Thursday, August 26, 2010

Patches and her tail!

UPDATE:
Patches is at home now and resting. The vet believes there is adequate blood flow to the tip that there will not be any amputation needed. Patches was sedated and they shaved the hair to get to the cut. She has a pretty big gash in her tail where skin ripped right off the tail. They put some surgical glue on it, gave her antibiotic shot and pain meds. When we picked her up she was not a happy camper but she has been ok since getting home. She wanted to eat right away as she hadn't eaten all day but then she threw up. She has to wear an e-collar for 2 weeks if we can keep it on her. She is having a hard time with the collar and knowing where she can fit and how she can get places. Right now she wants to jump up on things but lacks the ability to see well. We tried gating her off in her own area but she jumped over the gate. We are just trying to keep her comfortable and keep Owen away now that she can't run fast enough. Anyone with tail injuries want to share how it went. I will post pics soon of her gash and her in the e-collar. The poor thing is having a hard time finding a way to be comfortable to sleep. I'm sure each day will get better. We have 3 days of pain meds so hopefully that helps.

Just wanted to give an update and the story of Patches' tail problem. I was doing trash last night and saw her heading for the door so I went to close it, but she was already out the door. Her tail got shut and her first reaction was to try to pull it. I opened the door and she went running to eat grass, which is what she usually wants to do when she gets outside. I could see that it was bleeding and that it was kind of limp on the end. I got her inside and called the ER vet. They said to control the bleeding and then bring her in in the morning. They said if it was broken they might need to amputate part of the tail. She ate and acted pretty normal last night and moved her tail around which would make it bleed more. I could tell she was having a hard time getting and staying comfortable but otherwise she acted normal. We took her to the vet this morning. The vet said that it looked like the blood flow was still going to the tail and that it looked like she ripped the skin off. The plan is to shave part of her tail and clean it up and give her some antibiotics. They took her back and they decided they need to sedate her to do this. They will sedate her and shave the tail and clean it up and see what needs to be done and will call us with any other problems but that is the plan. She may have a kink but they are going to try to save the tail. I am going to call at noon to check on her to see what they did if we don't hear from them. Thanks for all the purrs and keep them coming. We will keep you updated.