I'm note sure, but PLEASE neuter him if you're going to feed him and let him roam. Otherwise, you're going to be seeing a lot more kittens that look like him soon.

Neutering a male cat is relatively cheap, too. They can look at his tail then too...thanks for being kind to a stray!

Good advice I would have the vet check him out and get him fixed

My cat did this several years ago. She was trying to leap to the top of a tall cabinet and must have fallen on her rear end/tail.

She wasn't moving her tail at all, even when I pinched it, so off to the vet's we went. Where, of course, she moved her tail voluntarily. The vet took an x-ray and said that it would heal on its own.

For about a week, the cat would only sit down where she could let her tail hang down--so she was on the back of the sofa a lot. She walked around with her tail down.

For another two weeks after that, she still kept her tail down. She'd sit where she liked, but very, very gingerly.

In the end, it healed. I think the pain was the main issue for the cat--once that stopped, she started acting normally again.

It's been about 12 years. Her tail is just fine now. In fact, she's standing between me and the computer, swishing it in my face right now.

My cat hurt her tail, too. The vet gave her an antibiotic shot in it and we had to watch it because he said it might need to be amputated. Fortunately, it healed up all on it's own. Lucky girl, it was injured in the middle area and she would have looked funny having half a tail! I don't even see a bump in it anymore.

I have had several cats with tail trauma. Only one, a large male tabby had the limp tail. His nerves did regenerate and heal and eventually he was able to lift it, but it still had a kink and knot in it. It took a couple years to heal. He did not have feeling in it for a long time. He would walk through open doors and if the door came shut on it, he didn't even know........but would try to keep walking with the tail lodged in the door. sigh. It is very important you inspect his backside under the tail often and keep it clean, especially in summer when the bot flies are out, they can lay maggots on feces-smeared fur and the larvae will drill into the skin.

sounds like a bite wound abscess, not a dislocated tail. the latter is unusual, and usually ends up in a drooping tail without much feeling. But a bite in the base of the tail is VERY common and ideally should be surgically drained (and a good time to neuter the kitty at the same time!).

I'm glad you mentioned that, because I was thinking the same thing, but reread the post and it sounded like they'd already seen a vet. But perhaps they just talked to one over the phone?

My baby (age 9 months at the time) decided to open our screen door (didn't know he could do this) and bolt out of the house to chase a bear cub up a tree (first time seeing a bear cub in our yard, doors stay closed now). Anyways, Bear cub wasn't having any of it and before i could reach him, bear had swatted him out the tree. He fell on the base of his tail, let out a horrible scream and bolted back for the house. I ran in to see him struggling to walk in our kitchen. The impact must have created an abcess at the base of the tail as well, which i flushed and treated with antibiotics. Took a little over a week and a half for him to finally lift his tail again. He was on pain meds as well and i kept him secluded so he wasn't so active. I use to be a Veterinarian nurse, so thankfully i knew what to do since i live about a 50 min drive to the closest Vet clinic. He regained most of the feeling in his tail but I can definitely tell his tail had been slightly dislocated. Sometimes his back legs can be all over the place when he runs and he walks heavy footed now. But is doing much better now. He's 3 years old now and likes to chase the deer in our yard. (They get outdoors time only when we are out with them. So i can be sure to keep a close eye out. The deer love playing with him. But i definitely don't let them get close.) And unfortunately, Due to our forest fires in the area this year, we haven't seen many wild animals come through. Keeps them out of trouble i suppose. Good luck with stray kitty. Glad he has someone in his life to show him the love he deserves!