Cats
Cat tail injury: Steps to Take Before it Becomes Fatal
Cat tail injury: soft and at the same time lashing, elegant but also useful. Unfortunately subject to this problem.
The cat’s tail, an essential element of beauty in the feline, the tail, besides being very ornamental for his figure and helping him to maintain balance during the jumps, it is also an expression tool for the animal.
Injury to the cat’s tail
The tail of cats therefore has several uses. It acts as a rudder when it comes to making big jumps and twirls. It can also be used as a toy because cats use their tails to entertain their puppiesthus stimulating their motor skills, curiosity and hunting instincts.
Another utility that has the cat’s tail is that of show through it the mood. But it is often subject to problems such as injuries. Below we will list the various situations in which cat tail injuries can occur.
Skin infection
The most obvious and common symptoms of inflammation of the cat’s skin are: scratches and chafing on itchy areas, as well as inflamed and irritated skin, in this case the tail. The cat may show one or more signs of discomfort, which may involve a fixed point on the body or a more general problem.
The path to diagnosis, which involves identifying the root cause of a skin disease, it should be done slowly, not quickly. First, the vet will get a complete history of your cat’s lifestyle and symptoms and perform a thorough physical check during which he will look for obvious problems like fleas.
The veterinarian will also perform a fecal analysis to look for the presence of internal parasites. If nothing is found during these diagnoses, the search will continue with blood tests, looking for systemic causes of feline dermatitis, including autoimmune diseases.
If your cat’s blood test is normal, the next step is often to look for hypersensitivity reactions with food or environmental causes. For the treatment, once the cause has been identified, we will proceed first by keeping the tail clean, disinfecting it with betadine twice a day.
Use an Elizabethan collar (E-collar) mounted, in most cases, to stop the itch-lick-scratch cycle. And finally proceed with topical therapy treating only the injured area.
Abrasions
If it is not too severe, the wound will likely heal in time with minimal treatment. It is essential at this stage to check for any symptoms of infection or if the cat holds or moves the tail in a different way.
This behavior can be useful to us in order to identify the presence of a more serious injury and perhaps subject the animal to a veterinary visit. A simple abrasion, be it a scratch or a small cut, can be kept under observation at home and with a little care with hydrogen peroxide.
This in order to keep the tail clean and be careful not to make it lick or scratch the area, it will soon be in excellent health and ready to become active again as before.
Bite wounds
Nothing likely that the cat could fight especially if he has the opportunity to go outside and meet other cats.
The danger of bite injuries is around the corner and what you need worry is about the extent of the injury, any infections and should not be underestimated the possibility that if it is a bite of a stray cat, and therefore not subjected to vaccination against rabies.
Given the high risk of cat fights outdoors, it is also important to keep your pet’s rabies vaccinations up to date. Reason why in case there are injuries to the cat’s tail it is better to go to the vet, who will investigate the situation and make a diagnosis of the animal’s condition, evaluating evident elements such as: redness, heat, pain and inflammation.
It will ensure that the wound is not further infected and where it is particularly serious, it will put the animal to sleep by sedation and proceed with irrigating and cleaning the area.
At the end of this he will probably prescribe antibiotics and possibly pain relievers for the treatment of the cat to be performed with extreme care, keeping the feline’s tail clean and keeping it indoors, trying to avoid going out into the garden, in order to prevent fly larvae from growing in the wounds.
Fractures and dislocations
Because of his predatory habits, the cat is an animal that is constantly exposed to accidents and fractures. We can define a fracture as partial or complete rupture of a bone or cartilage. The tail is an important part of the feline anatomy and is actually an extension of the spine.
This complex structure of the tail of bones, muscles, nerves and blood vessels can easily be injured. Some of the causes for which the cat’s tail fracture occurs are: closing in a door, being accidentally stepped on, bitten by another animal or hit by a car or another vehicle, the vertebrae that make up the tails can break.
The location of the fracture has a lot to do with the severity of the injury. If the fracture is located on the tip of the tail, it usually heals well without any treatment. If the tail bones are pinched, part of the tail may need to be amputated. Injuries near the base of the tail often result in nerve damage and are more serious.
Below is a list of the different symptoms that can be noticed if the tail is fractured. Some of the common indications that your cat may have been injured at the tail include:
- a noticeable twist in the tail indicates that an injury has occurred;
- touch pain in some areas of the tail;
- test for a bite or other injury;
- swelling in the tail area;
- the tail hangs and does not hold correctly;
- balance problems and / or difficulty walking or moving;
- faecal and / or urinary incontinence or inability to empty the bladder and / or intestines.
The diagnosis by the veterinarian will be assisted by a set of diagnostic tests such as: in the most serious trauma cases, complete blood count, urinalysis, radiographs and other standard diagnostic tests can be used. Depending on the severity, the treatment will proceed, which can be surgical or probably an amputation.
Car injuries
How many times during the cold winter, do we find some cats under the car to take shelter? This happens because the animal feels the heat of the car’s engine, but this situation can lead to a great danger for the cat, since when the car is restarted, the tail can be trapped and pulled into the engine of the racing car.
This type of injury can cause tail paralysis and nerve damage. And sometimes it can damage the nerves that feed the bladder, so the cat may not be able to urinate.
First of all, rescue the animal immediately by taking it to the veterinarian, who in these cases will proceed with the only solution that always remains the amputation of the tail. Unfortunately, however, there are cases where injuries to the fan belt sometimes cause irreparable damage they can even lead to death.
Auto-mutilation of the tail
There are some cat tail injuries which in certain cases are self-mutilated and this can be caused by: flea allergies, food allergies and stress. But there is another condition that generates self-mutilation or a pathology called feline hyperesthesia syndrome. “
Feline hyperaesthesia syndrome is a condition in which cats show contractions or “rolling” of the skin and hair along the spine. “ This can cause extreme discomfort to the cat, which can cause it to “severely self-traumatize the skin.
Simple skin irritation can be treated in the same way as a skin infection, with antibiotics and occasionally steroids prescribed by a veterinarian. While the disease is treated as convulsions are treated in the cat and therefore with the use of painkillers.