My cat chase was run over on Friday morning. He made it home and we got him to the vets! I was told that he had no feeling in his tail which hangs completely limp, and they just wanted to make sure that he could urinate by himself! He has so far not managed to do this but otherwise seems ok, he is still at the vets and they have been "expressing" his urine. I brought him home for a few hours today, to see if familiarity and his home litter tray would help him to go by himself. When I returned him to the vets, they seemed to be saying that if he has still not managed to urinate for himself in the next 24hrs, then it is likely that his nerve endings have become detached??? And that there is not much hope for him? I am reading lots of stuff on here saying that it can take anything from 3 days to 6months for nerve damage to repair and cats start urinating for themselves? Surely I should not be giving up after 3 days? Are there any specialist places I could take chase and if the nerves have become detached is there really nothing I can do?

Hi

What you read on the internet is correct, that it can take months for the end result of nerve damage to the bladder to be totally certain. The tail almost always remains paralysed when the damage is this extensive and most often tail amputation is needed. Bladder function can return totally, partially or not at all depending on the amount of nerve damage. Bowel function can also sometimes be affected. I hope that you have been given the option of helping your cat have a chance of recovery, but its never a rapid process. There's not really any specialist treatment for this kind of damage but good nursing care is really important in aiding your cat to empty his bladder and keeping his rear end clean. It's only really practical if you are prepared to help with all of that.

Cathy Wickenden BVet Med MRCVS
Barton Lodge Veterinary Centre
1 Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5BH
Tel: 01442 216048 24 hours
[www.bartonlodgevets.co.uk]