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Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / January 2004opinions on spinal injury in young cat
Greetings -- I've been caring for a young cat that I found injured a few nights ago. I took him to the animal E.R. directly after I found him, as he was walking funny and had some blood around his back end. He wasn't in pain, and was alert and friendly. Vet x-rayed him and found that his tail had separated from his spine just below the pelvis, and there was some suspected trauma to one of the vertebrae higher up the back (near waist-level). Cat has little bowel/bladder control, but his hind legs are functional -- he can walk & jump with minor difficulty. His tail is, of course, completely dead. The vet has prescribed a course of Prednisone to reduce inflammation along the spine from the injury, in hopes he will regain some elimination function as the injury heals and inflammation dies down. Best guess is that the cat got his tail caught in/by something and wrenched it almost off getting away. My question is, how likely is it that he will regain his elimination functions, given that he's got good mobility in his legs, but dead tail? I don't know where the nerves are that control that bit of cat anatomy. He is being well looked after by my vet, and I know that there is simply no way to know, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has treated this kind of injury and what your experiences were with recovery. Thanks -- M9 > Greetings -- > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Thanks -- M9 I'm no vet, but tail injuries reported on the various groups have widely varying results and often you simply won't know for quite some time, sometimes months. I hope kitty recovers well. Poor baby. Karen > Greetings -- > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Thanks -- M9 Hi, we were adopted by a tortoise shell cat that I suspect had a back injury. She also had trouble with bowel movements and her back end would sometimes seem to suddenly stop working so she would fall over. She didn't always make it to the litter box. She has undergone immense improvement since we took her in, although she still has BM accidents occasionally. We're just careful where we step. Her hind end no longer falls--at least, not obviously. She's able to jump again, no problem. I think she was injured by abuse. When she came to us, she acted like a feral. She was terrified of shoes and boots, even without feet in them. She scratched me pretty severely when I first tried to touch her. That was over a year ago. Now, she's one of the most loving and unusual cats I've ever owned. I am so glad we took her in. She'll be with us 'till the end. > Greetings -- > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Thanks -- M9 This injuries can be tricky. If you can afford it, perhaps a consult with a neurologist wouldn't be a bad idea. > Greetings -- > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Thanks -- M9 My Sister had a kitten with a similar problem. She had run over it's tail with her car and the cat pulled so hard it damaged the nerves in it's back end. It had no control over it's bowels or bladder, plus it's tail was paralyzed. That was 6 months ago and with the exception of it's tail, it made a complete recovery. Every so often, they would put the cat in it's litter box & squeeze it's hips together & cause it to do it's business. It gradually recovered. M9, please keep us posted on this cat. Bless you, for getting it medical care! > > Greetings -- > > [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > litter box & squeeze it's hips together & cause it to do it's business. It > gradually recovered. |
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