# Tail pull injury - possible severed nerve



## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Hello, I'm looking for some advice from anyone who may have had a cat in a similar situation. My lovely 2 and a half year old male cat, Babycakes was hit by a car early on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we wasn't aware of what had happened until late Saturday afternoon, by which time he was in quite a bad condition. We rushed him to the straight to the vets, but by that time he was freezing cold and barely breathing. Fortunately, his condition stabilised quite quickly and we were advised he had quite a severe tail pull injury (his tail is dislocated and significantly displace from where it should be). He has no anal tone and we have been advised he is unlikely to recover control of his bladder and bowels. The vet said it is likely that the nerve has been severed, but they don't know for certain. It is heartbreaking, as he has no other injuries and is a bright and affectionate cat. We are bringing him home from the vets this evening and will be taught how to express his bladder. The vet has suggested he is pts, but we feel it a nerve injury will take time to heal and it is unfair not to give him and chance. I hope that we are able to give him a good quality of life and any advice would be appreciated.


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your boy. There are quite a few threads about this, which you should have a look at to save me writing it all out again.

Here are some quotes that I hope will be helpful. Click on the boxes to see the whole thing.



Shoshannah said:


> These cases with neurological damage following pelvic or tail pull injuries are so difficult and always upsetting, partially because they are so difficult to prognosticate. The innervation of the rectum and bladder is complex... I usually have to look at a diagram to remind me of the details when I need to as I can never seem to keep it all in my head.
> 
> This is one of my go-to diagrams:
> 
> ...


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

Other one:



Shoshannah said:


> Unfortunately, it's really hard to predict which cats will recover and which will not. As medicine stands currently, we don't have any criteria that reliably predict prognosis so there is always an element of faith involved. How long you can leave a cat is very dependent on the situation: how well the cat copes with having their bladder and bowels managed, how well you cope with it, how much money we have in the pot etc.
> 
> The best prognostic indicators we do have (and even they are not 100% reliable) are perineal sensation and tail sensation.
> 
> ...


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Thank you so much for posting those articles, I found them really useful. We have brought him home now and he looks very happy to be back. He is very unsteady on his feet, but I guess that is to be expected after such a trauma. We will be back at the vets tomorrow to begin to learn how to express his bladder. After that it will be a case of taking each day as it comes.


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## Greydrift (Oct 13, 2015)

For months we had a stray tom cat living under the hedge, he'd accept food if we left it under the hedge (then retreated inside the house), but nothing else - until the day I found him lying on the upstairs hall landing, with a newly paralysed tail and unable to pee.

There was a rush to the vets, and it didn't look good, he was given at best a 50:50 chance. It was a tail pull injury, and he was missing two stripes of fur, one on each side of the back half of his tail. X-rays showed the dislocation/fracture was on the boundary of bladder/bowel control, and he'd lost both. He was kept at the vets for a few days, requiring catheter and enema... and when I went back to talk to the vet, there had been no recovery, and the cat had shut down and was refusing food. The vet gently suggested PTS. I asked if I could see the cat, and the vet nurses brought him to me. Leaking urine from the catheter, floppy tail, the cat that wouldn't come near us wobbled straight over, leaned into me and started purring. One of the nurses asked me to feed him, and he wolfed it down. The vet was notified, came in, and said why didn't we give it a bit longer. Three days later, he started to regain bladder function.

We were lucky. The cat regained control of bowel and bladder. He lived for almost a month in the spare bedroom, because, although the tail would have to be amputated, he needed to physically recover a bit, first. You had to be careful the tail didn't 'catch' on anything, and it needed cleaning after each time the cat used the tray, to avoid urine scald/faecal caking. He howled at night when he was left, so I slept on the floor with him. 3-4 weeks later, the tail was amputated. The recovery from this wasn't straightforward, because he had 'phantom' +/- nerve pain, after the amputation pain waned. He would bite and savage the base of his back, not far above the stump. Again, PTS, was mentioned because in some cases this was intractable, but again, time won out. That, and deflecting his head/teeth when he turned to bite. The wounds healed, as did the stump.

