Dobby is having a bad day (long)

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.

Awwwwwwww....poor Dobby! I hope they can save his tail!!

Is Dobby named after the house elf in the Harry Potter books? Cute name! I'm glad his injuries weren't more severe!

Yes, he is named after the house elf, and my sister's childhood nickname was Winkie, so we have a pair of them. I hope the doc can save his tail, too. He said he was going to give it his best shot because cats are too proud to not have tails, tho dogs do just fine without.

sorry to hear about Dobby.
I have assisted with a few tail amputations and luckily it is not an extremely complex procedure. I bet he'll be good as new in no time.
I'm glad his injuries weren't more severe!
Thanks
rsuty

Thanks, Rusty. I'm glad it was just his tail, too, as I've seen a lot worse done when cat meets car (that's how I came to have a tripod cat for a while). Hopefully he'll be able to keep his tail and there won't be any problems with infection.

OK, an update on Dobby: although we couldn't see it, apparently his tail was sliced all the way from base to tip. The doctor was, however, able to save the tail. It's a good thing that it was sliced rather than chopped or mangled. Dobby will be coming home in a couple of hours. ::whew::

I'm so glad he's going to be OK! He'll be proudly waving his banner in no time!

Thanks, Judy, I hope you're right. :)

Glad to hear that Dobby is doing well...he's still in my kitty prayers tho. :)

Thanks, Sass. I'm sure he can use them to help fight off infection.

I'm happy he is ok, glad he'll be going home to you soon.
I bet he is happy to keep his tail :D
Rusty

I'll bet he is, too, Rusty. Poor guy learned he's not the toughest thing in the neighborhood.

Despite the fact that they don't always appreciate it, we really put a lot of effort into keeping our cats indoors. In fact, when we adopted our son's cat from the Humane Society, we had to sign an agreement stating that the cat would be strictly an indoor cat.

Now if we could just convince the cats that it's for their own good. We have one female cat that tends to be very good at slipping out, but usually she does so into the back yard, where our dogs have a grand time trying to herd her back into the house. They won't hurt her at all (they know she belongs here), but they also know she's not supposed to be in the back yard, and our Australian Shepherd, especially, loves to try and put her back where she belongs.

Glad to read that Dobby isn't going to be permanently damaged by his experience.

Well, he'll probably have a scar on his tail and his experience and subsequent lockup certainly isn't doing the window blinds any lasting good, but he'll be okay thank goodness. For what it's worth, neither he nor Jezebel (the other cat) has been allowed outside since the incident. Dobby got out once and had a merry chase around the yard before being brought back in, and has had quite a bit of commentary over his confinement but he seems to be dealing with it. He may be joining his brother living with my mother, where his confinement will absolutely be continued -- his brother only goes outside to go the vet.

What we've found helps to motivate an escaped cat back to the house is one of the more powerful "Super Soaker" squirtguns. I don't know about your escapees, but when ours get out the front, they like to duck under the car where they think we can't reach them. A good squirt with the Super Soaker usually convinces them that outside isn't really where they want to be, without causing them any harm, other than the injured "dignity" of being slightly wet.

Ha ha! :) We've been known to use spray bottles of water for correcting behavior inside, but I have a feeling if I pulled out a super soaker, Dobby would be long gone into the woods instead of into the house. I'd rather have him ambling through the front yards than wandering around in cottonmouth & copperhead territory back there, though.