Cat with broken tail and nerve /bladder problem please help

[Momaioneil]

My cat was attacked by a dog and has broken her tail - it happened 4 days ago and she cannot urinate on her own...

The vet has emptied her bladder with a needle several times but wants to start expressing urine manually from tomoro- I am wondering has this happened to anyone else's cat and if so did the feeling in the neves come back? Did they recover? And how long should I give her for the swelling and bruising to go down and give her a fair chance to see if she will gain her ability to wee again?? I am absolutely devastated as she is 7 and is my baby. She is in good form apart from her tail being broken and is wobbling slightly when she walks.., PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME

[BendyMom]

expressing her bladder is a good idea, and not terribly difficult to learn.
bruising and swelling can take weeks to go down, if the nerves are inflamed or bruised they can take months to recover, so this is a slow process.
Is she on anything for inflammation? many vets will prescribe prednisone (which i have seen do wonders). keeping her as still as possible, such as in a nice crate, and just letting the area rest is her best bet.
even if she doens't regain full control of her bladder, you can still express her, and there are medications to help the bladder contract. first i think i would give it a couple months and let her recover as much as she can on her own.

welcome to the group!

[Momaioneil]

hey Thanks for ur reply!!

I ended up getting a second opinion as the vet I went to said if mel didn't pee by herself within 24 hours she thought we should put her to sleep - we went to another vet and luckily we did- it turned out that on a new X-ray she Realised it wasn't clear - she ended up opening mel up and she had SEPTIC peritonitis which would have killed her quickly-- she took about a LITRE of infected fluid out of her near her bowel and put her on extremely strong anibiotics..,
within 24 hours mel peed herself... She has gone from strength to strength since then and although she will be on antibiotics for the next 4 weeks..

She was allowed home for the weekend and had another scan on Monday to see if there is any more infection building up and thank GOD there wasn't! She is eating weeing and pooing herself now. She had her tail removed yesterday so she is coming home today
The moral of the story is : IF U HAVE ANY DOUBT AT ALL, GET A SECOND OPINION FROM ANOTHER VET- if I didn't follow my intuition, mel would not be here now and would have been put to sleep last week. Thanks for ur help and advice Guys xx

[BendyMom]

eiyikes!!! how in the h did the first vet miss that???
i agree, i am a big fan of second, and third, opinions.
so glad to hear you have her on the road to recovery. poor girl!