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My Final Attempt At Fixing Happy Tail


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For Truman's tail surgery, the vet only took off a few vertebrae above the dead tissue. Now, (surprise, surprise) we are having quite the problem getting it to heal! As expected, he is still whacking it off everything, and even when wrapped, the tip is still breaking open and bleeding. So... tonight I made a final attempt, pulling out all the stops, and using techniques I've gotten by everyone. The result is about twelve inches of pipe insulation, stuck together with vet wrap, and covered in an ace bandage. While I'm waiting for the muzzle guard to come, his muzzle is stuck with duct tape, reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter.

 

If this doesn't work, I'm going to have the tail docked and start convincing people he's a doberman. :goodluck

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Guest zombrie

Oh man, the curse of happy tails continues!

If his bandage job falls off, it sounds like it could be really heavy with all the vet wrap and ace bandage. I learned after many, many, many happy tail wraps that it is pretty useless if the bandage is too heavy because it will just fly off. Then again Minerva's tail never stops (quite violent, actually!) so it may be fine for a normal dog :P

 

Good luck, I know how frustrating it is.

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One option: Fasten a strip of gauze to the tail bandage, and loosely tie the other end of the gauze around Truman's back leg. You want to leave enough slack in the strip of gauze that he can wag his tail, but not so much that he can bang the tail into walls. (You can fasten the gauze to the bandage with a safety pin or with bandage tape or whatever else will work.)

 

This method would let you have a lighter-weight bandage on his tail.

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Kathy and Q (CRT Qadeer from Fuzzy's Cannon and CRT Bonnie) and
Jane (WW's Aunt Jane from Trent Lee and Aunt M); photos to come.

Missing Silver (5.19.2005-10.27.2016), Tigger (4.5.2007-3.18.2016),
darling Sam (5.10.2000-8.8.2013), Jacey-Kasey (5.19.2003-8.22.2011), and Oreo (1997-3.30.2006)

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Guest zombrie

How does happy tail develop?

From wagging their tail a lot, the tip hits walls, crates, etc and their skin is so thin so there is barely any "natural" protection there so it opens up. It took several months for Minerva's to completely heal because, like Truman, she kept whacking it open.

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Guest SparrowLake

How does happy tail develop?

From wagging their tail a lot, the tip hits walls, crates, etc and their skin is so thin so there is barely any "natural" protection there so it opens up. It took several months for Minerva's to completely heal because, like Truman, she kept whacking it open.

 

Is amputation a common outcome?

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How does happy tail develop?

From wagging their tail a lot, the tip hits walls, crates, etc and their skin is so thin so there is barely any "natural" protection there so it opens up. It took several months for Minerva's to completely heal because, like Truman, she kept whacking it open.

 

Is amputation a common outcome?

 

It's not uncommon. A lot depends on the persons ability to keep at the daily or every-other-day bandage changes and keeping it safe from further banging until it's sufficiantly healed to not break open if you look at it. Sometimes, there's no other way to get the cycle of healing and re-breaking to stop, no matter how diligent you are.

 

A greyhound tail is basically bones and skin with a varying amount of fur covering. It's incredibly easy to have a happy tail injury.

Chris - Mom to: Felicity (DeLand), and Andi (Braska Pandora)

52592535884_69debcd9b4.jpgsiggy by Chris Harper, on Flickr

Angels: Libby (Everlast), Dorie (Dog Gone Holly), Dude (TNJ VooDoo), Copper (Kid's Copper), Cash (GSI Payncash), Toni (LPH Cry Baby), Whiskey (KT's Phys Ed), Atom, Lilly

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Good luck. I spent 2 yrs dealing with happy tail issues. I finally had to have 7" taken off. Once it healed we never had an issue

Cassie: Pikes Clara Bell Swoop: My Man Swoop

BRIDGE ANGELS Psi:WD'S Aleford 3/17/00-4/25/10 Snowman: Gable Snowman 1/9/96-2/14/08

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With the kennel dogs here, they usually take off a good amount above the tip which makes healing easier. Years of expoerience of taking off just a bit, and then having to take a bit more, has resulted in amputating well above the injury site the first time with most experienced vets I think.

