Does This Look Like Someone Been Burning My Cat’s Tail To You?

I need someone with a pair of eagle eye to tell me if this look like someone took a lighter to my cat? About two days ago he came home with this. When I went to touch his tail it seems a bit tender. Doesn’t look like a knot to me. Has anyone cat been thru this? Hope not but I could use some advice thanks!

Is that exposed bone?

Please take your cat to the vet and have that looked at and treated. The vet can tell you much more about what might have caused it because they will get to see it in person - much better than any pic you post here.

Get it treated, see what the vet thinks, and then worry about how it happened after that.

I agree that needs looking at asap, if someone has burned all the fur off the end of his tail then of course he is going to be in a large amount of pain and needs veterinary treatment.

The whys and wherefores of how that could happen ( ) need to take a back seat until that is treated.

I agree with the above, but you also need to find out who was sick enough to do that. It is burnt to the bone, so says it took a while. You haev a serial killer in teh making in your neighbor hood, someone young and a bully.

That's a degloving injury, not a burn. He got his tail caught somewhere and it pulled all the skin and fur off the bone. It turns black after all the blood and stuff dries up. Degloving injuries to cats' tails are fairly common.

It could have been done by someone on purpose, or it could have happened by accident. Either way, he needs to go to the vet to have the bone amputated and to get antibiotics to prevent infection.

Johnv713 said:

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I need someone with a pair of eagle eye to tell me if this look like someone took a lighter to my cat? About two days ago he came home with this. When I went to touch his tail it seems a bit tender. Doesn’t look like a knot to me. Has anyone cat been thru this? Hope not but I could use some advice thanks!

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Can u get in a well lighted area like maybe near a lamp.Cant seem to see the area well enough to say my opinion.Thanks

If it has been in the last 48 hours or so, if the skin was pulled off the bone would be white, not black. I'm sure you would have noticed it sooner than that? the only way it could be black is if it was necrotic, and that takes a while.

Johnv713 said:

View attachment 278950
I need someone with a pair of eagle eye to tell me if this look like someone took a lighter to my cat? About two days ago he came home with this. When I went to touch his tail it seems a bit tender. Doesn’t look like a knot to me. Has anyone cat been thru this? Hope not but I could use some advice thanks!

Click to expand...

Get to vet

Sorry he won’t sit still for me to take better pictures. I didnt see any exposed bone but a tiny lump near the end. It looks like someone made a wick out of his tail to burn with a lighter or something similar. I hope I don’t have an animal abuser in my sub ..fingers crossed. That’d be so suck in the head

I hope it’s degloving injury though. He’s eating and drinking fine. He’s a stray that walked up to me out of nowhere and started rubbing against my legs a few wks back. He didn’t care for good then just wanted some loving.

I’d love to bring him in to see a vet but I’m on a tight budget considering I just spent some money on TNR. Gonna have to wait til pay day but he looks OK today.

J Johnv713 Whether it's a burn or a de-gloving injury the cats needs to be seen by a vet now. It must be very painful and if you wait any longer infection could set in. This will take longer and be more expensive to treat.

Ask the vet if you can defer payment until you've been paid.
Borrow a credit card from someone, if you don't have one of your own, and pay them back when you can.
Start a Gofundme campaign to cover the cost of treatment.

If the vet thinks this injury has been deliberately inflicted on your cat file a police report and make sure the vet's name is on the report too.

Please don't wait before you see a vet though. These things are much easier to treat if you deal with them quickly. You don't want your poor cat to suffer.

Try wiping it with hydrogen peroxide keep it from getting infected. Or plain Neosporin (Not with pain killer. That is bad for cats).

What is at the end of the tail in the picture? Is it some hair that is twisted together?

Yes the end look like a candle wick. Extremely hard too. I tried bend it and he reacted in pain but if left alone he’s fine.

I think I have hydrogen peroxide in the medicine cabinet.

All my cards are maxed out but will try to borrow some cash and bring him in on Monday ( my vet doesn’t open on Sunday) if things don’t get any better. I’m just flipping mad someone did this to my cat.

I think the previous posters are trying to tell you the end you see *is* the bone and that's why it needs inmediate attention. I don't know enough about cat anatomy to say but it looks concerning based on the photos

If it is extremely hard and he reacts in pain when it is manipulated, then it does sound like exposed bone sticking out, not just twisted hair. The bone at the tip of the tail is quite thin.

that is definitely an exposed bone, please take your cat to the vet so it wont get infected. All the nerves will be exposed and it would be extremely painful for your cat. Please don't bend it or touch it all the time, cats have sensitive nerves in their tail. If it was accidental, which i hope it was the case, otherwise who ever intentionally did that to your cat has severe mental issues or a serial killed who is cruel to animals and humans. I would report it to the police and the animal welfare in your area letting them know that this happened so they keep a track of it in a record and maybe find the person who is doing it if it was not accidental.

I am not sure what I see, but the discussion does not sound good. I once had a feral who had a necrotic tail....very feral and finally trapped. Tail was going into gangrene. Money was tight then and it was an extremely feral cat, so when it was trapped I told the vet that I had no extra cash to put into saving this one. As it turns out, the tail amputation was not such a big deal and I was only charged $50 once I spoke up. The cat rested for a few days at the vet's and then was released. I suspected an accident in the case of this cat as there was no way that it ever got close enough to anyone to be abused. However, any friendly pet or stray who will walk up to people is fair game for the sick of the world.

I called on people that owed me money so far...crickets

I would suggest if at all possible keeping your cat inside in the mean time as if this was intentional and he goes back to wherever this happened then it could be worse, and if there is a person abusing animals it would be dangerous to let your cat continue to roam, and being inside would probably help with the risk of infection. As far as money goes I would seriously try to get him into the vet as soon as possible on Monday and just inform them that you can't afford much but that your cat was injured and needs help. Often times they will assist by giving payment plans. If possible most vets have an emergency line and I would take him in today it will cost and extra $100 but he must be in a lot of pain and if infection sets in things will only get worse. Best of luck, and I hope you can bring your cat in asap!