Friday Cat Blogging: SUV: 1, Guest Cat Mandu's Tail: 0

Everyone, let's give a big Friday Cat Blogging welcome to our Guest Cat, Mandu (given name 'Scatman'; Mandu is one of many nicknames).  Appropriate for a Halloween Cat Blogging, come hear tell of the fearsome tale of Mandu's tail.

One recent evening, Mandu's person, Stephanie, was bringing groceries home through the front door.  Mandu, an indoor cat who is  generally underfoot when a door is not closed, espied a strange cat across the road from his very own house!  Immediately sensing the potential danger, Mandu shot out the door and made a beeline for the interloper.  Unfortunately, Mandu's mission was halted when a passing vehicle unknowingly made a beeline for him.

Fur flew.  Wheels screeched.  Mandu screeched.  Stephanie screeched.  Mandu took off up a side street.  The driver of the vehicle stopped and wondered at the big deal bc 'it's only a cat'.  Stephanie screeched some more, abandoned the unfeeling wench and took off in hot pursuit of Mandu.

It was already getting dark and Mandu's coloring did not help.  Stephanie searched for hours and hours on end.  She got up at 5 a.m. the next morning, went back out again, started with their own yard and heard...a faint mew.  She looked to the left, to the right, to the north, south, east and west and then finally looked...up.  He had made his way back home and up a tree.

She got him down and brought him inside.  Checked him over.  Mandu was being real quiet.  His tail was beat up.  Who knew what other injuries might have transpired?  Mandu went to the vet as soon as they opened.  No internal injuries.  No broken bones.  But he did have nerve damage to his tail.

Well, that doesn't sound too bad, does it?  Au contraire, pussycat.  Read this webpage about broken tails in cats from the always helpful Mar Vista (Los Angeles) Animal Medical Center website.  Some especially important bits o' info:

The tail consists of a varying number of vertebrae called “caudal” vertebrae, voluntary muscle, and ligaments and tendon to hold it all together.  The tail attaches to the body at an area called “the tail head.” The first caudal vertebra attaches to a special backbone called “the sacrum” which connects the tail and lower back (“lumbar”) vertebrae.

...

The spinal cord itself does not extend down this far (it typically ends at the level of the fifth lumbar vertebra) so that injuries to the tail do not damage the spinal cord.  Because the spinal cord ends so high up, nerves exiting the cord to provide control and sensation to the tail, hind legs, urinary bladder, and large intestine and anus must extend long branches to reach their destinations.

...

One might think a tail break would involve an obvious external wound but usually this is not the case; instead, nerve damage (from stretching of the cauda equina nerves) is the usual tip-off.

And so it turned out that Mandu had suffered nerve damage.  I'll guess that Mandu's condition falls into the following category (again, from the linked site):

Group four:
Cats with Lack of Tail Mobility and Sensation and Diminished Anal Tone

This group of cats has about a 75% recovery rate, meaning 75% of the cats that fit this description should recover.

Mandu has since seen the neurologist (Christiane Massicotte, DVM, MS, PhD, Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine [Neurology] - phew!) at Animal Emegency and Referral Associates in Fairfield, NJ.  He underwent some tests; started on meds; been observed, poked, prodded and squeezed; and is now home.  Here he is at discharge.  Mandu cannot control his bladder function; the hope is that he will regain that control.  In the meantime, he either a) leaks it out (which is actually better than it staying inside) or b) gets it squoze out of him.  Also, his feces is just falling out.  Again, this is better han it staying inside bc removal would be more difficult than squeezing out his urine.  Here, the technician is showing Stephanie how to feel if Mandu's bladder is full and in need of squeezing.

 

He was so happy to see Stephanie.  He has a very good dispositon and has been an excellent patient, only complaining occasionally.  Other than his physical injury, he is a happy cat: good mood, good appetite, curiousity intact (if not tail).

Here he is, coned and ready to go home!

 

Mandu is currently confined to a little used bathroom in Stephanie's house, the better to care for him, especially monitoring his bladder status and output.  Here you see his pathetic tail.

 

He's not very steady on his feet; he looked a bit like a drunken sailor when he first came home.  That may or may not improve.  He gets around adequately, though.  He was fast enough to make it almost entirely out of scene when I tried to take another picture of his tail.

 

And here's himself, looking as adorable and sweet as ever, even with his cone.

 

At the moment, The Du continues his recovery at home.  Some cats never regain control of their urinary and/or anal functions.  Stephanie is heartsick over Mandu's injury and is giving him every chance she can, despite having an already overflowing plate (child, full-time job, 2 part-time jobs, going to library school).  How she managed things before Mandu got hurt, I have no idea.  With this added responsibility, I'm amazed that she's holding everything together.

I will certainly post updates on Mandu's progress.  Get well soon, Mandu!

Comments

[stephanie]

what a handsome fellow....

I see online that they make flashy kitty diapers these days...but let's hope he learns to pee again. I think that would be best for everyone. He is eating like a manly man and walking much better than when he came home. The improvement is probably due to 1)more time to heal and 2)removal of the cone. Poor Mandu had a very hard time navigating with the cone on and does much better with it off. It still goes on sometimes, but for the most part he is not chewing anywhere he shoouldn't be and in general looks quite fine!

[Annie]

Hi Stephanie! Glad to hear that he's basically a happy cat and eating like a manly man, but he does everything like a manly man, does he not? I do hope he learns to pee again on his own again and that you won't have to deal with diapers. I do think it's great that you're considering using diapers in the event he does not regain bladder control. Hey, we're all gonna be there someday.

[mick]

cool cat. Our kitty was attacked by a dog poor prog but after surgery - 5 inch scar on his back...he still had voluntary motor function and anal tone and pees in the litter box all things we were told NOT to expect!
he continues to improve (attack was 2 1/2 weeks ago). he is walking better each day and still extremely alert.