Cat doesn't like tail after surgery

esecosky

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Hello,

My cat (8 year old) had a tail wound in mid march on the tip of her tail.  We tried to get it to heal on its own but was forced to amputate about 2 inches.  Its been 6 weeks since that surgery and the tail has healed and fur is mostly grown back.  She has had a cone on since the surgery last week started to remove it for a small period of time and worked our way to having to completely removed last Sunday.  It has been off for 6 days.  During this time, I noticed that she has been occasionally looking at her tail and then running away from it as though she was scared of it.  After inspecting the tail, there was nothing on it that could indicate irritation.  ie a scab.  I thought that she just needed to get used to the tail change and would get better.  Further in the week this continued and then started to affect her eating too.  She would try to eat with the cone off but then run away, in the midst of eating, from her tail again. 

Throughout the week, she was hiding under the bed and in odd areas.  However, she isn't being anitsocial but rather still affectionate, enjoys being petted, played with, and wants to constantly be around me.  Yesterday, she continued this behavior and was caught swatting at the tail several times.  The cone went back on last night in an attempt to calm her down.  It did and she slept well through the evening and the night.  This morning, in addition to the other behavior changes, she was swatting at the tail and bit it.  You can touch the tail and she doesn't flinch - so I don't think she is in pain.  She doesn't exhibit signs of pain either.  ie. being anti social, I took her to the ER, the same place where the tail was amputated, and they said this is common after a tail amputation and may be having neuropathic or phantom pain.  She received a shot for pain and sedation and sent home with a 7 day

dose of pain meds(gabapentin).  Later that evening, I noticed she was now trying to get to the tail, even with the cone on.  When the cone came off, she constantly looks at the tail and runs away.  I gave her a pain med pill and monitoring if it helps.  Its been two days with the pain meds and she is good as long as the cone is on but as soon as the cone comes off, she is looking at her tail and running away from it.

I wish she could speak and just tell me what the problem is so we can fix it - since she can't I am doing my best to watch and attempt to interpret her behavior and troubleshoot from there.

Is this common after a tail amputation?  Is she really having "phantom pain"?  Or is this psychological?  What else can I do to help her?
 

stephanietx

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This has to be worrisome.  I wish I could give you some words of advice, but I don't have experience with this.  Hopefully someone will come along shortly who can help you.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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There have been a couple other people here on TCS with the same issue, unfortunately, they never came back and said what the 'fix" was...One was asked just last week by someone else, but never responded


Gabapentin seems to be the normal drug for "phantom pain" in cases of amputation, but if that's not working, perhaps if your cat is the nervous type, she may need something like prozac or xanax or that type of drug to get her thru until she can deal with this change.  I'm not saying that for certain, but do know there are some cats that need those kind of meds to help with "issues". when they can't deal  (just like people).

I would have a heart to heart talk with my regular Vet about what's going on.
 
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esecosky

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Thanks for the replies - really appreciate it.  She has happy tail and sure that has something to do with it.  Today, she only had one pill for the whole day and was outside while I worked.  It seemed as though being outside was a great distractor for her as there were only a handful of times she focused on the tail but didn't run away or attack it.  My friend recommended going to see a Animal Intuitive Communication Consultant to see if they can read what she is feeling and going through.  for the small price it may be worth trying.  has anyone tried an Animal Intuitive Communication Consultant?
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I know of a few people here who have used Animal Communicators and truly believe in them.  Can't hurt, that's fur sure (IMHO).  I've toyed with the idea myself at times.
 
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