I think my cat may have a broken tail...

Just wanted to add that I read your original post wrong (oops). I was thinking with was at the tip of the tail. But, what you describe is a 'bump' at the base of the tail. How big is the bump?

I think it sounds more like an abcess (or something similar) than a tail break. For your cat to break their tail at the base, I think in most cases you would KNOW it happened immediately. They would be in pain.

Btw, I had a cat that had an abcess in the same area (I think it is common for some reason), but don't beat yourself up because they can come on gradually...so it would take a while to notice.

I definitely think your cat needs to be seen by the vet.

Please keep us updated.

WOW this is an OLD thread!! hehe, I hope everyone figured out the problems with their cats tails and they are all okay now since it has been a year and a half. To the newer posters, good luck and I hope your cats all turn out okay! If in doubt, take the cat to a vet! You can also start a new thread too instead of bringing up such an old one.

LOL, I didn't notice the date of the thread when I read it. I wonder what ended up being the problem?

Originally Posted by catpersonguy

Can anyone help? I accidentally slammed my cat's tail in a swinging wooden door. It's not as serious as the injuries I have read about, because only the last three inches of the tail seem to be drooping a little bit. I am wondering if a cat's tail usually does that, and if I should take the cat to the vet.

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IMO, you should absolutely take your cat to the vet. I'm sure it's quite painful, and maybe the vet can help him with that His tail should definitely not be drooping!

I realise that this is an old thread, but I would like to add that anyone who thinks their cat may have broken anything, however minor the injury appears to the untrained eye, should take it to the vet.

With any broken or fractured bone, however small the break, there is a risk of infection in the bone, and also a risk that blood circulation could be compromised in the affected limb due to tissue swelling. This can lead to gangrene, septicaemia, and death if untreated.

This may sound alarmist, but only the vet can determine which course of treatment is appropriate, and if there is a break or fracture, even if the bone cannot be set, antibiotics will probably be prescribed to prevent infection, and if there is swelling, a steroid or other anti-inflammatory to reduce the swelling so that blood can continue to deliver oxygen to the affected limb.

Mistletoe is now 10 yrs old but as a kitten he injured his tail. We did end up having to have part of the tail amputated. To this day he does not like his tail to be touched. My husband says he's just embarassed because his tail is so short.

hey everyone! hopefully their cat is better!!

BUT this just recently happened to one of my cats as well....

i noticed her tail was dragging behind her.. which is NOT a good sign to begin with, so you should take your cat to the vet soon after noticing that... and thennnn i noticed her urnating without control... she didnt even notice she was doing it...poor thing... i noticed her private area, and it was swolen.. i first thought maybe she couldve been raped by some larger animal (bc shes a tiny lil thing) and i thought thats how she messed up her tail, and bc the other animal was bigger than her, he rearranged her organs...

BUT the vet said that either she got caught under a garage door (her tail) and pulled it out which dislocated her tail outa socket or been hit/abused by someone else or by getting her tail caught in the fence.. (from jumping over) and bc of any of the reasons above, she pulled it so hard, it pulled her bladder outa its place too... so basically shes paralized.. but everything seems normal and the cat seems perfect

this is bc she does not feel a thing.. she doesnot know when she has to urinate, so when her bladder fillls up, it just empties on its own.. ANYWHERE...

you can get the vet to squeeze it out.. but ONLY a TRAINED PERSON should do it bc if not, the bladder will explode.. and if none of this is checked right away, her insides/organs are being destroyed by the acids from the urine...

there is no surgical procedure that can be done... i am heart broken about my cat for going through this right now. and i am suggesting to just put diapers on her...

i would rather put that on her than put her to sleep for something that is uncontrollable.. esp bc she is still young..

good luck to all of you with your precious ones

and hopefully my love will do fine

ohhh and another thing... just bc the tail is limp/dislocated.. GO TO THE VET so they can place it back in before anything worse happens

I hope Nigh-Time shows improvement soon. I agree with hissy though, that if things deteriorate in a couple days he should go in and have an xray.

