cat necrosis

Question
hey,
I was petting my cats tail when i noticed that he had a wound. There was no hair at all and about 4 cm down it turns into like its breaking off. the first part of it is white and down towards the end of it its like a reddish color. do you think this is necrosis? do you think it should be amputated? please drop a quick line of text and you opinion thanks for your help in advance.

Answer
Ok I am a bit confused about the "about 4 cm down it turns into like its breaking off" part. What does, his tail?

Let me just say this. Cats get abscesses on their tails from bites from other cats all the time if they are allowed outside. They can lose their tails or part of their tails from the resulting infections.
They can also get diseases such as Leukemia and FIV from these bites, as well as rabies if the other animal happens to be a wild animal with rabies.

So make sure your cat is vaccinated against rabies first and foremost. Get him neutered if he isn't already- that makes them less likely to fight.

Now, having said that, you should have his tail looked at by the vet or this infection could go very deep and he could lose his tail. We see this commonly. White skin is usually skin with no blood supply- black or purple skin is necrotic. Red skin means there is some blood supply and that is probably where the infection is still alive.

No matter what, he needs to see a vet soon. He will need antibiotics for this wound and he will need it cleaned and flushed out and maybe sutured.

So call tomorrow and make him an appointment.