The Tale of a Tail
My cat, Loki hurt his tail some time ago. Here is a rough timeline of events:
Saturday night, 28 June - Frank was away for the weekend and I had just finished the bedtime stories with Junior. I returned downstairs, preparing to unwind. I found Loki curled up on the sofa. Nothing unusual there. But I quickly noticed that he did not purr when I stroked him. This is unusual because he normally purrs like a tractor. Anyway it didn't take long to notice he was having trouble lifting his tail and he was very frightened. He tried to hide away when I called him for food. The base of his tail seemed swollen too.
I had to separate the cats too as Thor tried to attack him and I couldn't risk that happening during the night.
The next day Loki was not much better. I took him to the emergency vet as my regular vet was closed. Well, the vet said she couldn't see what the problem was, and she asked me where I'd seen the swelling... which I'd thought was fairly obvious to see! She sold me some expensive medicine and pushed us out the door. Saying only to ring my usual vet on Tuesday if it wasn't better and they could take an x-ray of his tail.
He spent the rest of the day curled up in the doorway like this. He was looking very sad indeed.
Thursday, 02 July - Loki's tail had not improved by Tuesday, if anything it was worse. I rang the vet and the soonest they could see him for an x-ray was Thursday! 
So, I dropped him off on Thursday. They took blood samples and ran some tests and took an x-ray. Various probing and prodding. The poor cat looked fed up when I collected him. But the vet said she couldn't find any reason for the injury apart from a tiny mark on his tail, which she only saw because his tail had been shaved for the x-ray. So she thought maybe he'd been bitten. 
She sold me more medicine. When we got home I made up a sick bay for him in my home office. He was not very impressed. Here he is with his freshly shaved tail sniffing the bed I'd made for him, which was not up to his standards at all.
So he lay on the floor instead.
I must say that for the first few days after that visit Loki had perked up a lot. He was desperately trying to lift his tail. And things were looking up. Thor had also realised that he should be caring for his friend and attacking him. So he carefully followed Loki around and was very tender and gentle with him.
This turnaround did not last long. Loki started looking worse again. Much worse actually. We were worried about him. Frank thought he might even die because he was not eating and just hiding under a hedge all day and sometimes all night too. Well the next vet appointment was a week later.
Thursday, 09 July - I saw a different vet this time. He was also very concerned about Loki. He used a sharp tweezer-like instrument to pinch Loki's tail, which would normally be uncomfortable for them and force a reaction, but Loki lay very still and showed no sign of any pain or discomfort. 
The vet said he did not think Loki had been bitten, but instead had more likely had caught his tail on something which had caused the injury. He said they may need to amputate Loki's tail. But he wanted to wait one more week to see. I was at the point of asking him just to do it today, if that would bring Loki some relief. But I thought better of it. He is the professional, so I'll go with his idea. Of course I was sold yet more medicine. But this was different to the last two sets, because he was not trying to cure a bite this time. Well, I am so very happy to report that during the week, Loki regained the strength in his tail. It was still not 100% right, but it was looking better and importantly, he was looking better and being sociable again. It was such a relief.
Thursday, 16 July - Another check up, this time yet another vet. She was happy with his progress and noted the swelling on his tail was still there. (Thank you! So, I was not imagining things. I don't rate the emergency vet, who we saw first, very highly at all!). She told me to continue using up the rest of the medicine we had left and to see her again in 2 weeks.
I was feeling much more confident and happy now. And Loki, I guess, was feeling the same way.
Two weeks and a bit later, Monday 03 August - we returned for a check up, and saw the same vet as last time. (Phew, for a moment I thought they had a production line of vets going there.) She was happy to sign him off as well enough not to need his tail being amputated. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! I'm so very happy! And so proud of him for pushing through it and getting better.
The vet said that if Loki was a human he'd probably be having physiotherapy now, but as Loki is jumping up and going off to his fields again this is the physiotherapy he's getting. She said he will probably always have a little bump on the base of his tail, but it's nothing to worry about, probably some scar tissue.
All we need now is for his fur to grow back (which it almost has)! And he's good as new... with a few bumps to add some character.