Pete's Tail Of Woe, Part Ii

[Guest FireHorse]

Pete had had his happy tail amputated on December 11th. He seemed to be doing well and was leaving it alone, although I noticed that one end was opening up a bit. I took him to the vet for his 10-day check and suture removal, and Dr S wasn't very happy. All of the stitches were still there, but had pulled through the skin on the open side. In the end, he didn't take any of the stitches out, and sent us home with Curafil.

 

And now, all of a sudden, he won't stop licking it, and Jet won't leave it alone either. It looks to me like more stitches have pulled loose, and it's a bit whiffy-I suspect it's getting infected again. And, of course, it's a holiday-they're closed today and tomorrow. I'll call first thing Monday, obviously, but what can I do in the meantime to help? I've got him in a muzzle with the poop cup so he can't lick it. Hydrotherapy? If so, how? I'm hesitant to wrap it if it is infected; the last time we did that seemed like it made it worse, not better. Any and all suggestions welcome!

[3DogNite]

Good morning, I'm sorry Pete is having troubles with his tail! The last two weeks I have been wrapping Rascal's tail due to a rupture and break. it is in the middle of his tail, an i have been able to keep it wrapped very well. Here is what i do:

 

I use a sanitary napkin , wrap it around and hold it with tape. fairly tightly, I don't think you could get it tight enough to hurt the blood flow due to the thickness to the pad. so if you put the tail in the pad like a taco, and tape around it.. then use a long piece of tape to go all the way from one side, down and around the bottom, up to the other side. you have to catch the hair, so use an easy to remove kind of tape. then use a cotton netting material (get it from the store) and wrap around from the top of the tape all the way down and around the bottom of the tail... tape around the wrap to keep it in place. then top it off with vet wrap.

 

Rascal's taill was really infected when i first started wrapping it. he is on antibiotics, and i do NOT use any ointment or anything on the tail under the bandage. ALSO,, I get a HOT - wet wash cloth. and for about 5 minutes a day, I hold the hot cloth on the infected site. dribble hot water on it,, make sure it is really dry when i re-wrap it.. and that's it!

 

Rascal's tail is healing nicley and the infection is gone! now we are hoping the blood flow was good enough thru the infection and swelling that the bottom half of his tail will not die..

 

so in a nut-shell,,, Yes Hydro-therapy. Yes wrap,,, no to hydrogen peroxid or anyother ointments.

Good luck!