Tail Meets Door

[mimosasmom]

DS called DH all upset. He had accidentally caught Mimosa's tail in the door, about 3 inches from the tip. It was bleeding, but she is not crying or whining and she is a drama queen. He got out my first aid kit and put a small bandage on it (yay for my Boy Scout!) and now she is resting quietly.

 

Naturally I am at work until after 7 pm. DH can't leave work, because he already has to leave work early today to pick up Dash. It's over an hour round trip from his work to home then vet.

 

Argh! How worried do I need to be?

Edited November 1, 2007 by mimosasmom

[Houndmommy03]

I wouldn't be too worried, especially if she isn't upset and the bleeding is under control. If the bleeding has stopped then you are probably okay....for now. Our one pup got her tail slammed in the screen door - it bled like crazy! My garage looked like a crime scene with blood splatter. I can't remember if we took her to the vet the same day or the next (I know we didn't go to the E-vet). The vet wanted to amputate part of the tail but DH said no and to try to stitch it first and see waht happened. Fortunately the stitches worked and she was fine. Our other grey broke his tail open because he had such "happy tail" and we were able to wrap it and get it to heal. I think the biggest problem is that the skin is so thin on the tail that it is difficult to stitch it and even if you can wrap it or stitch it it tends to break open easily. That said, both of my pups healed fine with their tail accidents.

 

Good luck!

[SIGreyLady]

Last month Sterling got some skin ripped off his tail about half way down. Couldn't do stitches so it got antibiotics and bandaging. It oozed for a couple weeks but now its all healed and I'm hoping that when the hair grows back it will cover fsome of the scarring.

[Brooker914]

Just had this happen about 3 weeks ago. I thought the tail looked ok, not really bleeding, looked like a scrape, so I cleaned it and wrapped it up. Looked again in the morning and decided to take her to the vet-She needed 5 stitches! She has been really bad about licking it, but it's finally starting to look almost healed. Just take a look at it and see what you think, might not need stiches, just keep it clean!

[Guest ddsgreys]

I am going to the Vet after work with Jamie, he's the guy with the big time "happy tail", he broke it open about a week or so ago and I just can not get it to heal. I took the wrap off and it started bleeding again so I thought we better make a trip to the Vet. I'm hoping they don't say it has to be amputated, but not sure what my choices will be. I now have the cleanest kitchen on the planet due to cleaning up blood splaters three times..

Any suggestions for my Vet visit, what I should ask...?

[macoduck]

Happy tail can take a long time to heal. I mean a couple weeks long. Your vet can tell you how often to check/replace the bandages. We used a piece of foam rubber pipe insulation one time and soft hair curlers another time to keep the bandage on and cushioned from further damage. Fortunately Oliver was not the bandage-chewing type.

[Jackandgrey]

I caught Jill's tail in the door. It didn't need stitches but it did end up needing antibiotics and it did a dressing on it for a lot longer than it would seem necessary to keep it from breaking open again.

[mimosasmom]

It looks worse than I thought it would -- looks like it's open to the bone, but I guess that it's not that far to go. It was still bleeding a tad when I got home. She wouldn't keep the bandage on.

 

When DH picked up Dash from the vet, he asked what should be done, and they said to make sure it is clean and doesn't get infected. There is some skin hanging a little. She is licking it, which at this point I think is a good thing. I'll see what it looks like in the morning...

[Guest suzye]

Our one pup got her tail slammed in the screen door - it bled like crazy! My garage looked like a crime scene with blood splatter.

I am so glad to read that I'm not the only one who has done this. I did it to Jazz REAL bad one night. I felt just terrible. I gave her a pain pill and took her to the vet the next day. In the morning she got excited and wagged her tail and blood went EVERYWHERE. It was before work so I couldn't even clean it up. There were teeny tiny drops of blood everywhere in a 10 foot radius. I had to call my realtor and tell her no showings today! Her tail eventually healed. I can't even remember what they did to it. I guess it got stitched. I think it was bandaged but they must have done a lousy job because I think I remember it flying off the first time she wagged her tail!

Edited November 1, 2007 by suzye

[mimosasmom]

I took this pic this morning. She is licking it and protecting it. Does it need stitches?