He was exceptionally lucky, twice over.

He recovered. Completely. And never moved back to the hedge.

We named him after the vet, who gave him the chance.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@Greydrift - what a touching and uplifting story! Thank you for sharing it with us.  Wonderful the cat trusted you and you gave him a chance, _twice_ over. Brilliant.


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Thank you @Greydrift for sharing your experience. It is uplifting to hear other cats have come through similar situations. Babycakes has been back to the vet today to have his bladder expressed and he has been given a 50/50 chance of regaining control of his bladder (I'd already noticed that from the articles @Shoshannah posted). We have been advised to keep him in a dog cage to minimise his movement. The vet is also going to arrange a supplement for us to give him to assist his bladder healing (he has a bit of blood in his wee). It will just be a wait now to see if he shows any signs of improvement.


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Not such good news today. We are still taking him to the vets and learning how to express his bladder, but he has blood in his wee. The vet has taken a sample of his urine for testing. He is walking a lot better today though and my hopes were raised when he stood in his litter tray and briefly squatted (alas no wee or poo). He has also cleaned the a small area of his tail (where it joins his body). I don't know if I'm clutching at straws, but I'm hoping some of these signs could indicate some improvement?


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

*My poorly boy







*


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Had a bit of a set-back on Friday morning. He was unable to put much weight on his back legs and seemed to be in pain. We had him checked over at the vets and she thought he had just overdone things. He has been having cage rest ever since and his legs are a lot better now. Still no improvement o n the bowel or bladder front. We are still struggling to express him ourselves and have had to take him to the vet today. We have been advised that it may be some time until we see any improvement.


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## Ali1808 (Dec 27, 2015)

Hello there, really sorry for the late reply, but I've only just joined the forum. How's your little one doing? My cat suffered a similar injury a few years ago and I have been expressing his bladder twice a day since then. It took me a long time to learn though, but it is now really easy and other than that he has a normal cat life (hunting, playing and generally terrorising the neighbourhood) One of my friends cat also had a tail pull injury and he regained total bladder control after one year and it was nine months before he passed any urine on his own. That was about seven years ago and he's still doing well.
Ax


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Hi Ali, thank you so much for your reply. We are still expressing Babycakes twice a day and you're right it is quite difficult to learn at first! Like your cat he has a very contented life (he is totally spoilt!). We have been really lucky with the support our vet has given us and that has made things a bit easier to manage. It is inspiring to hear from other people who have successfully managed this to of injury with their cats and I really appreciate your message. xx


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## Ali1808 (Dec 27, 2015)

Hello Mum of Babycakes,
Thank you so much for your message. I am so glad that things are getting easier with your gorgeous boy. How are his back legs? It's lovely to hear from someone else who is going through a similar situation. Oscar's vets have all been very supportive as well and they were very patient with me as it took me nearly two months to learn how to express his bladder. Now I could do it in my sleep! I have even found a lovely cattery attached to a 24 hour vet practice in north London who can look after Oscar when I go away. I can give you the details if you are interested. They can look after cats with all sorts of special needs. Ali xx


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## Katzie (Sep 5, 2016)

Mum of Babycakes said:


> Hi Ali, thank you so much for your reply. We are still expressing Babycakes twice a day and you're right it is quite difficult to learn at first! Like your cat he has a very contented life (he is totally spoilt!). We have been really lucky with the support our vet has given us and that has made things a bit easier to manage. It is inspiring to hear from other people who have successfully managed this to of injury with their cats and I really appreciate your message. xx


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## Katzie (Sep 5, 2016)

Hi there I have just seen this thread now and wonder how baby cakes is doing! My cat has a tail pull injury two months ago and still has no function! He's dripping everywhere and is getting fed up! I'm just wondering how you got on !


