Happy Tail Syndrome And Bleeding

[Guest skywalker]

We recently adopted Boggs on Saturday and he is the most beautiful white grey you have ever seen. He is very large and tall with a VERY long tail! He must love his forever home cause all of a sudden he started with the compulsive wagging of his tail and must have whacked the end of it on either a piece of furniure or a wall cause yesterday my house looked like a murder scene when I got home, my husband scrubbing blood from the walls, floors, cabinets - anything it got to. He did however when it happened (he was home and I was at work) - quickly put some antibotics - gauze, and then taped it on with medical tape. Within a few hours it was off again and the blood splatter began again. We did the same ritual with antibotic, gauze, vet tape and then this time electrical tape (forgive me!) to keep it on. We did make sure it was not too tight but to make sure the tape stuck to his tail.

 

Has anyone encountered this problem and how was it solved? I do not want to have to keep him in a crate cause I am afraid of blood splatter everytime he comes out.

 

This is my third grey (our first passed of Osteo in 2006) and now we currently have him and our female Sky - who this problem never happened to.

 

Help!

 

Denise

[JAJ2010]

Recently I hear a tip of using duct tape. Slap it right in the tail since it won't stay on with gauze. Change it every few days. I imagine you would use some baby oil to get the duct tape off or soak it in a cup of water. Good Luck!

[Fudge]

I have heard of using a big syringe casing (or hair roller) surgical taped on (get the tan color, not the white kind). Apply a triple antibiotic first. You have to make sure enough of the surgical tape is on the casing and then wrapped up the tail about 4 inches to make it stick.

 

Sometimes it is necessary to amputate the tail if it breaks open over and over.

 

Good luck!

[Guest KennelMom]

Success in healing kinda depends on how long he's been breaking open and re-healing his tail. I've found that scar tissue just doesn't have the protection that their original skin had and is more likely to break open in the future. When Harmony had happy tail, we had it healed for over a year before it broke open again. We eventually decided to amputate a large section of her tail and we were all much happier afterwards!

 

If this is a new situation, you can try to heal it up...you MUST keep it protected 24/7 so he can't bang the tip and break it open. But, you also need air to get to the wound...Some people have used curlers or pipe insulation for this. You have to really tape it to the tail so they can't wag it off though. The duct tape solution posted earlier is an intersting one...I've never tried it but filing that idea in the back of my brain....To stop the bleeding on smaller wounds like ears and tails, I've actually used the same stuff you use when you quick a nail to stop the bleeding (. The stuff is amazing and works wonders on small wounds in areas that tend to move a lot.

[Batmom]

Keep the wrap over the cut spot light in weight, and wrap about 6" up the tail from there. I used nonstick gauze and vetwrap over the cut part; extended the vetwrap on up the tail @ 3"; and then used sticky tape overlapping the vetwrap by @ 2" and on up the tail for another 6". If you're worried about getting it too tight, you can run the sticky tape up the tail the long way instead of wrapping around, around, around.

[Guest skywalker]

Thanks everyone for all your input. As he is new to us, I ahve no idea if he had this issue in his past. We will try the curler with the taping it 6" up the tail and see how it heals. If this reoccurs, we may have no choice but to amputate part of his tail. Does anyone know what this would cost?

[Guest Energy11]

From our first aid presentation at Mt. Hounds. Hope it helps!

 

Injuries to the tail:

 

Ah ... “Happy Tails!” ... What, “pain in the tail!” If your dog hits its tail against the wall, or wherever, there WILL BE lots of bleeding. The tail, too, is an extremity, loaded with capillaries, which means lots of blood. DO NOT to be alarmed if it is just a cut, or scrape. Hold pressure on the area with your hands, and a towel, until the bleeding stops. If the bleeding does NOT stop, you CAN use Kwik Stop. Apply this to the injury, dress it with an antibacterial ointment of your choice (* I prefer Trypzyme-V), and cover it with a large Band Aid or other non-stick dressing. IF you can see BONE through the tail, this is a fractured tail, and needs to be vetted ASAP. You CAN stabilize the tail, by cutting a piece of cardboard, use a toilet paper or paper towel roll, cradling the tail inside, and wrap with either, vet wrap, or just masking of duct tape.