 

[Batmom]

It needs to be cleaned -- mild soap and water or Betadine / Nolvasan solution -- and bandaged. Won't heal if she keeps licking it.

[Guest ddsgreys]

I did take Jamie to the vet the other night for his "happy tail", the Vet said they see this a lot and it's one of the worse problems to deal with, not serious just difficult to heal. He checked it out and said that they sometimes need stitches or they ambutate or he said they have also had to sedate the dog to keep his tail quiet till it heals. I opted for none of the above... I think if we keep it bandaged for a longer time it will heal, I hope... One thing I hadn't done was to pad the tail before taping and that's really necessary so when he does whack it there is some kind of padding to protect it. Right now he still has the bandage from the vet which is really padded, when I change the wrap I'm going to try the foam pipe insulation, sounds like that will work.

[ZoomDoggy]

Yowtch! That looks like a flap of skin that ought to be stitched. Definitely do not let her lick it anymore, She'll only make it worse.

[Guest wmlcml6]

You are so lucky, Camille. Tails (and ears) usually bleed forever. You easily could have come home to walls that looked like a massacre happened.

 

I wouldn't take her to the vet, especially since you are a nurse. Keep it clean and let it have air as much as possible. Tell Mimosa to leave it alone so she'll be healed up in time for GAP Day! ;-)

Edited November 1, 2007 by wmlcml6

[turbotaina]

It needs to be cleaned -- mild soap and water or Betadine / Nolvasan solution -- and bandaged. Won't heal if she keeps licking it.

 

In addition to this, I'd clip the hair around the wound so that it's not irritating and so you can get a better look at what's going on there.

[Guest Jennifer4719]

I have had "happy tail" before and I used Coban or Vetwrap to protect the tail. Use some paper tape to secure the vet wrap to the tail, so that the vet wrap doesn't slide off. Just make sure the vet wrap isn't too tight.

[Guest Che_mar_Cody]

Ouch - poor baby.

No advice here..not sure what I'd do except keep it clean. I'd tmight ry to butterfly it some how, and close it up a touch

[Neighsayer]

Ouch!

[Guest Tenderhearts]

That looks like exposed bone to me.

 

Lori Ann did the same thing, and despite our best efforts after having about 3" amputated, she tore the stitches out, infection set in, and the tail had to come off.

Edited November 2, 2007 by Tenderhearts

[mimosasmom]

You are so lucky, Camille. Tails (and ears) usually bleed forever. You easily could have come home to walls that looked like a massacre happened.

 

I wouldn't take her to the vet, especially since you are a nurse. Keep it clean and let it have air as much as possible. Tell Mimosa to leave it alone so she'll be healed up in time for GAP Day! ;-)

 

Both girls are due for semi-annuals, so I decided to take them both tomorrow and get the shots done and the tail looked at. We haven't had a Wagner pet to a vet since Tuesday... Mimosa is a primper and I don't think she will leave the darn thing alone. She doesn't mess with it a lot, but she gets it bleeding again.

 

I'm not a nurse -- I'm a Respiratory Therapist, so I really don't know about wounds. I think it may need stitches, it's laced open pretty wide. I have visions of her coming home with an E-collar or huge amount of padding so she will leave the tail alone. I know for sure that I am going to get DS involved in her care! He was going into my bathroom to visit Dash when he was sick and somehow Mimosa's tail got in the doorway (she was lying down) when he closed it. The real kicker is that Dash wasn't even home at the time. He had gone back to the vet for more fluids!

[Guest jg_consult]

Instead of an e-collar you can use a turn out muzzle, with a poop cover or some duct tape over the end. Greyhounds are so flexible an e-collar doesn't usually keep them away from the tail.

 

Small consolation, but it could have been worse ... one of the greys in our group lost the "tail end" of her tail in her door encounter last week.

[mimosasmom]

Tail update: I took Mimosa and Mimi to the vet today. They were both due for semi-annuals in about 3 weeks, so I figured this was a good time. Mimosa's tail injury is just an abrasion. The vet said to let it heal on its own. There is not enough skin there to stitch and it should heal itself in about a month. If she licks at it a little, that is OK. He gave me some Panalog ointment to apply twice daily to prevent infection.