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## Ali1808 (Dec 27, 2015)

Hello Katzie, I have just noticed your post so apologies for not getting back to you. How's your little one doing? I have been expressing Oscar's bladder twice a day for the past three years. It is a huge commitment I am not going to lie, but I have no regrets. He is happy and full of life. We are now facing another health problem which is unrelated but may throw further difficulties for us both. I am anxious about the future, but with regard to his tail pull injury I just wanted to reassure you that it can be managed. My friends' cat had a similar injury and they had to express his bladder for nine months before noticing any improvement. That was 7 years ago and he regained all his functions about a year after his accident.


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## Katzie (Sep 5, 2016)

Ali1808 said:


> Hello Katzie, I have just noticed your post so apologies for not getting back to you. How's your little one doing? I have been expressing Oscar's bladder twice a day for the past three years. It is a huge commitment I am not going to lie, but I have no regrets. He is happy and full of life. We are now facing another health problem which is unrelated but may throw further difficulties for us both. I am anxious about the future, but with regard to his tail pull injury I just wanted to reassure you that it can be managed. My friends' cat had a similar injury and they had to express his bladder for nine months before noticing any improvement. That was 7 years ago and he regained all his functions about a year after his accident.


Thanks for your reply!! Yes it's been quite a stressful few months. At the moment we are lucky because his bladder is constantly dripping so I don't need to express it. He's mostly outdoors and I have a tiled room that he stays in so I can clean. He's been getting acupuncture but no real improvement seen  I'm glad to hear your getting on well, it's a massive commitment but once you can manage it then that's all that matters. I'm a vet nurse myself so I have the support of vets at work for advice etc Poor kitty's and their tails


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## EmilyandNathan (Mar 18, 2017)

Hi everyone... I found this string of posts very helpful. Someone crushed my poor kitty baby Nathan's spine yesterday, and we are currently coping with that. However, I am so anxious to know how he will recover... when your cats had their accidents, were their tails broken and did they ever regain function? His is currently limp, and he has bowel and bladdar retention but he won't use the litterbox. I'm just a concerned cat mom looking for answers or at least some hope.


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## Ali1808 (Dec 27, 2015)

Hello Emily, I am so sorry to hear about your poor Nathan. Is he back home now? I think it's very difficult to predict if a cat will recover from nerve damage. My Oscar showed very positive signs, yet he's never fully recovered. By the time it became apparent I had become such an expert at expressing his bladder and I have just carried on. He leads a normal life, goes out and all does all the things cat do (he caught a frog yesterday and brought it home!). Don't get me wrong I've had to make sacrifices and rearrange my work/social and family life but it's all good. 
My friend's cat was in a similar situation but he regained full bladder function after 8 months (he had his bladder expressed twice a day for 7 months and unlike my Oscar he wasn't even aware when he needed to wee for a while) basically there's always hope.
Oscar's tail was limp when he had his accident and we ended up having it amputated which is much better as he always jumps everywhere and his tail would have got in the way.
How's Nathan's spine healing?
Sending him lots of positive vibes for a speedy recovery.


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## EmilyandNathan (Mar 18, 2017)

Hi Ali! 
Thank you for replying! This strand was so old, I wasn't sure if anyone would..
He is home now, I got to bring him back yesterday after the hospital visit. The vet said we're going to give it time and see how it heals on it's own. Right now he has a crushed vertebrae which is pinching his nerves, so he may or may not regain tail mobility. Worst case, the doctor says he has a limp tail, but worst WORST case, we have to amputate. I was not shown how to express anything, because he has good anal and bladder retention right now... So good that he just won't let go! 
It's only been a day, so he's still doped up on pain medication and sleeping finally. He fought sleep all day yesterday. And I'm such a worried cat mom, I'm already googling for any answers or reassurance. I'm praying for a miracle.

Thank you again!


