Ouch! My tail!
As our attention was all focused on Xin Xin this past week, we did not really pay a lot of attention to the rest of the gang.
On Thur night, I had noted that Chang Chang was sitting funny. His butt would hang in the air when he should have placed it down on the floor. I thought it was some crazy stunt from him again as his behavior has changed a little ever since Xin Xin was hospitalised.
It was only last night we understand why he was sitting funny. We were serving wet food and as usual, he ran into the kitchen begging for it. However, his long tail was not fully straight up like previously. Instead, it was hanging a little listlessly downwards. And when we touched the base of his tail, he growled in pain and refused to let us touch it.
The vet told us it could be a broken tail (unlikely as he can still move the end of his tail) or a very bad bruise/sprain caused eith er by trauma (eg a door slammed into his tail which is impossible since all doors were closed and locked), kids pulling it too hard (no kids at home) or through a fight where he was bitten hard on the tail.
We thought the last option could be a reason as ever since we introduced Feliway latel last month, Kim Kim had actually regained some of her aggression when she was younger. When Chang Chang had turned adult, he had been gradually nipping away her power base. But in these 2 weeks, Kim Kim has actually turned more aggressive in asserting her position in the household by hissing at Chang Chang very so often when their paths crossed. She had taken over some of his favourite sleeping spots too.
Although clinical studies have shown that Feliway will either have no effect or a positive impact on making cats less stressful, it seems the opposite has happened on Kim Kim. Perhaps it is not Feliway at all as the vet had mentioned but something else which we have not put our finger on.
Either way, it seems that Kim Kim could have bitten on chang Chang's tail very hard during a fight. The vet could take an X-ray now but even if it reveals a fracture, there would be nothing he could do except let it mend on its own. And therefore he had advised us to monitor for another few weeks. If it is a bad bruise, it would probably take a couple of weeks to heal on its own.
I don't understand why all the bad things are happening at the same time.
On Thur night, I had noted that Chang Chang was sitting funny. His butt would hang in the air when he should have placed it down on the floor. I thought it was some crazy stunt from him again as his behavior has changed a little ever since Xin Xin was hospitalised.
It was only last night we understand why he was sitting funny. We were serving wet food and as usual, he ran into the kitchen begging for it. However, his long tail was not fully straight up like previously. Instead, it was hanging a little listlessly downwards. And when we touched the base of his tail, he growled in pain and refused to let us touch it.
The vet told us it could be a broken tail (unlikely as he can still move the end of his tail) or a very bad bruise/sprain caused eith er by trauma (eg a door slammed into his tail which is impossible since all doors were closed and locked), kids pulling it too hard (no kids at home) or through a fight where he was bitten hard on the tail.
We thought the last option could be a reason as ever since we introduced Feliway latel last month, Kim Kim had actually regained some of her aggression when she was younger. When Chang Chang had turned adult, he had been gradually nipping away her power base. But in these 2 weeks, Kim Kim has actually turned more aggressive in asserting her position in the household by hissing at Chang Chang very so often when their paths crossed. She had taken over some of his favourite sleeping spots too.
Although clinical studies have shown that Feliway will either have no effect or a positive impact on making cats less stressful, it seems the opposite has happened on Kim Kim. Perhaps it is not Feliway at all as the vet had mentioned but something else which we have not put our finger on.
Either way, it seems that Kim Kim could have bitten on chang Chang's tail very hard during a fight. The vet could take an X-ray now but even if it reveals a fracture, there would be nothing he could do except let it mend on its own. And therefore he had advised us to monitor for another few weeks. If it is a bad bruise, it would probably take a couple of weeks to heal on its own.
I don't understand why all the bad things are happening at the same time.
Labels: Chang Chang, Kim Kim, tail
posted by KXBC at 4:12 PM
3 comments
