No, unlike everyone else on FA who's pet needs surgery, this is not me begging for money. We're okay as far as that goes. I just need to vent. Spore, my cat, somehow lost the very end of his tail and now the bone is sticking out. I suspected it earlier in the week while petting him, but he never allowed me to get close enough to see. He went into the vet today to get his vaccines, and I told the vet about my concerns. She cleaned the wound and sure enough, under all the dried bloody fur was his tail bone.
So, he goes in Thursday to have the end of his tail amputated.

As far as how it happened, there's a few possibilities. My first guess would be the pomeranians that live here. Not in ANYWAY aggressive or dangerous, but they do like to rough house with him. Maybe one of them snagged his tail in play and he bolted suddenly. Who knows. Being an indoor/outdoor cat I was expecting it to be only a matter of time before something happened to him though, since that's the risks of letting your cat outdoors. Probably one of many "battle scars" to come in his lifetime I'm sure.