 

 

[Guest bigorangedog]

Our girl Annie had happy tail several times, and we still occasionally find blood specks on the walls even though she has been gone since April. We used Quik Stop powder (styptic powder for nails, as someone else said) on the wound itself, then a little piece of nonstick gauze, then *lightly* vet wrap it ALL THE WAY up to the top of the tail. This all has to be light-weight or it will fly off when wagging. At the top of the tail, wrap some duct tape around the vet wrap and then and inch or two up into the fur at the top of the tail to anchor the whole bandage.

[CaliforniaGreys]

Just another idea instead of using tape. I used this for Wayne after his tail was amputated to keep the bandage on and it worked great.

 

You can get velcro strips, I bought them at Home Depot. They are just like a belt, you can tighten as needed and there's no reason to use tape

[Guest Energy11]

Just another idea instead of using tape. I used this for Wayne after his tail was amputated to keep the bandage on and it worked great.

 

You can get velcro strips, I bought them at Home Depot. They are just like a belt, you can tighten as needed and there's no reason to use tape

What a cool idea!

Edited November 4, 2009 by Energy11

[CaliforniaGreys]

Not the best pictures, but you'll get an idea of what they look like

[Guest Whistle]

Recently I hear a tip of using duct tape. Slap it right in the tail since it won't stay on with gauze. Change it every few days. I imagine you would use some baby oil to get the duct tape off or soak it in a cup of water. Good Luck!

 

I was able to save my boy's tail, after I accidentally shut it in a door, using this method (but with gauze). I put antibiotic ointment directly on the open wound, applied gauze, put batting or cotton balls over that for padding, and then wrapped duct tape around the dressing and about halfway up the tail. I cut the duct tape and ran warm water over it to remove it. I also ran lots of warm water over the wound before redressing. I changed it every other day, and it eventually filled in with granulation tissue and healed. I think it took about two or three months. This was four years ago, and it has never reopened.

 

 

[Guest Willerton]

My greyhound had his tail amputated at the e-vet for $700. I recommend not doing it at the e-vet. I imagine it would be closer to $300 if it was a planned surgery.

[Guest SusanP]

It helps to get the bandage wrapped far, far up the tail so that it isn't simply flipped off the tip when the tail wags.

[Guest Greytluv]

My house looked like a crime scene with Danger's happy tail It cost around $300 to have it amputated. Best thing we did. We're all a lot happier

[ahicks51]

Note that the artery that feeds the tail runs along the underside. To stop bleeding in the tail, compress the underside with your index and middle finger. You'll feel a sort of flat area with a channel in it, and it's that area that you want to compress to stop bleeding distal to the site of compression.

 

A long time ago, we had a foster with a bad case of happy tail; we used lots of tape, and I think the foster home used a chunk of pipe insulation. I think we used the NexCare blood-stop spray (it has octylacrylate, which is used in surgical wounds) to stop the end of the tail from seeping blood. (Come to think of it, it'd be interesting to see if a tiny dab of Krazy Glue, chemically similar to octylacrylate, to keep the bandage in place- it's used by special forces in the field to do so.)

 

Anyway- it looked pretty bad and club-like by the time it all healed over, not a lot of hair. A year later, however, one really had to look closely to notice it was any different from an undamaged tail.

 

The owner stopped crating him, too, which REALLY helped.

[Guest skywalker]

Thanks so much for all the support! We are going to try the curlers and tape. Do you think using a people's liquid bandaid would help the healing also?

 

His tail is so beautiful, I'd hate to get it cut!

