jassy3399
April 9th, 2011, 08:50 PM
My sister and her family decided they had room for one more kitten and recently brought home Camaro (formerly Devon) from the humane society. 11 month old orange and white male, he's a former feral who is settling in fairly well in the madhouse. I swear, I will post pics just as soon as my sis uploads the ones I took today (it was her camera, I didn't think to bring my own, darn it). He's a bit of a rough and tumble guy, he clamped down on my hand and tried to eat it, kind of like Gizmo does to his stuffy, but he'll learn. he's already getting better, since he wasn't biting too hard. Shadow and Smokey are teaching him the ins and outs, do's and do not's, and he's very taken with my oldest nephew.
We do have one concern with him, though, and I tried to get a picture of it. There's something wrong with the end of his tail. It feels as though there's something biting into it, and we're pretty sure it got caught in something at some point. and it's very tender, Camaro doesn't like to have it touched. The shelter gave him a clean bill of health, so we know there's nothing currently wrapped around it. I'm not sure how best to describe it, and I'm not sure how well the picture will come out. the last inch or so of his tail is distinctly, sharply thinner than the rest of the tail. it doesn't taper off at all, it just suddenly gets very skinny. my mother and I both felt it and we are both in agreement about him having gotten it caught in something, a door or mousetrap or heaven knows what. I'm thinking that the blood vessels were damaged, resulting in stunted growth? IDK, but sis will be taking him in to the regular vet to have that checked out thoroughly.
so, after all that explanation, here's the concern: if it proves to be permanent damage, something that won't heal up and stop paining him on its own, what are the risks involved with amputation of just the damaged parts? how quick does that heal, and would losing that small of an amount off the end effect his balance at all? I'm looking at worst case scenario here, because of course we're hoping that it's something that will heal by itself, but just in case, hit me with it.
We do have one concern with him, though, and I tried to get a picture of it. There's something wrong with the end of his tail. It feels as though there's something biting into it, and we're pretty sure it got caught in something at some point. and it's very tender, Camaro doesn't like to have it touched. The shelter gave him a clean bill of health, so we know there's nothing currently wrapped around it. I'm not sure how best to describe it, and I'm not sure how well the picture will come out. the last inch or so of his tail is distinctly, sharply thinner than the rest of the tail. it doesn't taper off at all, it just suddenly gets very skinny. my mother and I both felt it and we are both in agreement about him having gotten it caught in something, a door or mousetrap or heaven knows what. I'm thinking that the blood vessels were damaged, resulting in stunted growth? IDK, but sis will be taking him in to the regular vet to have that checked out thoroughly.
so, after all that explanation, here's the concern: if it proves to be permanent damage, something that won't heal up and stop paining him on its own, what are the risks involved with amputation of just the damaged parts? how quick does that heal, and would losing that small of an amount off the end effect his balance at all? I'm looking at worst case scenario here, because of course we're hoping that it's something that will heal by itself, but just in case, hit me with it.