Emt Gel -- Advice, Experiences

[Guest Mom2Shiloh]

 

Background -- my 15 month old Staghound, Slick Callan Gwenion (the first) grin .... got his tail slammed in a car door over a month ago. He's had 2 surgeries to repair it, the second requiring the removal of the last tail bone. The bandaging strategies should be published as an engineering text... but where we are now... :

 

I am supposed to be keeping dressings off the end of the tail which is still healing, after Mr. S-C removed his stitches the other day. This morning I bit the bullet and decided that he would be either tethered to me or in the horrid Elizabethan thing -- he would NOT stop licking. The tail tip is the one thing he can reach with the bite-not dealy on. I came home to a pup who had not died of strangulation or anything wierd but who waggggggggggggggggggggged when I got home and splattered blood all over the kitchen floor and walls and himself and me. I wrapped it to stop the bleeding and he is tethered to me.. and I am wondering what the #$#$#%@$% to do next.

 

The instructions on the EMT gel say to cover with gauze after using...... it sure isn't doing very well using just the aloe/comfrey/calendula gel on the tip. Granted, he was licking that off, and with the E-collar he beat the tail to bleeding .... I'm thinking of going and getting another shopping cart full of gauze and using the EMT, a light wrap AND the e-collar. Advice would be accepted with pathetic gratitude.... thanks........

 

head spinning on this.....

[Guest crazy4greys]

Why did the vet say to keep the dressing off?

 

My friend's grey had her tail amputated due to happy tail and had to keep it covered, with changing it regularly for months until it fully healed.

 

With EMT gel, do not use gauze, it will stick to the wound. You need non stick pads.

 

Try this method.....

 

I use the pink curler method.

 

Cut the curler in half like a hot dog bun. Put on some neosoprin and wrap with a piece of gauze and put the tail inside leaving room at the tip so the tail is not right at the end.

 

Start wrapping it at the end of the curler all the way up to the tail and onto the tail with elastikon. It will stay on until you take it off. Change every 4-5 days.

 

No suggestions on keeping him from chewing it except a muzzle.

[Guest DaffyToons]

This is going to sound silly, but if you could keep him from licking his tail, Bite-Not collar, e-collar, whatever, you can use an old fashioned hair curler to protect the tip of his tail. You will have to tape it with pretty good gauze adhesive tape to keep it in place, but it will protect the damaged end of his tail when he gets happy-tail.

 

The kind of hair curling I'm talking about is the lightweight kind that have what looks like a bottle brush through the middle. You take the bottle brush part out, and just use the protective tube. It will still allow air to get to the healing portion of his tail, and will serve to protect it from hitting things when he is happy.

 

Hope this helps!

[CaliforniaGreys]

This is going to sound silly, but if you could keep him from licking his tail, Bite-Not collar, e-collar, whatever, you can use an old fashioned hair curler to protect the tip of his tail. You will have to tape it with pretty good gauze adhesive tape to keep it in place, but it will protect the damaged end of his tail when he gets happy-tail.

 

The kind of hair curling I'm talking about is the lightweight kind that have what looks like a bottle brush through the middle. You take the bottle brush part out, and just use the protective tube. It will still allow air to get to the healing portion of his tail, and will serve to protect it from hitting things when he is happy.

 

Hope this helps!

This isin't silly at all, and it works!!

[Guest Mom2Shiloh]

This is going to sound silly, but if you could keep him from licking his tail, Bite-Not collar, e-collar, whatever, you can use an old fashioned hair curler to protect the tip of his tail. You will have to tape it with pretty good gauze adhesive tape to keep it in place, but it will protect the damaged end of his tail when he gets happy-tail.

 

The kind of hair curling I'm talking about is the lightweight kind that have what looks like a bottle brush through the middle. You take the bottle brush part out, and just use the protective tube. It will still allow air to get to the healing portion of his tail, and will serve to protect it from hitting things when he is happy.

 

Hope this helps!

This isin't silly at all, and it works!!

 

 

I'm off to get curlers and elastikon and and and ..... will report back. I'm beginning to think that he may be better off with a shorter tail if this keeps on but we'll give the curler a try first. we've already had nearly 6 weeks of restraints, bandages, ecollars, re-wraps, duct tape and gauze and I think he'd sacrifice some tail to get his life back ... ..... Really appreciate suggestions. With Slick Callan I am just as much of a nervous nellie newbie as I was when I first brought Harley Stardancer home in August of 96! sigh....

[GreyWrangler]

Hi Sage,

 

EMT Gel - i used it with a cover of a petrolatum dressing overwrap (petrolatum impregnated gauze) brand name of Xeroform it is a human use product. If you can keep the gel on there is great skin grown with it. I used it on Sprite's elbow after her cancer surgery and the less than stunningly successful skin graft.

 

EMT on wound, Xeroform around that, cotton wrap cvs brand worked, kerlix - 4" large roll of gauze wrap. I'd run a strip down the tail from high up, over the injured end, then back up and adhesive tape it to healthy fur/skin. then wrap more aounrd the bandaged end. It will hurt to remove but less than down near wound. Then vet wrap over the whole length of the gauze wrap. Then tray taping tail to the back leg.

 

Curler works too, and also a piece pipe insulation (needs to have ventilation holes though)

 

 

 

[Guest mleekramer]

My pup's leg swelled and she lost the skin on almost the entire leg. A lot of people suggested EMT, but the tube is so small and unless I changed the dressing every 6 hours it would dry out and remove the good new healing skin. THere is a wound gel called CarraVet that comes in a larger tube for the same price as the EMT gel. It keeps the wound moist and promotes healing and keeps infection away. It is non-perscription. I would also suggest that you get some non stick gauze pads to put on top of the gel. I get mine at Walmart. Since we've gone this route her wound has decreased by half in the last 2 weeks and I thought we'd be doing this for months considering the large wound. My pup is a licker and after many setbacks she is muzzled every time I cannot keep my eyes on her. I did a bite-not collar, t-shirts, vet collar, everything. Since the muzzle, we are on the healing track. Another grey mom sent me a muzzle that has a poop cup and she taped a baggie of batting on the outside so she wouldn't rub anywhere raw by the initial attempts to remove the muzzle and she cannot lick through the muzzle. She was a muzzle hater and now it's routine and she deals with it fine. Best of luck!