Pain at base of tail/back after being attacked by a stray

[Jo68]

Hi everyone
I wonder if anyone can offer some help? My cat, Jess, was attacked by a stray tom cat at Christmas time and suffered severe bites to her back end, these were very deep, and despite rushing her to the vet immediately she went in to develop abscesses which needed surgery to drain them. She was on antibiotics and pain relief for 3 weeks, and then seemed to recover. However, over the past month or so she has started crying out when using the litter tray. The vet examined her again today, and she was clearly in a lot of pain when her back/tail area where touched with anything more than light pressure. The tail was xrayed in January, and wasn't broken, however, my vet feels that when she was bitten, one of the teeth may have bitten into the bone, and that she may have permanent pain in that area. She is now taking metacam, and also has lactulose, the prevent any constipation which may make it more painful.
Does anyone have any similar experiences? Is there something that my vet and I may be missing? Is there anything I can do to help her? She seems ok the rest of the time, and plays quite happily, eats and drinks normally and otherwise seems well.
MANY THANKS and sorry for such a long post!
xx jo

[emmab]

Hi there. Purdy was bitten by another cat on the base of his tail. Incidentally, during a fight this is a common area for cats to attack each other. Purdy also developed an abcess, and since then lost some of the feeling at the base of his tail. He occasionally used to flick his tail around as well, just as though some of the feeling had gone, and had limited movement. He never had bowel issues with it. It wasn't clear if these problems with the lactulose were since the bite. Purdy needed to have the abcess drained, but apart from the flicks of the tail never showed complications of the bite.
Have you thought of seeing another vet for a second opinion. I know things can take time to heal but worth a second opinion. Not being too graphic but when a cat uses a litter tray, their position means they may agrivate the tail area by the position they sit in and the position of their tail, so may be just irritating it. Sounds like nerve damage, like Purdy had.