Happy tail not so happy now...

[User9870]

Almost 2 weeks ago our dog hit a wall while out walking and got a small cut on his tail. We cleaned with salt water and it scabbed over.
Over the next few days it kept opening up again everytime he wagged his tail so we bandaged it up to stop this. However it carried on bleeding when he hit have tail on anything so we ended up going to the vets.

His wound is now infected and he is on a course of antibiotics. We have to keep his tail bandaged to protect it. But daily take off the bandage to clean it and put on a clean bandage.

He's been on antibiotics 2 days and if anything the wound looks worse. It's still weeping and bleeding and looks white and pussy.

The vet mentioned if it doesn't get better he may need it amputating which I am torn about.

On one hand he loves his tail. It's so long and pretty and I love to see dogs of his breed (Weimaraner) with their tails. Also it's a major operation.

But on the other hand this is the 2nd time he has split his tail but the first time healed fine. He's likely to do it again and be in pain again. It could be better in the long run and prevent a lot of pain.

We had to trim our Labradors tail.

Syringe case dressing got sweaty and added infection.

Solution was twice daily dressing changes with Melolin and Activon (medical grade Manuka honey), over all the dubious area, then tensoplast (sticky elastic dressing) below that and polster plast stuck to the tensoplast - it's foamy sticky stuff often used in large animal dressings and unbelievably sticky. The foaminess gives some padding to the tail.

The advantage we had was Labrador hair is much thicker so less risk of sticking to skin and causing more damage.

Tail injuries are a nightmare - our old house looked like a messy crime scene as idiot dog stood in doorways wagging!!

Only a dog owner could see vomit as a good thing. Mine ate bandage and also a sock I tried instead.
If it’s not infected and you can keep it from being damaged whilst it heals then it sounds like there’s a good chance all will be well. Hope so.

Well....it looked to be healing ok....he must have knocked it and it's not bleeding in a new place as well as the original sore.
He has an appointment at the vets on Monday to see what they say but to be honest it's 1 step forwards 2 steps back. As soon as it seems to be healing it gets knocked and back to square 1.

He has just been sat growling at his tail...quite funny to watch but just shows its hurting him :(

How are you protecting it? Have you tried the pool noodle trick?

Less of an issue at this time of year but pool noodle can be sweaty - we added wet excema to our tail issues before we found the right dressing options - had a few wagged straight off.

I think you need a frank discussion with the vet on Monday. I know how much tails mean to us but for them I am sure they just want to be pain free and can wag their bottom and stumps just as much.

Tails are so hard to heal and I know mine is very sensitive to anyone touching it let alone keep injuring it.

When I say mine I do mean my dog tails I haven't suddenly sprouted one

Have to say that I agree with BiteyShark. I have a working breed and he was docked as a tiny boy. I do not like docking tails as pups but I can see the argument for amputating some of the tail when dogs injure their tails in this way as they can be so difficult to heal.

Don't have a pool noodle...but used extra padding but he wouldn't leave it alone with it been so thick/heavy....so had to remove some of the padding.

After swallowing his bandage we've only been bandaging while we've been at home with him....so it's unbandaged when I work (2hrs during the day) and he's using that to lick a d bother it...but can't risk him swallowing a bandage and this time getting a blockage. Even with bandage on he whips his tail so hard that he's knocking it and bleeding through the bandage and padding.

Going to see what vet says...if they suggest amputating then so be it...going to ask if they recommend full or half tail.

They would take the minimum to leave him in comfort I am sure.
Random there’s a way of butchering a pool noodle that I can’t quite remember that protects the tail yet allows air at it! There’s also a cunning leg of pyjamas trick I can’t recall either.
Better a shorter tail and a comfy dog. It’s sad but sometimes you’ve tried and tried and it won’t heal. Better one short procedure than pain and potential infection.
Good luck.

I'd push for partial amputation- my lab had his 3 years ago and after we got through the initial nightmare of infections (swabbed and cultured) , wet excema, twice daily dressing changes etc we've had no further issues. Losing the whippiest bit at the end reduced the damage potential.

DH is a (not smallie) vet so dressing changes free except materials - he did while I held... wasn't fun for anyone but worth it.

The vet may put it to your decision. I was told it was my choice which option we tried.

My vets said that in their experience 1/2 amputation has a fairly high failure rate for healing properly (there is still a lot to bash) and can fairly often result in having to under go a second amputation operation to make it a 3/4 amputation. I didn't want to risk him having to go through the operation twice.

3/4 amputations usually heal quickly and without any issues but leave the tail only slightly longer than a docked tail would be. Obviously this is less tail to communicate with but this doesn't seem to have caused my cocker any issues, he healed really well and still wags his stumpy tail at 90mph.

Well he's off to the vets tonight. DH is taking him as the appointment is after DC bedtime....let's see what they say.

It's bleeding again and my walls are splattered with blood....going to need to redecorate as the wallpaper is coming off when I wipe the blood off :(

Oh bless. Poor dog. It needs either a really sturdy dressing that still lets air at it. (Pool noodle or there’s a trick with old PJs too I believe!) or a partial amputation. Hope the appointment goes well.

My dog has a half dock which was done as a pup and he has plenty to wag . We have had a problem with a cut at the tip of his ear that led to our house looking like a crime scene several times , it was glued twice unsuccessfully and in the end we just had to stick a mepore based plaster on it irrespective of it sticking to his hair as it was the only dressing that was light enough for him to not be bothering with it . Good luck with the appt .

The consultation room looked like a murder scene when he had finished. the nurse and vet were covered in blood too.

They've suggested an amputation and booked him in for Wednesday at a cost of £1200. (Thank goodness for insurance)

Poor boy. Yes thank goodness for insurance! At least once the op is done he will heal and there won’t be an infection risk any more. And no more blood up the walls either.
Wishing him a speedy recovery.

Unfortunately it sounded like amputation was best as you had really tried hard for so long and it just wasn't working. Hope it goes ok on Wednesday.

Well DH dropped him off. He says he took him into his kennel which was huge apparently...then left him. Dog tried to get out to follow and DH could hear him crying (he hates been left and will howl when we leave him) vet says she's going to give him something to calm him down...poor thing. Pick him up at 6ish tonight (unless of course they call to come pick him up earlier)

The house is so quiet without him.

He will soon settle. Mine hates to be left and has been known to chew a bit of her own pad off. She was fine in the vets all day. (Ear issue). Hoping your house is back to normal and doggy recovers soon.

Thinking of you today OP. He'll be much happier once it's done and healed.

It's awful when you have to leave them. I am always the one that has to do the vet drop offs and it breaks my heart each time.

However he will be back with you soon so I would try and distract yourself with whatever you can.

He had his op yesterday. We went to pick him up and could hear him howling. They said he would howl then stop when he could see them so they think he's just a big attention seeker lol and although noisy he was lovely.
He was very drugged up still last night... All droopy eyed and tongue sticking out. This morning he woke up and was looking at his tail crying. The cone they gave him was too small and he could still get to his wound but luckily we had a bigger one saved from our old dog....but he's cracked it so a bit of duck tape and we're going to ask for a new one tomorrow when he goes to get his wound checked.

His bandage also fell off (maybe helped a bit when he realised he could get around his cone) so I had to put that back on at 5am this morning.

In himself he seems ok now... Bought him a new toy which he keeps throwing at me hoping I will throw it for him.... But he's supposed to stay calm today so he is a bit disappointed when I just pass it back to him...so I think he's going to be fine X

I’m sure he will be. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery.

He can still be super waggy without a long tail.

My pup is docked and he just wriggles his whole arse instead.