My cat's tail is worrying me, is docking just the tip (last 3" at most)?

n13r0h

One night one of my cats didn't come back, I let them out and they always come back but my 1 year old didn't come back. I stayed up till dawn every night and walked the neighborhood with a bag of cat treats, but no luck. 28 days later I randomly open my front door and to go out and walk the streets and there he was.

He was very skinny and his tail just flopped around and as happy as I was to see him return I was worried. I took him to the vet immediately and the X-rays showed an injury on the third vertebrae past his tail. The vet told me he might not be able to use the litter box...or possibly put down...

He recovered and is as lively as he was and actually can move part of his tail, the tip however has been dragged and whipped around to the point of it being a calloused over wound.

I'm very worried it will become infected or cause other problems if left unattended, should I have that last bit of his tail docked to prevent any further injuries or is it ok?

Dog.Lover

Really sorry to hear this,

Well, first of all let me mention that cats' tail is an important factor for their balance hence this is always better not to dock a cat's tail. However regarding the infection it really depends on the wound which should be examined by a Vet to see if it would get infected or not. And of course it depends if this is an open wound or not.

I believe this will not be a big issue since it has been some time from the injury but I think the best thing would be taking him to a Vet to be 100% sure.

In old wound instances you would not need to do anything (in many cases) and if this is an open wound so you should use disinfection liquids and in some cases Antibiotics (and in severe cases surgery).

Please keep us updated regarding his issue.

Good luck.