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## suej102 (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi everyone – like many of you, I have found this forum so very helpful over the past few weeks and have been scanning furiously for answers to the dilemma we have been experiencing with our little cat Frank. Frank was hit by a car (we think) around 6 weeks ago. It was very difficult at the beginning as he had multiple injuries. The worst one being the tail pull. 

Frank showed little recovery in the bladder department for at least the first three weeks. We were close to having to say goodbye as we could not imagine him recovering.

He also had a broken femur and pelvis. His tail was amputated along with the early surgery to pin his femur.

At around four weeks we began to see some positive signs in that he was able to lick his penis to stimulate a wee. Although he kept going into his litter tray, he wasn't able to wee squatting down due to his many other injuries. However he had figured out the 'lick & wee' method and our vet felt that he could now come home and live as an 'outside' cat. 

Initially, he couldn't poo and it just fell out of his bottom – another reason for keeping him outside! We were thrilled to get him home and after a few days of everything being quite odd Frank started to work some stuff out for himself. 

It has now been around six weeks and Frank doesn't really act as though much has changed for him, although he isn't the same cat which is really sad. He is smelly and not able to be in the house with us for cuddles and he always slept with our two labradors and enjoyed cuddling up to them in front of the fire in the evenings. Unfortunately he is also leaking pee so is unable to come be anywhere except our tiled utility room - we have had to remove the dog beds as both they and the dogs were also getting smelly! He is now managing to poop outside as we have not seen any random 'gifts' for a while!

We are going to put a catflap in our outdoor summer house this weekend and encourage Frank to hang out in there for the time being. We are praying that he will eventually be able to wee by squatting and not need to lick himself and then pee everywhere - and that the dribbling wee will eventually stop. However - it is still early days and we do have him home - he is happy and back to business as usual.

I would love to hear from anyone whether they have had a cat recover from this point forward – it would be so great to have Frankie back in the house purring on our bed as before – and breaks my heart to have to keep him outside like this, but we are equally so lucky to still have him I know.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I hope his recovery continues. 
How about stepping in to help him pass a proper wee? Stimulate the bladder by wiping his bum and tummy with a warm wet wash cloth, then you could hold a puppy pad to the area to soak up the wee? 
I think there is a medication which aims to improve bladder tone, Propalin?


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## Po Po (Nov 9, 2017)

Hello everyone I would love to hear how your cats are doing and like many others I am in the same situation right now however I am only on day 3 post my little ladys car accident 

She was hit by a car and went missing for nearly 3 days. Worried sick we thought the worst and I was thinking I would never see her again. 3 days later she managed to get herself home to us in quite a state. Limping confused and of course the drooping tail which at first didn't even notice with the shock of her returning. 

The vet was quite negative which really upset me. PTS was mentioned straight away although she was eating drinking and licking herself. There were no breaks / fractures. The problem of course is the nerve damage so she is unable to go toilet. I have been crying every day with the worry. She is being kept in the spare room on her cat bed so is sleeping mostly and eats when hungry. There has been no bladder or rectal function as of yet so the vet is expressing her bladder and givinand we are now learning too how to empty it. There are no concerns about pooeing its more the urinating which he is concerned about. The vet has not done any other scans or tests so I don't know what exactly is torn or severed he just said nerve damage and paralysis of tail. 

I know it's only early days but these posts have given me some hope. It's just so painful seeing her unhappy and not herself. I pray for dribbles of urine soon or regaining her bladder function. 

Hope your cats are doing good. 
Kisses and cuddles 

X


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## LouisaandHarry (May 1, 2018)

Hi all. I just wondered if any of you still use this and perhaps coukd offer some advice or help to me and my lovely, rag doll cat, Harry.

He had a RTA one week ago. He has no anal tone as of yet and his urine is emptied for him via a catheter.

I now have the difficult decision of whether to wait to see if this returns or not. The vets will want to take the catheter out soon to see if the tear in his urethra has healed. 

He expressed poo but only with help of lubrication from the vets. 

