it's unusual for her). She'll let me touch it but I can tell she's in pain. I can't find any kinks or bumps I've read described in other threads. She's walking fine and from what I can tell, eating and drinking. Haven't observed her trying to use the litterbox yet. As of now she's sleeping it off in my bedroom.

My major dilemma here is that I have one elderly cat that I just took into the vet ($) and I have one cat with chronic bladder issues that is due for a checkup that I was planning on scheduling this week ($$). I normally wouldn't hesitate to take her in but it's like everyone is sick or hurt or due for a checkup all at once!

If this is something I absolutely NEED to take her in for as an emergency I will, but I'll have to borrow money because this will require X-rays and (from what I've read) possible amputation at worse.

Can it wait until my vet calls me back for an appt? I've already called to schedule one, but had to leave a message.

Sorry for any typos- posting from my phone.

Okay, I finally spoke to our vet and they said I could bring her in first thing tomorrow morning, after describing what's going on. I'd still like to hear from anyone who's had similar experiences though, my brain is flooded with worst-case-scenarios.

That's got to be scary.  Is she inside for the day?  Maybe it's just hurt and not broken.  Let us know what you find out in the morning at the vet.

Aw, poor thing.  I do think it's urgent that she be seen, so I'm glad you're going in the morning.  Cats are so good at hiding pain.  Please let us know what the vet says!

Other than pain meds, I don't think there's much they can do for a broken tail.  It will heal on its own in a week or so.  Let us know what your vet says.  Poor kitty.

I can't believe this is happening to THIS cat. I might expect accidents for my others but she's so careful and graceful, I just can't figure out how this happened. The vet was just as baffled when he looked at it. Didn't even need x-rays, he showed me where to feel and her tail wasn't even attached to her spine. She wasn't in too much pain last night, she slept at the foot of the bed. She's having it removed this morning. Ugh. I know she'll be fine, but she's my bad*ss cat! Maybe it'll give her a cool scar and story to tell later about how tough she is. 

So glad you brought her in! That must have been painful.

I feel so damn guilty, especially because I can't imagine how painful it must have been when it happened and that it took me a minute to notice something was wrong. I would use this as a PSA for why everyone should keep their cats inside. I'd keep her inside if I could. Our house was built in the 60s and hasn't had much work done (we rent), so there are all these little nooks and crannies she seems to find to CLIMB THROUGH THE WALLS and escape through the attic. She's a freaking evil genius, lol. 

I'll update once she's home if there's any more news for anyone who's interested. 

Please do update! Best of thoughts to both of you.

@angelamariebee don't beat yourself up about this. Things happen. The good news is that she's getting the medical care she needs and she'll continue to live a great life with you.

She's doing better than I am at this point. She's alert and eating and doesn't seem to be in too much pain right now. I, on the other hand, have a killer migraine from worry-grinding my teeth all day. :/

She gets stitches out in two weeks. The vet said once he actually opened up her tail there was a lot of trauma that wasn't visible just by looking at it. Lots of bruising. He thinks she probably had her tail run over.

I think once her fur grows back and she's all healed she'll pull of the tail-less look flawlessly.

Breathe! It'll be okay.  Get some rest and you'll have a whole new perspective in the morning.