Injuries :(

Dex and Jinxy had a difficult October.

Dex's wasn't as bad. We had been feeling a mound on his tail and didn't know what it was. We worried it was cancer or something. Turns out it was a big ball of infection from a bite. The bite was from either another cat, or a dog.

Here's a pic with the hair shaved away:

He's all healed up now. The hair hasn't grown all the way in yet, so it looks pretty funny.

Now, Jinxy. Hers was a big deal. On the 1st, we let her out in the morning, and about an hour later she came back with her tail dragging behind her and she ran and hid under our bed. When we got her to come out, she was in a lot of pain. We took her to the vet and found out that her tail had been dislocated. She was in so much pain, it was hard to even move her.

With cats, the nerves that go to the tail also go to the bladder. The vet said there was a good chance she wouldn't have control over her bladder. Not that she would just pee all the time, but that she couldn't release it herself and if we didn't do it for her, it would get too big, cause a lot of damage and possibly kill her. She would hopefully get feeling back in her bladder within a month.

Then - about her tail - it could take up to 6 months to be back to normal, assuming it ever would. If not, it would have to be amputated because she wouldn't be able to take care of it, and would fight with it since she couldn't feel it. Then, it would get infected, etc. So, it would have to be cut off.

So, we had a few scenarios we had to wait to see what would happen. #1 She would have control of her bladder, and then her tail would get feeling back. #2 She would have control of her bladder, but never get feeling back in her tail. #3 She would eventually get control of her bladder and tail. #4 She would eventually get control of her bladder and never in her tail. #5 She wouldn't ever get control of her bladder and then they suggest "putting them down" because it's a matter of quality of life at that point.

The first few days were rough because we didn't know if she had control of her bladder. She likes to go potty outside, not in her litter box. And, we couldn't let her go too long without emptying her bladder. So, it was about 2 days of that before the good news came that she could pee on her own!!!! It was a fiasco for her though - because she couldn't get her tail out of the way for any kind of bathroom use. Here's a gross shot of what I had to clean up once a day for the first few days:

Seriously, I wish I could have witnessed this. There is poop ON the wall. Half the litter is all over the floor. It sounded like a cat fight was happening every time! Hahaha! Luckily, she could bend enough to clean herself.

We had to give her a liquid pain medicine every 12 hours, along with 2 (yes, 2) pills my mouth for a week. The other 2 pills were muscle relaxers and something to help her go to the bathroom more easily. Wish I had video of trying to give her the pills. This was really hard for Aria to be around because she felt so bad for Jinxy. Jinx wouldn't let Aria near her for the first 2 weeks or so. She still doesn't like her getting too close because she's worried about her tail. Aria just wants to hug her! :(

So, almost 6 weeks later, she is doing really well! Still all control of her bladder, and she now has control of her tail all the way to the tip. You could literally see every few days how far down the tail she could control. She lifts it above horizontal now too! She will recover fully. 

This picture is about a week after it happened. Prior to that, she slept all day, and lied around on her side when awake. Her tail was completely limp. But it hurt her at the base of the tail for it to be moved. It was hard to pick her up without hurting it. She couldn't even jump up onto anything because the angle she'd have to be in to begin her jump would hurt her.

This is how she had to eat to not hurt her tail.

Happy day when she could do this again!!!

A couple weeks in, she could get it this high.

So happy she's pretty much back to normal!