I know these type if injuries are difficult to predict. I miss him desperately and love him as part of my family. Did Babucakes survive in the end? Has anyone else had the severe tail pull injury where anal tone and the urethra are badly damaged but regain control? Any help would be very much appreciated.


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## tiddsamberellie (Mar 30, 2014)

Amber chilling




__
tiddsamberellie


__
May 2, 2018







Hi, sorry to hear about Harry. I can only offer you the experience we have with our girl Amber.
She was attacked 2 years ago in the night and had a broken pelvis, ruptured hernia and nerve damage. She could not wee or poo on her own and had to be emptied daily. She had no anal tone. The vet suggested to leave her tail on as it may heal in 3 months. She suffered horrendous urine scalds which the vets could not cure. After 3 months we insisted her tail was amputated as it clearly was not going to heal. Within 7 days after amputation some of her anal tone came back. If we could turn back time we would have had her tail amputated within 2 weeks as leaving the tail on can stretch the nerves and prevent them from recovering. We had to change vets as this vets wanted to put Amber to sleep as her scalds were bad. The new vet said what we were doing was good and changed a couple of things and she began to improve. 2 years on and Amber is incontinent but she has no scalds, we only need to wipe twice a week, meds once a day, and she is sooo happy. Its still early days for Harry so I hope things improve for him. We give Amber Lactulose every day, she knows she needs a poo and it gets to her bottom but her reduced anal tone means she cannot nip it out so you find little gifts every now and then. She leaks urine while she sleeps but we have special pads which are excellent to save ruining the furniture.
To sum up, had we known at the start what we know now we still would not have put Amber to sleep, her incontinence has caused a bit more washing and a couple of minutes a day for meds and we still have our little one running around the garden with the other cats.
Hope this is of some help, and sending best wishes for Harry and yourselves. If you need any more info please ask.


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## LouisaandHarry (May 1, 2018)

tiddsamberellie said:


> Amber chilling
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for replying. And that information really does help. Massively actually.

I'm sorry to hear what happened to Amber but what an incredible survivor she is!

So even though there was no anal tone for months you coped with the pooing? For some reason I imagine, because laxatives may be involved to assist the flow, that the pop wouldn't be solid?

I've got a baby on the way and it would be difficult to have to constantly clean up poo too. But obviously I would do it.

It's more the fact that I've been advised if his anal tone doesn't return then he has to be put to sleep. They've advised that Harry could have an op at the end of this week to insert a tube so I could extract his urine like you did with Amber. That would give him 4-6 weeks to see if it returns and if not, then it's the end. My vet bill is currently over 8k and the op at the end of this week is another 3k. If I had pots of money I wouldn't hesitate. But I don't. It's so difficult to know what to do for the best.

When I visited Harry earlier he was much more himself, which actually saddens me more because if his nerves do not repair then it seems he has to be put to sleep....or not. Your cat seems to be doing just fine.

I did a lot of research. It states that if anal tone hasn't returned within 14 days it's unlikely it ever will. But it did with Amber. ‍♀


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## paula107 (Mar 1, 2018)

Don't give up hope, my cat broke his leg in February and didn't pee for 7 days after . He may just be a little swollen and bruised. If you haven't already done so (if he's still at the vets) take his litter tray and litter this may Intise him to pee - that's what I did


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## tiddsamberellie (Mar 30, 2014)

