# Help! My cat may have a broken tail...



## BeboLucylove (Nov 8, 2009)

My family woke up this morning and we found one of our cats, bebo with a very limp tail. He is a little skittish and slow. However, he has still been on all our laps the same morning thus being relaxed slightly. We are worried. Here is a picture of our loves tail:











Although it looks like his tail is just hanging, it remains like that ^ and it is very unatural.  help


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## Muzby (Jan 9, 2008)

Give him until tomorrow and watch him carefully. If it doesn't fix itself, take him for a checkup Monday (many cats can "sprain" the tail, and it hangs limp for a day or so and goes back to normal after rest). If he gets worse (I am thinking possible spinal issues) today - take him to an emerg vet!


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## BeboLucylove (Nov 8, 2009)

Thank you so much. We do not think he has spinal issues. He is walking fine, and is pretty normal. He is a bit tired, but his tail seems to be causing him pain.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

That happened to Marmalade when he was a young cat about 10mo old. We never did find out what caused it and our vet had no clue and STILL didn't have anything he could have done, so the vet visit (for us) was a wasted visit, wallet-wise. The vet said he could not put his tail in a splint because it would annoy the cat and could cause even more damage from the cat trying to get the splint off.
What we suspected and discussed, was the cats possibly playing and Marmar perhaps having another cat jump on his tail, bend his tail or knocked something over that landed on his tail, and it became inflamed and 'limp' because it wasn't getting any 'signals' past the inflamed area. Within a few days, Marmar returned to completely normal tail function and had no lasting effects all his 13yr life. I know it looks terrible, but Marmar did heal just fine.
Sending hopes/wishes that this is all that is wrong with your kitty's tail.
heidi =^..^=


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## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

Something very similar happened to my Loki (now at the Bridge from unrelated causes). However, he wasn't just slow/tired -- in addition to the limp tail, he was partially paralyzed in his back end and was more or less laid out. He would not eat.

The vet first ruled out anything spinal (x-rays). His bloodwork was normal other than very mildly elevated liver enzymes. The vet decided (mostly b/c she had no other ideas) that it was cholangeohepatitis, but I never bought that. Loki had a mild heart murmur his whole life, and I always thought it was the equivalent of a stroke (cats don't have the same kinds of strokes as humans). It wasn't saddle thrombus, which is painful. EKG was mostly normal.

We did every test in the book and got really nowhere, and the vet was telling me to give up, but of course I didn't. I gave Loki sub-Q fluids and forcefed him for 3 weeks. Over that time he gradually improved, and improved, and improved. Eventually he returned to 99% normal function, started eating on his own, and lived 5 more happy years. He ALWAYS had a very slightly abnormal tail, though -- that was all that remained.

So I don't know what to tell you. I would certainly get bloodwork at a bare minimum and keep a close eye on him.


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