Thread: Limp tail ?

Originally Posted by Peter Galbavy

Thanks again. Was just discussing this with my housemate and she was suggesting the same - about more painkillers / anti-inflammatories. Will phone vets on Monday and ask if they will prescribe some oral metacam for him for a while.

He struggled a bit on the Litter Kwitter earlier and didn't pee which worried me, but I opened the normal litter tray and he did go in that. He had used the LK in that last few days though.

Perhaps it is just starting to feel a bit more uncomfortable poor little fella,could be better for him to use the tray for a while as it most probaly is a better position for his tail to be in,hope you can get something for him on Monday,the good thing about Metacam is you can use it as need be so if he had it for a few days & he seemed to improve you can go to every other day,every third day,stop it altogether but use it again if you think he needs it,fingers crossed will wait to see what Monday brings for him & you....

Well, today was better. While the tail is still down and he is still under the weather a bit we had lots more playing and interaction with his brothers, I watched him more confidently pee using the LK (he didn't want the litter tray I offered!) and I am hoping he is over the worst of it.

I will still call the vets to prepare a prescription of Metacam Oral - but I would prefer pills as with the three boys eating together I wouldn't be able to easily feed just Dicky with Metacam laced food. Are there any pills that have an anti-inflamatory effect ?

I hope once the pain is gone the muscles and tail start to work normally again.

Originally Posted by Peter Galbavy

Well, today was better. While the tail is still down and he is still under the weather a bit we had lots more playing and interaction with his brothers, I watched him more confidently pee using the LK (he didn't want the litter tray I offered!) and I am hoping he is over the worst of it.

I will still call the vets to prepare a prescription of Metacam Oral - but I would prefer pills as with the three boys eating together I wouldn't be able to easily feed just Dicky with Metacam laced food. Are there any pills that have an anti-inflamatory effect ?

I hope once the pain is gone the muscles and tail start to work normally again.

You could be looking at steroids if you go to pills,there are pain killers but the ones we use are what I would class as next step up for pain. I think you would cope fine with the Metacam though if that is prescribed,you have a dosing syringe in the box,after having a little food just pop syringe in side of his mouth & gently give,it only has to be done once a day & is dead easy when Bruce had to go back onto it while he was poorly he got really excited when the box came out,he would hop up on the side & wait for you to give it to him.I think that now he is well enough to go to work for his chiro again he is quite sorry to be missing out on his treat...
So pleased that your boy seems happier in himself today,makes you think if he had been given a few days follow up in the first place he just might have been flying the flag higher already & if he is already back to using his LK things must be improving,just a good thing you were aware yesterday that the tray was the way to go.
Fingers crossed for Dicky to be flying full mast next week....x

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

... makes you think if he had been given a few days follow up in the first place he just might have been flying the flag higher already

While you may work for a good vet I always supect that they do, especially for non-serious cases, milk the diagnostics and multiple visits a bit. I think they are/were hoping for x-rays next week. Cynical, moi?

Originally Posted by Peter Galbavy

While you may work for a good vet I always supect that they do, especially for non-serious cases, milk the diagnostics and multiple visits a bit. I think they are/were hoping for x-rays next week. Cynical, moi?

I think you could be right,cynical well.....,no you are not, I am lucky I work for basically a one man band,we have a lady vet come one morning a week to run a booster clinic while the boss does a big op morning,all the difficult ones,one day a week plus one Saturday a month we have another vet who covers to allow boss some time off{thats the chiro vet} but boss man is only just behind me in the age stakes & basically has a whole load of experience under his belt,he does do blood tests,he does do xrays but more often than not he can hit the nail on the head with his diagnosis,been there ,seen it , wearing the T shirt , the number of times he says we could BS but at the end of the day we know what it is going to tell us so lets save your money & use it on the drugs the animal will require,which I think is great & you know the clients appreciate it,but when it is required for the benefit of the animal our clients know if he suggests a blood sample or further tests then it is a necessity. I dread the day when he retires because I don't think it will be taken over by someone with the same ethics as him but at least I will be in a position to stand up for what my animals do or don't need & for sure it won't be a BS every time we walk through the door but a bottle of good old Metacam I am more than happy to have on standby for my Bruce....

Just caught up with this, poor boy! I had a similar problem with Riley, although it was the very end of his tail. He ran under my feet one day while I was carrying a big armful of washing. I felt a horrible "crunch" and looked down expecting to see a big lump of fluff but there was nothing on the floor. I thought that was a bit odd but then promptly forgot all about it - til the next morning when I let them out the garden and was horrified to see the end 6-ish inches all crooked and at a funny angle :-( Anyway, long story short, several trips to the vets and 3 months later the end of his tail had "died" and had to be amputated. I had damaged the blood supply when I trod on it - I felt sooooo guilty! The vet nipped the end bit off and Riley came home with four stitches in the end and hasn't looked back since. It healed up really well and looking at him now you wouldn't even realise any of his tail was missing (it would be a little bit short for showing - but he doesn't go to shows so not important) and he hasn't had any problems with his balance or mobility at all. In fact I have a friend who is a MC breeder and one of her neuters had to have his tail amputated completely as is was completely broken and it doesn't cause him any problems at all. He is the only one of her cats that still regularly escapes from her "Cat Proof" garden! Hopefully all will be resolved without surgery but just wanted to try to give you some reassurance that he really will be ok - whatever treatment he has. Big hugs to your brave solider xx

Metacam comes with a small syringe-type thing so you can squirt it in his mouth directly. Benji LOVES metacam and gladly opens his fangs for a dose! Not as keen on the interferon though as it's mixed with saline.Our old vet said he had tasted Metacam and it's slightly sweet which is why some cats don't mind it

I spoke to the vet this morning - the "new" woman on reception was very brusque when I challenged the effective time of the injection - and she was very understanding and I pick up a 3 day course tonight. If he is not improved by the end of that time then back in he goes for a little more prodding and perhaps an xray - even though she (the vet, nice girl) couldn't explain what treatment could be applied even with the knowledge of an x-ray unless he had a broken pelvis, which he hasn't. Sigh.

I guess it's a difficult one, if it's a sprain or a pulled muscle then all that could be said is rest, but in the event it would be broken, then surely they could do something? Some type of support sock or something until it healed (am guessing a cast on his tail would be ever so slightly too heavy!)?