Accidentally stepped on cat's tail - the sound he made almost made my ears bleed

[Serenityinaz12]

I'm super careful walking around my cat and have never had a full blown step-on-tail before until this morning. I took a step backwards and ended up with all my weight on his tail for a super brief period of time but in that super brief period he let out an ear piercing shriek the likes I never knew possible from a cat. I mean it was SO loud! Have any of you heard that before I still can barely believe that came out of him it was WAY more than what I've ever even heard in a cat fight or something.

As far as my cat goes, he's fine I immediately consoled him, gave him lots of attention, apologized profusely and comforted him and he was acting affectionate again pretty much right away - he didn't even run off or anything. I think cats can definitely tell when you are sorry and don't mean to do them harm.

 

[ArtNJ]

I'm 180 lbs and I've stepped on every cat I've ever had, generally not too hard but nonetheless I've stepped on a lot of cats a lot of times, and I don't know that I've heard what you are describing. Its very hard to say, words don't do cat noises justice you know? You may have a loud cat. And/or you might have really hurt him - check what happens if you try and touch the tail in a bit after it has had time to swell.

 

[susanm9006]

Unfortunately yes. When one of mine was just a kitten she darted into the dryer just as I was shutting the door and I hear that horrible screech as the door shut on her tail, breaking it. What was worse is that she stood there with her little bent tail and kept on screaming at me. So I scooped her up and we both cried for a while. Her tail healed without damage but I still remember her cry.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

Yep I've heard that cry it's awful. I trapped my boy in the door he screamed ran and hid wouldn't come to me for a full day. Luckily no damage was done sometimes when I get a fright I scream

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

I've heard it before and Neko-chan usually has a squeaky kitten voice. I agree cats know when you don't mean to hurt them.

 

[di and bob]

Oh yes, they can let you know that you are hurting them! It scares you so bad, and needless to say, doesn't do much for them. Speaking in a soothing voice and apologizing goes a long way in soothing hurt feelings and tails!

 

[Purr-fect]

Im over 200 lbs and wear heavy safety shoes for my job. These are the shoes that can easily break a cats bones as the soles are hard thick rubber. I have stepped on my boys and it has made me feel ill. I am very grateful no damage was done, that I know of.

To make matters worse, my cats trust me almost completely. They lay on the floor at my feet. They sprawl in a doorway as i
approach them. They trust I will not step on them and will carefully walk around them. And then I betray that trust and hurt them by stepping on them accidently.

At night in the dark, if I have to get up, I shuffle my feet so as to not step on the cats. I have also learnt to reach out to them at night in the dark SLOWLY with my fingers curled downward, as once I actually poked poor arnold in his eye. It was a horrible feeling for me and no doubt painful for him. But he quickly forgave me and im much more careful.

My beautiful boys.

 

[les26]

Yes we also have accidentally stepped on their tails, I jump off so fast when I hear them yell it scares the heck out of me and I feel so badly!

Years ago Deb stepped on Sebastian's tail, the end of it, he just jogged away but when she looked down she saw the end of it with a piece of the white bone in it, it had pulled right off! I thought she was going to throw up and die, she felt so badly, we rushed him to a 24 hour vet and they told us that this sort of thing happens all the time, and they just "shortened" his tail and he was fine! Ugh....

 

[duncanmac]

I stepped on my former-feral Barry's tail once - he made a terrible noise and hid from me until I left for work. I got the most pitiful looks from him too. He was fine, physically and emotionally, when I got home from work. I don't know if the screech surprised me more or if it was the fact that he let me get close enough to step on him that did.

 

[Purr-fect]

Im over 200 lbs and wear heavy safety shoes for my job. These are the shoes that can easily break a cats bones as the soles are hard thick rubber. I have stepped on my boys and it has made me feel ill. I am very grateful no damage was done, that I know of.

To make matters worse, my cats trust me almost completely. They lay on the floor at my feet. They sprawl in a doorway as i
approach them. They trust I will not step on them and will carefully walk around them. And then I betray that trust and hurt them by stepping on them accidently.

At night in the dark, if I have to get up, I shuffle my feet so as to not step on the cats. I have also learnt to reach out to them at night in the dark SLOWLY with my fingers curled downward, as once I actually poked poor arnold in his eye. It was a horrible feeling for me and no doubt painful for him. But he quickly forgave me and im much more careful.

My beautiful boys.

View attachment 335009

And this is why cats get stepped on!!

(In the last 5 minutes I have had to step back and forth over greg 3 times...he wont move)