My roommate's cat Dobby was born in our den from the mama cat left behind by the house's previous occupants (who left a year before -- grr! and the mama cat lives with my father now). His birthday is Monday and he'll be 4 years old. Apparently he decided to celebrate it by spending a lot of money.

Dobby is a big (17 lb.) swaggering solid white tomcat (fixed) who thinks he owns the neighborhood. We've tried keeping him inside, but it can be difficult with an armload of groceries or something, and he always seemed to do just fine holding his own in fights and running fast from cars. The worst he's ever come home with is a little tear on his ear.

This morning Dobby came home with a deep cut at least 2" long (he didn't want me investigating too closely) to the bone or close to it, following the curve of his tail, about 3" from the base. It looked like it was sliced with a lawnmower's rotary blade. I called my roommate who was already on the way to work and told her to get home and take her cat to the vet. She asked if I'd take him and I told her I would if she'd pay for the time I missed from work. An argument ensued but the end result was she turned around and came home and took Dobby to the vet.

She took him to the vet closest to our house where I've taken my cat and dog but she hadn't been before. He agreed it looked like a cut from a rotary blade and suspected Dobby had been under the hood when someone started their car this morning. Thank goodness whoever it was apparently turned off the car immediately.

Anyway, to keep a long story from getting any longer, he scheduled Dobby for immediate surgery and thinks he can be ready to go home this afternoon, but is entirely unsure whether he'll be able to save the tail. Apparently Dobby didn't suffer any internal injuries, for which we are grateful, but he may or may not lose his tail and either way my roommate's going to be out about $400 which will probably mean I have to cover more of the bills.