PLEASE HELP, just the tip of my cat's tail degloved

[sam houston]

My cats tail was degloved, BUT just the tip, THE VERY TIP. Went to the Vet, got cream and antibiotics, it barley bleed. He said if the tip dies than it would need to be removed. It is all hidden under his fur, but you can see the tip when examining, Im just a worried kitten mom, he has his cone on and the tip still has color, but there is a tiny bit of black, is that the scab or is it dying? I feel awful and if It must be removed than it must, I just have to scrounge pennies if it does.  Will I know when it's dead? 

 

[sam houston]

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• sam houston
• Sep 24, 2015

POOR LITTLE GUY 

 

[margd]

I don't know the answer to your question but it seems to me you would be perfectly within your rights to call the vet and ask him or her how you can tell the difference. Also, I would email a photo and ask for feedback. Hopefully someone who knows more about degloved tails will weigh in on this. I do know it's a potentially very dangerous situation and leaves cats vulnerable to infection but hopefully the vet is dealing with that?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I don't know the answer to your question but it seems to me you would be perfectly within your rights to call the vet and ask him or her how you can tell the difference. Also, I would email a photo and ask for feedback. Hopefully someone who knows more about degloved tails will weigh in on this. I do know it's a potentially very dangerous situation and leaves cats vulnerable to infection but hopefully the vet is dealing with that?

This is just what I was going to say....ask your Vet how you would know.  When you apply the cream, does the black spot FEEL like a scab?  You may need to trim any longer fur away from that area so you can get to it better for cleaning, viewing, etc.  I'm a little surprised they didn't do that at the Vet.  When you said it is hidden under his fur, it kind of shocked me. 

 

[sam houston]

Thanks everyone, yea it feels like a scab. It happened sunday so if there was no blood flow than I think it would of already turned black. The vet just said I would "know" when the end dies, but he also said if it doesnt look better in a week to go back. At the moment still living in the cone it does look like it is getting better. He has antibiotics and special cream. I might just take him in to make sure it is healing correctly? Im just worried and since it is his tail, which is an extension of his spine, Im just making sure better safe than sorry. It does feel rough, but tan colored. It is just the very tip and I am clueless to what a healthy hairless tip looks like.  

 

[stormy bledsoe]

It also might be discolored scar tissue. One of my cats had a lump that broke open and turned black, it was just scar tissue.

 

[sam houston]

THANK YOU. Waiting till sunday when itll officially be 3 weeks after it has happened, going to the vet again on mon or tue. Currently It def still seems like a scab, or maybe scar tissue. It just doesnt seem "dead" and it doesnt smell. 

 

[sam houston]

update, the tip turned back and fell off. End is a little pink, BUT looks much better. Im soaking it in warm salt water twice a day. (well it fell off yesterday). He is eating/acting fine, besides his hatred of the cone. Watching it for anthor day or two, hoping it heals on its own?

 

[sam houston]

Update our degloved kitten tail has healed. He is coneless, (except when he gets too playful in fear he will roughhouse with his tail.) The hair is growing back. He has a small hole on the end of the little nub that is now his tip of tail. The little hole still seems to have a small scab. Around it is a little pink but beyond he pink all skin has healed. He can move the little nub. There is no black tissue left over(there never was once the dead piece fell off). My kitten can move his tail and flick the end like nothing even happened. I am updating because i found little to NO info on healing a degloved tail, though my cats was minor, it was still difficult to heal and keep clean. Hopefully in a month all the hair that is capable of growing back will. So far i think the very tip will remain hairless

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• sam houston
• Oct 26, 2015

 

[sam houston]

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• sam houston
• Oct 26, 2015

this is what is looked like before we took him to the vet. You can kinda see the very thin dark tip that ended up dying and falling off naturally

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• sam houston
• Oct 26, 2015

this is it currently. (i just cleaned it and put ointment on it, that's why it's shinny.)

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Thank you for continuing to update. So interesting.  Glad he seems to have come thru this ordeal with flying colors. 

How did it happen anyway....did he get it caught in a door?  I'm always paranoid that one of these nights when I close the bathroom door in the middle of the night in the dark  (as I'm going BACK to bed - we keep the door closed so they don't play with the TP

) that some little furry tail is going to be right there and get caught

.  I try to close the door slowly, but am always afraid that I might be so sleepy one of these times that who knows?

 

[sam houston]

it was the wind that slammed the door!! It happened so fast. He jumped(which im assuming is when it than got pulled off.) i opend the door and he ran to the closet and there was the tip of tail on the ground. He didnt make any noise, it didnt bleed much. But it did happen on a sunday so I had a long time to panic before the vet. Now I'm terrified of shutting doors and wind slamming doors.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Poor baby.  Well, at least it was quick,and only the very tip, so that's good think.  Hopefully he steers clear of doorways now

 

[camillaray]

Thank you for the info. We discovered last night that one of our (10!) cats had an inch of bare bone at the end of his tail, no idea how or when it happened. I called vet's office today. I was told he needed to be brought in PDQ as his tail was part of his spine and such an injury could kill him. So, his tail has been amputated, and we expect to pick him up tomorrow. Very expensive, but he is our smartest cat! Aptly named Houdini, the magic cat.

 

[Pinot]

How long did it take for your baby’s tail to heal? This JUST happened to my baby today took him to the vet and he is on antibiotics. They decided to not amputate since it was just the tip. I’m terrified that it is exposed though!!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

How long did it take for your baby’s tail to heal? This JUST happened to my baby today took him to the vet and he is on antibiotics. They decided to not amputate since it was just the tip. I’m terrified that it is exposed though!!

You may not get an answer since this thread is almost five years old, but it looks like it was only about 30 days from the time the original poster posted about it (and it happened the Sunday before the post) until she posted that it was healed, so hopefully that will help you.

With it being just the tip, he should be ok, especially since he is on antibiotics . Did they give you any cream to put on it too? Is he wearing a cone to keep from licking at it? I'm sure it is worrisome, but try to rely on your Vet in this instance. As long as your little guy is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping as naturally as can be wearing a cone (assuming he IS), then things should be ok. Of course, antibiotics can cause digestive issues, so do keep that in mind when assessing whether or not he seems to be acting "normal".

 

[Pinot]

You may not get an answer since this thread is almost five years old, but it looks like it was only about 30 days from the time the original poster posted about it (and it happened the Sunday before the post) until she posted that it was healed, so hopefully that will help you.

With it being just the tip, he should be ok, especially since he is on antibiotics . Did they give you any cream to put on it too? Is he wearing a cone to keep from licking at it? I'm sure it is worrisome, but try to rely on your Vet in this instance. As long as your little guy is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping as naturally as can be wearing a cone (assuming he IS), then things should be ok. Of course, antibiotics can cause digestive issues, so do keep that in mind when assessing whether or not he seems to be acting "normal".

Thank you!! No cream — they just told me to rinse with saline solution every now and then. Yes he is wearing a cone, he won’t even move which is a whole other worry for me so far everything is normal.. he ate a little and used the bathroom. Using all my strength to not give in and take the cone off

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If he is on antibiotics, they may be causing him to be very lethargic. Two of my cats acted as if they were dying from Clavamox, so they were taken off of it and given something else. They refused to eat, etc. If your cat isn't acting right, you should contact your Vet and discuss this. I don't think it's the tail though,I think it might be the meds. Or depression from the cone. As I said, if he's eating, drinking, peeing and pooping, he should be ok.

Hang in there. If he chews on the tip, that could cause more issues than being depressed at the moment.