Chronic Happy Tail...

[Guest Latch]

Latch has chronic happy tail. He has had bleeding sores on his tail pretty much since we got him. I had the two healed up and then wham! another couple showed up within a few days. We stopped crating him and I thought that was helping since he wasn't banging his tail on the crate anymore, but evidently he is still slamming it into things. The sore he has right now on the very end of his tail just bleeds from the sheer pressure of wagging it. I went to the vet today for another reason and asked him about it. He said that Latch does have a rather long tail and that removing part of it might get rid of the happy tail problem. From what I gathered, there's no guarantee he won't still bang his shorter tail into things and still have happy tail. Anyone have experience with this?

 

Just for further info. we have had him a little over three months and his tail has been like this since the first week we got him.

 

I need opinions! Thanks

 

EDITED to add: I forgot to mention, I do wrap Latch's tail in very tick bandaging (enough to pad his tail) and I leave it for two days. I then leave the bandages off for a couple of hours, soak his tail in a saline solution, let it dry, and re-wrap. I repeat this process every two days and it's the only thing that has worked (it got the first two sores healed up), but now there are more....it's just so frustrating!

 

Does anyone know the side effects, if any of a partial tail amputation? Can it turn out worse than it is now? I don't want him to be traumatized!

Edited March 12, 2008 by Latch

[Sighthounds4me]

The first thing I would try would be to wrap it with a protective object. There are many objects to use to do this, including foam pipe insulation, a hair curler, and empty syringe. But basically, wrap the tail with tape (yes, tape to the hair - I'll explain in a bit), paper tape works well, I understand. Then place the protective object over the wounded area, preferably going at least two inches above as well. Then more tape.

 

The first layer of tape gives the second one a base to stick to. The protective object, of course, pads the wound. And the first layer of tape can be removed by soaking with baby oil or mineral oil to soften and weaken the adhesive.

 

This may save your boy's tail, and avoid the cost and trauma of an amputation.

 

NOW, there is one thing to remember - I have never dealt with happy tail, and I am basically regurgitating what has been said in the past on GT. And those who have experience, PLEASE correct any errors you see in my thoughts!!!

[TheFullHouse]

Valentino had this problem too. He kept busting open the spot that had healed so we opted for partial amputation. He has never had happy tail again and it hits his tail constantly. He still has a long tail just not as long as it was.

[Guest KennelMom]

Our Harmony had chronic happy tail. We struggled with it for years. Finally, we amputated. We opted to go fairly far b/c we only wanted to do this once - she has about 8 inches of tail. I think the problem with chronic happy tail is that the scar tissue that forms is just too fragile and prone to re-injury. If you can amputate and get a nice heal, you may be less likely to have a re-occurence.

 

Harmony still wags her stub like crazy and <most importantly> I think she's relieved not to have a bleeding tail or have it wrapped all the time with us fussing over it. I certainly appreciate not scrubbing blood splatters off the wall.

[Newgreymom]

We had Dylan's tail partially amputated in November and it was the best choice we've ever made. Of course we were so scared to go ahead with it, but it turned out totally fine. He had about 8 inches taken off. I know exactly how you feel...Just make sure they take enough and to also leave extra skin to make a nice flap. You don't want the incision to be too tight. I hope that makes sense. Good luck with your decision, I know it's a tough one!

[CaliforniaGreys]

My boy had a really bad case of happy tail at the kennel before I adopted him. They made the decision to amputate the day before I went to pick him up. The only thing I had to deal with was the healing which got really tricky at times but he did great. His tail is only about 6" There's no way he could bang it on anything. The only thing I don't like is people always think he's a Dobe. I guess being black and a stub tail, that's what he looks like to a lot of people.

[Guest Tigonie]

Emma had chronic happy tail. It was a MESS! I'd think we had it healed, and then bam! blood everywhere. The worst time was when it took me about 3.5 hours to clean all the blood spots off the walls, carpet, furniture, and my clothes. She actually got 2 spots on the ceiling, but by the time I noticed them, I said forget it and left them there. As you know, cleanup is a pain.

