Our barn cat had some sort of mishap. We’re guessing it may have been a run in with a snapping turtle. The last 2 inches of his tail have been completely stripped of hair and flesh, all that’s left is bone.
OBVIOUSLY, the best thing is to rush him to the vet…buthe’s not my cat, he’s the barn cat. She thinks the vet care will cost $500 or more, and can’t afford it, was going to have himput down.
The cat seems fine, walking around, no signs of distress,eating well. My vet will probably give me a break on the cost of his care, but he’s away this weekend (don’t these things always happen on weekends?)
I said he’s too nice a cat to put down without giving him a chance. I’m hoping that he’ll be OK over the weekend and I’ll take him to the vet Monday.
I’m hoping they can just use Lidocaine or another local, snip off the end of the tail, stitch it, and give him antibiotics. We’re giving him someone’s leftover Clavamox now.
Has anyone had a cat who needed a partial tail amputation?
Any helpful hints or advice?
Well my cat brings home squirrels and always degloves the tails - it’s really oogey but I think the squirrels could survive (if she didn’t kill them). For sure the vet could just dock the tail properly to get rid of that boney bit and it shouldn’t cost $500. Poor cat, I’m hoping I’m correct!
I think they will amputate it. Never seen a surgery on a small animal go less than $400 but maybe that is just my area.
$500 is about right for proper medical attention. Amputation will be needed if its a real degloving. I would get the cat to a humane society ASAP so it can have a chance for proper medical attention. No need for euthanasia if he’s an otherwise nice, friendly cat. Bobtails are easy to adopt out because people feel sorry for them.
Tail amputations on mature cats can be painful, unless there was severe nerve damage a “local” wont cut it. You are severing between their vertebrae, there is more than just an empty space there. Nerves are extremely sensitive.
My cat’s tail was broken only about 4 inches from her rear end and that was a $500 surgery several years ago. Hers had likelihood of infection and was a messy break. A degloving is a different deal…
Find a COW vet that doesn’t mind doing a reasonable exam and care. Depending on the vet you go to with this it will cost anywhere from $100 to $1000. And the cat will recover just the same. :lol:
If you forgo the vet, which really may not be the end of the world, just clean the end of the tail as best you can, put on some gauze and try to vet wrap it on there so it will stay, and see if you can buy some antibiotic for the cat. We’ve given ours shots of antibiotic when a vet visit wasn’t in the cards-barn cats, strays, etc. Probably if you keep that injury dry and clean it will recover faster than you can imagine.
I did a tail amputation on a damaged barn cat years ago purely for the hell of it, WRT fees. Yes, I was and still am the Queen of Undercharging, but you might be able to find a DVM to do it as a charity case.
Thanks for all the replies. I had hoped that someone had an experience that didn’t involve a full surgery 
If the cat needs surgery, it will fall on me, with perhaps some contributions from other boarders. The BO has made it clear that she just can’t spend that kind of money on a barn cat. I can’t blame her, but he is SUCH a nice cat…and I’m not even a cat person…that I guess I’ll end up charging it.
I am hoping for low cost help from my vet. That’s where we got the cat. He was picked up by AC and slated to be euthed, and they knew I was looking for a cat for our barn. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Shop around.
I had a cat with a bad infection in the tail, the surgery didn’t set me back but maybe 200 dollars. I understand that that vet was ultra cheap and it was almost 10 years ago…
On the other hand, I considered myself lucky that the weekend eye surgery emergency my current tom had only set me back 500 bucks…(and the surgery was the cheapest…every pop of medicine seemed to be 25 bucks…)
You can aways ask your vet to save costs by doing the anesthetic under a propofol CRI instead of intubation. No IV fluids will also save costs. If you tell them its either a max of x dollars or euth,they will do what they can do help the cat without causing the cat pain. Its better to euth than do a shady job where the cat will stay in pain. Hopefully you will have a good farm vet who understands and can do a short anesthetic. $100 from 5 boarders will then hopefully be MORE than enough.
A lot of gold standard vets will recommend IV fluids, full anesthetic with pain meds etc. and THIS will run you the $$. For a pet, yes…necessary to prevent unnecessary death but for a barn cat you can play the odds. Just dont chince out on analgesia 
please get him to a vet asap. if you can’t pay for surgery, maybe get someone to have him put to sleep. he is probably in terrible pain. Animals don’t always show pain b/c it is a weakness to predators.
As others have said, pretty common injury. But, you’re still looking at general anesthesia for the amputation. It’s such a painful/sensitve area that it’s not amenable to repair under local block. Also tends to be very bloody while you’re doing the surgery. I’d suggest taking to the e-clinic if at all possible as opposed to waiting through the weekend. Depending on your area, I’d expect this to run $3-500.
take him to a charity if you cant afford it , or rescue, as they all have vets
and then offer the same cat a home and donate an amount
We’re taking him to the vet tomorrow. He wasn’t around at the barn when I was there today. As I said earlier, he’s not my cat. While i’m willing to spend my owm money to care for him, or to have him put down, I still have to get the OK from the barn owner. We’ve all seen the many threads here about how it can go when you make decisions and take actions for soemone else’s animal.
Good news! My vet will do the surgery, and is giving me a very reasonable price for it…one I can live with. He’s doing it tomorrow, so the cat is hanging out in my upstairs bathroom. I’m hoping he figures out the litter box concept. And I’m hoping I can get him out from behind the tub!
:)Excellent
My cat Rascal did this last year, only with me, it was sort of my fault – he ran in under my feet, I didn’t realize it, and slammed the door on his tail. I immediately took him to the vet, and they had to amputate the last three inches or so off his tail. There’s nothing else you can do BUT amputate. And it wasn’t that much, either, maybe $250, including the weekend stay. But my vet is a general vet, not one that specializes in small animals, and I’ve been with him forever.
The cat is out of surgery and doing fine. I’ll pick him up after work. I’m hoping he can return to the barn right away, or soon. Otherwise, he’ll be spending another night in my bathroom…and I’ll be sneezing a lot (allergic to cats).
This poor guy’s already missing an eye from a mishap before we adopted him. When the kids asked what happened to his eye, I used to tell them he lost it in a poker game. Now he’s missing part of his tail…I guess he should stay away from the poker tables!
You’re good people,kiddo.
A one eyed bobtail - well, he’ll be the most unique barn cat ever! Glad to hear he can return to duties soon. There really should be more people like you in this world. 
ooh keep us posted, he may have one eye a bit of a tail missing but hes the yard mascot and coth buddy now lolx
