Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

My cat had his tail amputated :-(

15 replies

GirlWithOneEye · 01/05/2013 21:31

My poor cat had his tail amputated today...

He came home last week and it looked broken - was just flopping behind the break. We took him to the out-of-hours vet and they confirmed it so he had to have it amputated below the break today.

Feeling soooo sorry for him!!

He has the plastic cone around his head so he can't eat, my boyfriend just held food in his hands and let him eat out of that.

How can we help him with water? He can't get his head inside the bowl but it's a bit tricky trying to bend it so he can get drink! Also what about during the night when he needs to get to some water :-(

Really feeling so sad for him!!

OP posts:

Report

Lonecatwithkitten · 01/05/2013 23:44

I have the beautiful tail less wonder who lost her tail 11 months ago. When I amputated her tail she had no external sutures so didn't need a collar (I am a vet). I would suggest having periods of the day where you supervise to stop licking and have the collar off.
You need to prepare for a cat whose jump is unpredictable as the tail is the rudder when they jump. Sometimes tail less doesn't make the jump other times she had too much momentum in the jump.

Report

cozietoesie · 01/05/2013 23:47

Out of interest - do they adjust to the loss of the rudder or is that a permanent weakness in direction etc?

Report

Mendeleyev · 01/05/2013 23:51

We see a cat regularly round our way who had no tail. He seems to cope well. He is quite ungainly but I assumed he had been in an accident that had resulted in other injuries too. I'm sure your cat will adapt well given time.

Report

cozietoesie · 01/05/2013 23:57

I was thinking of Manx cats who can jump very well. I know they can have a slightly different rear conformation but they seem to manage OK.

Report

Purplemonster · 02/05/2013 00:03

One of my cats had to have her tail amputated probably about ten years ago, she manages absolutely fine. She adapted very quickly and I honestly can't even remember what she looked like with a tail anymore!
Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Report

SummerRainIsADistantMemory · 02/05/2013 00:26

One of my cats when I was a child was tailless. His mother bit it off trying to bite the umbilical (young mother, first litter, he was lucky, two of his littermates didn't survive her ministrations ).

He was always clumsy and never really became much of a jumper. He was nervous and pudgy but I loved him

Report

Panzee · 02/05/2013 05:16

My lovely old childhood cat lost half his tail when he was hit by a car. Absolutely no problems with direction, jumping, climbing etc. held his own in the hard cat stakes too!

Report

Lonecatwithkitten · 02/05/2013 07:04

Cozie she can and does jump it is not the best a bit ungainly, scrambly and sometimes she just doesn't make it.

Report

bonzo77 · 02/05/2013 07:29

When my cat was spayed we took the collar off for a few minutes so she could eat, drink and groom. Then distracted her if she went for her stitches.

Report

cozietoesie · 02/05/2013 07:56

Seniorboy was supposed to have a collar when he had stitches a couple of years back. It quickly became a resignation issue so I had to bow to (in that case) the stronger will and take the thing off. At which point he went to bed and fell asleep.

Not best practice I know, though.

Report

SummerRainIsADistantMemory · 02/05/2013 08:13

Cats are pretty sensible, vets don't tend to use collars on vets round here and I've never heard of a cat biting their stitches out.

They tend ti give the wound a good lick and then ignore it.

Report

GirlWithOneEye · 02/05/2013 11:17

Thank you for your replies.

I think we'll take it off for short periods of time to give him a bread; eat/drink etc and see how he is. He's got a check up appt on Tuesday.

He has about, half of his tail left - maybe a bit more....they seem to have shaved the whole thing of what is left. It looks like a long bone. Will the hair grow back? How long does it take?

OP posts:

Report

cozietoesie · 02/05/2013 11:19

Yes it should grow back fine - maybe a couple of months for full coverage? (Judging by shaving on other parts of the body for my boys in the past.)

Report

Purplemonster · 02/05/2013 11:23

Yes the fur should grow back, my cat only ended up with two vertebrae left on her tail so she's got a tiny rabbit like tail bump but she still manages to climb and jump and the fur grew back over it very quickly. When she's stalking things she still wiggles her back end like she thinks she has a tail, it's very cute! I'm sure he'll be fine without the collar on when you're watching him, just make sure it's on overnight when you can't supervise.

Report

GirlWithOneEye · 02/05/2013 11:29

Thanks for all the advice.

Poor thing. We weren't expecting his tail to look like that! My boyfriend took him out of the box and was like ahhhh look at him!
My heart is just melting for him at the moment!

Our DD, is 14 months and she's obsessed with him! Keeping her separate while he recuperates too, she will terrorise him!