My cat is having the same problem. She has a bump about 2 inches up from the base of her tail that is very sensitive to touch. She will meow and run away if you try to feel it. It hasn't grown in size, but is about half the size of a golf ball. She doesn't have any bathroom troubles, but she has been laying low for a few days. Definatel not running around with her tail up in the air!! Seems like all she really does is eat, sleep,or just lay somewhere. I feel so bad, cause she looks like she hurts.
I am kinda avoiding the vet, cause last time I took her, cause she was acting like she had distemper, just being crazy for about three days. He looked at her, did nothing, sent her home with me, and gave me over a hundred dollar bill, just to do nothing to her and say she was fine.
I am thinking either she got it caught in a door or its an absess, which I am putting antibiotic ointment on for. But I can't seem to keep a bandage on it. My mom works at the vets office out in oregon, so she kinda helps tell me what I should do.

My cat Charlie was probably hoofed by someone when he entered his backyard. The poor cat now seems to have a dislocated or broken tail . I checked to see if it wasn't hot. He seems to be in pain. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow. Any suggestions on other things to do to keep him happy while his tail is healing (Other the hoofing the person who kicked him )? Please PM me!

Hello,
I'm new to this site. My name is Rich. Its a great place to get osme opinions. Thanks! Ive found out alot of people have gone through the same thing im dealing with now. All of a sudden my cats tail was not strait up. I so miss it. My cats name is Ted, he may be alright im hoping. ITs got a small crick in it about an inch from his rear end, and the other day when I noticed it he wasnt moving it. Every day it seems to get better and hes able to wave it and twitch it now. When he lifts his tail it goes a little more than half way which, thank fully he can use the restroom both #'s. My first reaction was panic and I entend to take him to the vet just to be on the safe side. I read on here a person spent about 350 for the tail to be reset and wraped. My boys tail is well worth that. I just hope its not to late. I noticed it 4 days ago and I immagine it was hurt 5 days ago. He doesnt seem to care except for all the fussing im doing over it

Cool site, Thanks again!
Rich

..

So, I just noticed that my cat was having issues jumping on the couch. That is her normal sleeping place during the day while I am at work. She wanted to jump up, and then seemed to not be able to so just laid down on the floor instead. I thought this was odd, but didn't think twice. The next day I noticed she wasn't wagging her tail anymore. It was just hanging straight down. Later I noticed a bump at the end of her back, right before her tail started. The next morning she was limping. I called and made an appt with the vet. He said it could be the start of diabetes or something else. He gave her a shot of cortizone and said to see if that helped, and if not to come back and he would run some blood work. That night, she started having HUGE issues walking. She would get up, take 2 steps and fall over. This was the absolute worst thing ever to have to watch. It was killing me. I was going to take her back the next day since it had gotten worse but when I got up in the morning, she was walking better. It has been 2 days now, and she is walking MUCH better, but she still won't move her tail. There is just a slight limp now. I am wondering what I should do. Should I take her back to the vet or wait a few more days? My vet is now closed since it is the weekend. Do I start all over and take her to a different vet or wait until Monday? She doesn't seem to be in pain, and if I move or touch her tail it doesn't seem to bother her...But I don't want something horrible to be happening like nerve damage or anything. Any advise?

It's been some years since these posts have been up, but today I started looking for information on a cat's tail with a bump.  So here's my story. 

I notice my cat had a bump on his tail as I reached out to pet him.  I tried to pet him again and he jumped away from me and tried to swipe at me.  So since this wasn't normal, I took him to the vet for a check up.

The vet came in, saw him and then right away pus came out of the tail.  His tail was infected and an abscess was formed.  This was from a cat bite, as my cat fought with another cat some days earlier outside.  I didn't see the other cat, but I heard two cats fighting and my cat came over the wall with his hair sticking up.  I touched my cat and felt his rear and tail wet, like another cat had his mouth all over his rear....   So, he seemed okay after that, but then when the bite wound heals, thus starts the infection under the skin.

My cat is now staying over night so that they can drain it and remove the pus completely out the tail.  The vet said he should be fine afterward.

Broken tail bone?  It might be, if that may be your cat's case, but if you see this, take your cat to the vet at once.  It could be a cat bite, provided that your cat is an outdoor cat and has a run in with another cat.  Here's a link for more information.

http://manhattancats.com/Articles/cat_bite_abscesses.html

Take care!

I vote for the vet as well. You will save yourself and your cat lots of  heartache. 

Thank you to kittykatkare for your post coz I thought my cat's tail was broken til I read your post. Since he was in a bad fight days earlier it makes sense that this was an abcess from a bite instead of a break, yet I didn't think of that. ??? Now he's on his road to recovery. Thanks for the info.