A friend has a prob

[BigRog]

She posted on another site.
"We all remember my so called best friend that recently burned me on the phone bill...well, before she left I took in her 9 year old cat, Boomie...she had left him out during the last bad snow storm we had and his tail had froze...now it is 'dead' and infected at the wound area, possibly gangerous (skin is hard and black, fur has fallen out)...this is the last 3" of the tail...

We cannot afford a vet to fix this properly and do not want to put him down because of this...can a vet or anyone recommend a safe, aseptic manner for us to do this at home? "

Figures that the farmers here might know about fixin animals.
She is a very good person and it will break her heart to see this cat suffer.

Any ideas?

[Horns Pure Honey]

You are going to have to cut it off below the dead and infected area and then spray anticeptic on it and bandage it up. My little cuz had a litter of kittens, once older they hid everywhere. One got in the truck engine and got about half its tail cut off, we cleaned it up, sprayed it, and bandaged it. Now this will be very hard to do since cats can be very mean. My grandpa castrates male cats by sticking them in a boot so they cant scratch or bite but that is a hard thing to do all in itself. You will have to cut inbetween the bones and try to keep it as close to the infected are so it will still have alot of tail for balance. I wish you good luck and tell us how it went when you are done. It shouldnt hurt the cat to bad, maybe for a few days, just like docking baby sheep or dogs , bye

[Lesli]

If it isn't gangrene, the dead are will fall off all by itself. My cat had a few inches of "dead" tail when I got him--someone had apparently put a rubberband around his tail and the blood supply was cut off. There was no infection, though, and the dead part eventually fell off on its own.

[BigRog]

Thanks guys

[Horns Pure Honey]

your welcome  

[Beth Kirkley]

The infection part is the most dangerous. Like lesli said, if it's not infected, the woman could try the "banding" method. It's often done on lamb tails or when castrating pigs, cows, or goats. The area banded will die and fall off. But if there's infection, the cat could get very sick and die without vet care.
The best option is with a vet - they'll put the cat under anestisia (spelling?), there would be no possible pain for the cat, and then there would be antibiotics after for any started or possible infection.

My suggestions for her to look for would be - if the skin is dry and black, it's probably just dead and banding might work - if it's oozing, hot, puss covered.... then it's infected. Also, if the cat seems generally ok (eating well, not apparently in pain) AND the tail is dry and black - I would say no infection. But if the cat seems a little under the weather, even if the tail is black and dry, there might be started infection anyway ..... even if it can't be seen.

Beth