[Guest bigorangedog]

A long time ago, we had a foster with a bad case of happy tail; we used lots of tape, and I think the foster home used a chunk of pipe insulation. I think we used the NexCare blood-stop spray (it has octylacrylate, which is used in surgical wounds) to stop the end of the tail from seeping blood. (Come to think of it, it'd be interesting to see if a tiny dab of Krazy Glue, chemically similar to octylacrylate, to keep the bandage in place- it's used by special forces in the field to do so.)

 

I've used the Krazy Glue. It works.

[Guest Greytluv]

His tail is so beautiful, I'd hate to get it cut!

I know. My Danger had the most beautiful curly, monkey tail. It took me two years fighting with it before I made the decision.

[ahicks51]

A long time ago, we had a foster with a bad case of happy tail; we used lots of tape, and I think the foster home used a chunk of pipe insulation. I think we used the NexCare blood-stop spray (it has octylacrylate, which is used in surgical wounds) to stop the end of the tail from seeping blood. (Come to think of it, it'd be interesting to see if a tiny dab of Krazy Glue, chemically similar to octylacrylate, to keep the bandage in place- it's used by special forces in the field to do so.)

 

I've used the Krazy Glue. It works.

 

Come to think of it, along with glue, the one recommendation that seems to work is to really wrap the tape the whole length up the tail if needs be- anchor that sucker in place, no chance of it coming off.

[mom2four]

Boggs is beautiful!

 

Our Jamey had happy tail a lot. Eventually the end 1 inch was amputated and so far we have not had a recurrence.

A suggestion for wrapping up the end of the tail is to use pipe insulation. It is light and if put on correctly it will stay on. I explained it via drawings to someone else here a while ago.

 

 

This is not a close-up but you can see that Jamey had his pipe insulation on his tail here.

I am willing to send you the drawing via a PM, but you need 50 posts first.

 

 

 

 

[KF_in_Georgia]

Aside from dealing with the present damage--and trying to keep him bandaged and all--start figuring out how to take defensive measures.

 

Where's he standing when he's whacking his tail into walls or counters (or whatever)? Figure out how to keep him away from that area when he's in a tail-wagging mood.

 

My guys both swing those tails, and my front door is in a narrow foyer. If my guys meet me at the front door when I get home, they're smacking their tails into the wall. So I put up an ex-pen across the opening to the foyer, a location that keeps the dogs blocked in the living room (and the rest of the condo--they're blocked only from the foyer). I just move the ex-pen back against the wall when I need to pass from the foyer to the living room and vice versa. When I'm coming home from work, my happy-to-see-me dogs are stuck in the living room, where they've got room to swing those tails.

 

And I was traveling with the dogs when Jacey started to give herself happy tail. The motel room had a desk near the front door, and the legs of the desk had sharp corners that Jacey was hitting. I had no way to block the dogs away from the desk, so I just hung a towel over the edge of the desk. When Jacey wagged her tail, the towel cushioned the impact of her tail against the desk. You might need to resort to padding the hazards you can't screen your boy away from.

 

Note that a tail-wagging dog will still wag his tail when he's kenneled--and can smack it into the sides of the crate. (Although he won't be able to smack it as hard since he won't have room to do those big wags that build up momentum.) It is possible, of course, to pad the sides of the crate, but don't count on the crate being enough protection. And be prepared to muzzle your boy when you're not home, so you can prevent him from eating any bandages. (Aside from the problem that chewing on bandages will prevent healing, dogs have died from intestinal obstructions after eating their bandages.)

 

ETA: Another thing I've heard--a possible way to prevent reinjury while he's bandaged: Attach a length of gauze to the bandage, and loosely tie the other end of the gauze to a rear leg. You don't want to cut off circulation or restrict all movement of his tail. You just want to limit how much momentum he can build up when he starts wagging his tail. He might not mind the gauze, and if he'll leave it alone that will help with healing his current injury; if the tied tail annoys him, of course, you can just remove the gauze tie.

Edited November 4, 2009 by KF_in_Georgia

[Guest skywalker]

PS - Jamey is absolutely gorgeous as well as the other greys who are here supporting Boggs in his happy tail quest!

Edited November 5, 2009 by skywalker