Hi. 
Could you go to another vet?
The vet who first treated Amber didn't know she had a tail pull injury, when we told them she hadn't peed they said she should be put to sleep or see their specialist who would cost a lot of money. I took Amber to another vet I used to use when I had a dog, initially he was excellent. They had Amber for 10 days while they expressed her bladder, then she came home into a cage for pelvis rest and we took her back daily for bladder expressing. We were with them for 5 months until they ran out of ideas and we then ended up with the vets we are with now and you could not ask for any better vets,we should have took her there from the start but did not know about them at the time. The money you are being charged is unreal. we probably have spent about £1500 in 2 years with all the ops and meds. Amber did not have a tear in her Urethra just nerve damage which we are sure would have had a much higher chance of improvement if her tail had been removed a lot earlier as the weight of the tail is stretching the damaged nerves. Amber does little pees into the litter tray which took a few weeks for that to happen but mostly she leaks in her sleep. We found eventually that keeping the fur shaved around her area made all the difference as the urine just ran onto her pads and away from her skin rather than soaking into her fur and keeping her skin wet with urine. As for the poos, you control the consistency with Lactulose so they just pop out. mostly while outside.
I honestly would look for a different opinion with another vet practise.


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## tiddsamberellie (Mar 30, 2014)

Hi 
Amy update on Harry. We are thinking of him. Hope some tone had returned.


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## LouisaandHarry (May 1, 2018)

tiddsamberellie said:


> Hi
> Amy update on Harry. We are thinking of him. Hope some tone had returned.


Hi.

Thanks for thinking of him.

I visited him earlier but still no change. They took his catheter out on Friday and his urethra has repaired so that's great. But unless his anal tone returns and his ability to use his own bladder he has to be pts. Surgeon said to give it ten days; which will be Tuesday.

I miss him terribly.

Hope you're well and thanks again.

Louisa


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## tiddsamberellie (Mar 30, 2014)

Ahh bless him. Hope his anal tone returns.


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## tiddsamberellie (Mar 30, 2014)

How did Harry get on with the vet? Did his anal tone return ?


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

So sorry for not updating this post sooner on Babycakes progress. It’s a couple of years on now and Babycakes is happy and healthy. We still have to express his bladder a couple of times a day, but he tolerates that very well. He takes cystaid and urinaid tablets daily and luckily we haven’t had too many issues with him getting water infections. He’s a very happy boy and his condition doesn’t affect him at all.


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## Mum of Babycakes (Oct 13, 2015)

Babycakes today.


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## tiddsamberellie (Mar 30, 2014)

Mum of Babycakes said:


> Babycakes today.


He certainly looks a content and happy cat. Great to get a positive update. Thank you


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## GoshaandCo (Aug 8, 2019)

Ali1808 said:


> Hello Emily, I am so sorry to hear about your poor Nathan. Is he back home now? I think it's very difficult to predict if a cat will recover from nerve damage. My Oscar showed very positive signs, yet he's never fully recovered. By the time it became apparent I had become such an expert at expressing his bladder and I have just carried on. He leads a normal life, goes out and all does all the things cat do (he caught a frog yesterday and brought it home!). Don't get me wrong I've had to make sacrifices and rearrange my work/social and family life but it's all good.
> My friend's cat was in a similar situation but he regained full bladder function after 8 months (he had his bladder expressed twice a day for 7 months and unlike my Oscar he wasn't even aware when he needed to wee for a while) basically there's always hope.
> Oscar's tail was limp when he had his accident and we ended up having it amputated which is much better as he always jumps everywhere and his tail would have got in the way.
> How's Nathan's spine healing?
> Sending him lots of positive vibes for a speedy recovery.


Hi Ali, I was very grateful to see your post on this thread because my cat has a similar issue after a tail pull injury and fractured pelvis just over a month ago. His nerve damage has prevented him from urinating or passing stool on his own, and we've been expressing his bladder 2-3x/day since. His stool just drops out periodically. Actually, we noticed it seems like he is able to get a very small amount of urine out on his own (just a very small squirt) but it is not very consistent at all and he would not be ok with out assistance. We've also noticed some small urine clumps in his litter (he's still on cage rest) but it's unclear if he is occasionally leaking or made this happen. I am very interested in your experience because it seems far more common for cats to be incontinent (leaking all the time) then the type of damage like Oscar and our cat Gosha, where they can't urinate on their own. Would you be willing to connect with me separately about your and your friend's experience? I apologize for hijacking the post!


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