Cat having tail problems. Vet says possible amputation :(

[AbandonShark]

We picked up our beautiful rescue cat on Sunday. He'd had an op on his tail, as they think it had been trapped and the end had been damaged. It was healing well, still bandaged up when we picked him up but we were assured that it was healing really well and we could take the bandage off in two days.

So we took the bandage off last night. No blood on the bandage and it looks really nicely healed. However.... the cat is freaking out about his tail. At first we thought he was scared of how it looked as he was fine when we were taking the bandage off and it was until he noticed a few minutes later that he went crazy - trying to catch and bite his tail. We wondered if it was because it looked different, but today we've noticed that he seems to flinch when the tip of his tail touches anything, even gently and that makes him snap at it (maybe he thinks something is biting/hurting him?) It must be really delicate as he's nearly constantly flinching and attacking it.

He drew a little blood this afternoon so I took him to the vet. She gave us painkillers in case it's physical, cat anti-depressants in case it's mental (the stress of a new home and delicate tail) but if neither of those work, she wants to amputate it as soon as next week

He's curled up purring on my lap at the moment, and is his happy sweet self when his tail isn't bothering him, and we're giving him lots of love. But he looks so stressed when he's moving around and constantly snapping at his poor tail.

What on earth is the best thing to do for him? I wondered if anyone had been through similar with their cat and what the outcome was?

in advance!

He is a bit lovely isn't he

OK. He had Metacam this morning, Zylkene this afternoon and I've plugged a Feliway diffuser in in his (our!) bedroom. The absolute best thing for him at the moment seems to be cuddles. He is so happy when he's on your lap or snuggled up next to you. If he looks like he's going for his tail I can easily distract him with a stroke/tickle.

The vet's only given us 4 of the Zylkene but here's hoping they do something.

Re toys, yes he has quite a few but at the moment we find that he gets maybe overexcited when he's jumping or chasing then redirects that into attacking his poor tail. He seems to like calm cuddles and stroking the best atm.

Cozie From his notes and what the shelter have said, he was taken to the vets with an tail injury. Notes say "chewing tail tip past 2 days, seems to have trapped v tip of tail, approx 1cm necrotic & shrivelled. Need to amputate tip." Then it seems that the owners couldn't afford to pay for this so he was taken to a shelter. The report when he arrived at the shelter said he was very thin, dirty waxy ears with possible ear mites, flea dirt and live fleas, scabs.. bit of state basically.

Hi Shark Zylkene can start to work much sooner (within a couple of days) but may take longer to reach maximum therapeutic levels. 4 capsules (assume 4 days) isn't very long tho so perhaps ask for more (you can get over the counter and online without prescription)

It sounds like cuddle therapy is working working wonders so def keep that up and hopefully his tail will become less sensitive with time

our old cat had an amputated tail, he came in one day with the tip of his tail completely missing, was wincing when he sat down, flinching, very similar to how you say your cat is reacting.

even though he had only lost the tip, the vet had to take almost all of the tail away as they said it needed to go to where the blood supply was still intact. am wondering if your cat needs to have the same done and have more taken away.

loosing his tail never bothered our cat at all, and he was a big cat with a very long tail, he ended up left with a 4" stump.

I'm glad that the cuddle therapy is working. That sounds like a winner.

He must have had - at best - a bit of a difficult time, so much of his behaviour starts to come into perspective now. At least he ended up at a rescue and then to you: it could have been so much worse. And at least he hasn't given up - his heart could have come close to breaking if he was being neglected as it clearly sounds he was at least.

Hope you managed to get some more Zylkene to keep on dosing him? I think it's pretty straightforward to acquire online.

Let us know how he does?

I've got a stumpy too,car accident. Due to accident he doesn't venturee far now, but he still jumps, though actually I realise now, a bit clumsily.

Just thought I'd write a quick update. He's had 4 doses of Zylkene, (buying more tomorrow!) it does seem to make him calmer and very sleepy! He's had the feliway plug in on for a few days. We put his buster collar back on as he managed to give his tail a nip a couple of days ago, and he seems calmer with that on.

Without the collar on.. well, he still goes for his tail but possibly less often than before. Not a huge difference though although he does have more times where he stares at it, hisses at it, then sits on it and has a rest rather than attacking it every time. He's still running around the house like crazy, trying to get away from his tail.

He does seem a bit down, though, as far as I can tell with a cat anyway! He does come downstairs sometimes in the day and sits on the windowsill or sofa with me and the kids but he will go upstairs when he gets stressed at his tail. Today he's spent most of the day asleep upstairs and has been far less cuddly.

Too soon to judge if anything is getting better or worse. He lets us touch his tail and that doesn't seem to hurt but obviously something is bothering him.

He had his buster collar off and dh found him leaping about all over the room worrying at his tail. Dh picked up the buster collar and Cat ran over and put his head in it straight away.. cute but weird!?

Sounds as if he has New House Blues and Post-Op Blues all at the same time so I don't think it's unpositive, Shark. (You may be regarding him as a complete member of the household but that doesn't mean that he's completely secure himself yet - and none of my boys would ever have even permitted a collar let alone 'only' been bothered by it.)

I wouldn't be too despondent.

PS - the collar behaviour. Weird - but if I had to guess, it would be to posit that he's got it in his mind that you have a house rule on collars (he's never known anything else with you) and he's trying hard to fit in.

I wonder I think he knows he can't reach his tail with it on (or maybe thinks it can't reach him) so feels safer perhaps?

He does seem quite comfy in his collar - he'll often lie on the windowsill with the edge of the collar propped up on a plant pot and snooze with his head in the air

He's cuddled up to dh now, looking very chilled out

I think it is a feeling more secure thing - just the reason why is open to debate. (Who can read their minds?)

The cuddled up to your DH is good though - is he a Daddy's Boy do you think?

I do need someone to invent an app where you can scan your cat and get a print out of what the heck is up with them Although I think 99% of the time it would just say "FOOD NOW!"

He loves whoever is still for longest.. I made the unforgivable error of getting up to go to the loo so I've been dumped