Sue from England

 

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How does happy tail develop?

From wagging their tail a lot, the tip hits walls, crates, etc and their skin is so thin so there is barely any "natural" protection there so it opens up. It took several months for Minerva's to completely heal because, like Truman, she kept whacking it open.

 

Is amputation a common outcome?

 

Unfortunately for Truman, he developed a nasty infection (even though he was on antibiotics). The tip of his tail turned black and the tissue became necrotic, so we had no choice but to have a partial amputation. He wags his tail like a nutjob, though. Full 360-degree circles of sheer whippiness.

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How does happy tail develop?

From wagging their tail a lot, the tip hits walls, crates, etc and their skin is so thin so there is barely any "natural" protection there so it opens up. It took several months for Minerva's to completely heal because, like Truman, she kept whacking it open.

 

Well thank you for the pipe insulation idea. I got the kind that is self-adhering, so it sticks to itself. Right now, the tip is bloody and raw, so I used a triple antibiotic, wrapped it in one layer of non-stick sterile gauze. Then, I used about 8" inches of pipe insulation, vet-wrapped it to his tail, then covered the whole thing in an ace bandage. I sort of found that the heavier it is, the less he wags it. I feel like it's indestructable, but I'm sure when I get home from work, he'll have the whole thing ripped off.

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oh do i feel for you! we adopted ronee in july happy tail and all - i was SURE i could beat it - lol! foam hair rollers, pipe insulation, gauze, muzzle, antibiotics -- you name it we tried it - 10 days ago she had partial (about 4-5") removal - her nicknames are: wags, thumper, whacker because that girl can REALLY wag!! i keep telling her there is nothing that is that exciting at our house......first vet check post surgery yesterday - i'm so hoping we can get this all cleared up!!

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When my Kramer had part of his tail amputated, my clever vet (he was having major leg surgery--the tail was a bonus the vet did for free!) removed the tail tissue, but took the skin from the end (that was healthy) and wrapped it over the stump, effectively giving him almost a double layer of skin on the tip.

 

Never had another problem.


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Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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When my Kramer had part of his tail amputated, my clever vet (he was having major leg surgery--the tail was a bonus the vet did for free!) removed the tail tissue, but took the skin from the end (that was healthy) and wrapped it over the stump, effectively giving him almost a double layer of skin on the tip.

 

Never had another problem.

 

Your vet is a genius. Truman had the tail done during his neuter. It was one of those "kill two birds with one stone" deals. He was cryptorchid, so the incision on his belly was pretty substantial- about 8 inches long held together with staples. That all healed wonderfully- no problems whatsoever. But the stupid tail (which should have been easy) is still giving us problems. I reaaally don't want to put him through another surgery. I'm hoping this works.

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Guest team_tonio

The dreaded happy tail!! I also used pipe insulation but wrapped in self adhesive bandage. found the higher I wrapped the uninjured part of the tail with the bandage, the better it stayed on! Good luck... finding what works for you can be maddening... there were times my house looked like a scene from a horror movie! :lol

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After 8 years of dealing with dealing with a happy tail that was like a whip, we finally had Chica's tail docked this past Monday - short as a Dobie. I have been cleaning up blood from the walls, cabinets, floor, etc. for the last six days and have had it. I wanted to do it years ago and the vets didn't really want to. She came through the surgery fine and all is well. :nod

 

Mom to Melly and Dani

Greyhound Bridge Angels - Jessie, Brittne, Buddy,

Red, Chica, Ford and Dodge.

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After 8 years of dealing with dealing with a happy tail that was like a whip, we finally had Chica's tail docked this past Monday - short as a Dobie. I have been cleaning up blood from the walls, cabinets, floor, etc. for the last six days and have had it. I wanted to do it years ago and the vets didn't really want to. She came through the surgery fine and all is well. :nod

 

YAY! I'm sure it's super cute on her!

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