Thanks everyone! It does indeed look like the stylus is gone. Not sure if it can be repaired (the MusicDirect catalogue just arrived last week and the price of this sucker has soared)! Jack better find a job ASAP!
Cat jumped on turntable
OK, I know the obvious response about this but moving past ditching the cat . . . I was playing my VPI Scout 'table with a Dynavector Karat cartridge when the cat (Jack) leaped onto the 'table. The tone arm slide across the record and the platter stopped. After addressing the situation, I didn't see any obvious problems (but I have an untrained eye) and dropped the needle. The tone arm immediately slide across the record to the center. Upon reflection, it seemed like the tone arm was light since it moved pretty effortlessly. Before taking it, I thought I would solicit some thoughts here.