 

I agree on the treatment Sighthounds4me described. Just so you know, the hair curlers are the foam kind. You remove the rigid plastic clip and cut a slit up the curler to make it easier to put the tail in. The idea is to pad but to let air in, so don't tape over the hole at the tip. In some cases, keeping it padded/bandaged does help the happy tail heal. I used to keep Emma's tail bandaged for weeks at a time (rewrapping and checking it regularly, of course!). It was so often wrapped, most of my neighbors stopped asking. I used to call it her "nerd tail."

 

Really, though, you have to resolve it one way or another--either get it to heal or amputate. Besides the mess and inconvenience, every time it busts open, you have a chance for infection. In our case, the tip of Emma's tail was so scarred that it was never going to heal up, so in our case we did amputate (more in a moment about that). Basically, there are several things you can do if you decide to amputate.

1. minor amputation - removes just a few inches. The idea is to only remove the tip if only the tip is damaged. The tail looks normal afterwards, but if it doesn't resolve the problem, you have to dock again.
2. medium amputation - cut the tail so it's about 8-10 inches long. You leave some of the tail, but lessen the chance of reinjury.
3. major amputation - dock off most of the tail. Reinjury is highly unlikely.

Of course, you'll love your dog no matter what he looks like!! It also depends on where it is injured. If it is only the tip, a minor amputation might work, but if it shows signs of having been broken higher up, the vet should probably dock more. If your dog tends to mess with the tail (particularly when wrapped), you are more likely to have a problem with infection and a need to re-dock. In our case, we opted to dock just about 2 inches. This was almost 2 years ago, and it healed up wonderfully. So yes, a minor docking can work out well. In some other people's cases (Tenderhearts' dog Lori Ann comes to mind) docking a small amount didn't work at all. Here's a post with some pictures of cropped greyhounds (including Lori Ann). Edited March 12, 2008 by Tigonie

[Guest ArtysPeople]

I know that MGPS has a dog there right now that has had some long-healing happy tail, and I'm pretty sure they ended up taking a bit of tail off in the effort to heal it. You might contact them for advice: http://www.greyhoundplacement.com

[ahicks51]

Please don't amputate unless you absolutely have to (which, from the sounds of it, you're nearing that point!). There are still things to try, from the sounds of it.

 

Crating can severely impede the ability to heal; Dash was very bad off, and improved dramatically when in his first home since he didn't have to be crated there. I thought the tip of his tail would be miserable the rest of his life, but it's perfectly normal now, almost two years later. (He bounced back to us after 14 months for personal reasons.)

 

The hair curlers, pipe foam, and other tricks can work wonders. I've also heard of taping the tail to the leg to keep it from wagging long enough to heal. Never tried it, never seen it tried. Maybe someone else has.

[Guest Tigonie]

Definitely try the tricks on this board before seriously considering amputating, and give it some time to heal. We tried for almost a year to get Emma to heal up, but it became clear that it would not. We consulted with our vet, of course. I wouldn't have gone with a minor amputation unless my vet had thought it would work in our case. Emma showed no signs of tail damage except at the tip. My biggest worry was that the minor amputation wouldn't be enough and she'd have to go through it twice. We combined the dock with a dental, to minimize the number of time she had to go under.

 

Just so you know, the post docking recovery was obviously painful for maybe a week or so--but in the long run, she's definitely not traumatized. She wags just as hard now, but without the blood art. I wouldn't dock again if I didn't have to, but if it has to be done, it has to be done. The main thing is to get it healed.

Edited March 12, 2008 by Tigonie

[GeorgeofNE]

I've had one dog have a 2 inch "trim," but only after 16 weeks of blood and gore, and because he was having surgery for something else anyway.

 

When I got my greyhound, he had a bad case that had been ineptly handled by his foster mother. It took a good three months, but it finally healed completely, and that was 7 months ago, and there hasn't been another issue. I wanted to amputate, and when he had his dental when I first got him the vet was going to, but when she actually saw it, she said, "I just couldn't do it. It's not that bad." And I'm glad she talked me out of it, as I never would have known the tip of his tail is white if she hadn't--the vet the foster mother took him to foolishly shaved his tail (which just makes it worse).

 

I wouldn't subject him to it unless he's going under for something else anyway. I'd also stop soaking it in water!

[Sighthounds4me]

Oh, I forgot to add - keep the tail wrapped like this (change the bandage every couple days or so) for at least two weeks past the time you think the wound is healed. This will help ensure the wound truly heals, and is less likely to open up again.