Trudy, who had an abcess.....

There are many things that can paralyze a cat. Most people think of cars, guns, dogs, accidents and so on, but what many do not realize is that a bad tail base abcess can do the same thing.

What happens is that the infection invades the nerves that branch off of the spine and send signals to the bladder, bowel, rear legs and tail. This shuts down the nerve signals.

Typicaly this does NOT invade and enter the spinal cord itself, neither does it ascend up the spine. It hits the nerve roots.

This sort of abcess requires immediate and agressive treatment. In an ideal world, the abcess is opened under anesthetic, drained, debrided of infected and dead flesh, and closed bask up as much as the injured skin permits, with drains in place to allow infected matter to still come out. Cats are put on antibiotics, and the wound is flushed and hot packed several times a day. The would also may be cultured to identify the infecting organisims.

Well, not every cat gets agressive treatment. Not every vet will look at a cat, see the infection and resulting paralysis and think 'I can fix this for this cat and these people'. This is what happened to Trudy. Paralyzed from an infection, her vet suggested minimal treatment to see 'how she did'.

OK, these cats do not do OK with minimal treatment. An infection that affects feeling and mobility is a huge infection. Trudys mom persisted and insisted on more agressive treatment.

Slowly Trudy healed.  She relearned how to stand and walk, and her mom learned how to empty her bladder and take care of her colon. When I last checked in, Trudy was beginning to use her litter box some...

Beautiful Trudy...