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Tail Trauma


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Anyone here been thru this kind of thing recently? My Grey, Peggy somehow ended up with two 1 and a half inch cuts along either side of the tip of her tail. The vet says it needs to be amputated tomorrow just above the damage and where there is enough tissue for a wound to heal.

She was playing with another dog that caght up with her and I heard a yelp, but I thought the other dog just playfully nipped her butt. Anyway I didn't notice any blood until I was bringing her back from the park. Maybe while twriling in the sand pit she stepped on the end of the tail and damaged it herself?

Anyway, she's now bandaged and sedated, had her last meal, and will go back to vet 9.15 tomorrow morning.

 

Any helpful hints most welcome.

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Guest Flysmom

I am no expert by all means!! My Fly had a bad case of happy tail and we needed to amputate half of his tail, however the first time he injured his tail and I took him to our vet they cleaned the wound/cut and wrapped it up to let it heal, which would have worked just fine but once the tail was healed he kept banging it against the walls and reopened it. Why does your vet want to amputate rather than letting it heal?

 

The amp site healed fast and we had no issues woundcare or infections. He still looked gorgeous and was as happy as a clam.

Hope Peggy feels better soon!

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Idol had several tail wounds when we adopted her. We did the 1/4 pipe insulation, emt gel and vet wrap with elasticon bandage for 6 weeks. Of course, we constantly checked the wound and re-wrapped. Her tail is beautiful.

John E got his tail stuck, somehow, in the corner of his crate and ripped it, including flesh. He had about an inch amputated. It healed well and you could never even tell he had an injury. Good luck with Peggy, and for me, another reason not to attend dog parks.

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Guest scfilby

Sorry to hear about your poor pups tail. There are many hounds who have lost some tail due to happy tail. Our Mickey partially de-gloved her tail in a door years ago. Because I was there, I was able to clean it well and close the wound with cyanoacrylate. She recovered fully.

 

After the operation get a length of foam pipe insulation. Wrap that on the tail with some self adhesive bandage to protect the wound.

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Also thoses old fashioned foam curlers at Dollar General work good. Just take the plastic part out (throw away) cut the foam length wise and tape it on the tail loosely over the bandage..I got this tip from the world famous Dee in Ellijay!!!

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Thanks for the replies. Foam insulation sounds like a GreyT idea.

The vet said that because the tail is so thin towards the very tip it would need many micro stitches (imagine two 1/8th" deep gouges running 1.5" down alternate sides) and in his experience the majority still need the tip amputated as a result of the wound ultimately going bad. The fewer anesthetic episodes the better too. He knows about greyhound friendly drugs and to closely monitor their temperature.

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I'm not a vet, and haven't seen her injuries, but you could ask him about allowing the tail to heal by second intention (ie, without stitches) using manuka honey and good protection ... however, it does seem that some tails just won't/can't heal.

 

The problem with amputation (and the reason I personally would be keen to at least try to heal it first) seems to be that in some cases, you end up amputating a bit more, and then a bit more because the hound keeps re-injuring it by whacking it on things.

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The plural of anecdote is not data

Brambleberry Greyhounds My Etsy Shop

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Update: Picture in the link has explanatory caption.

http://www.pbase.com/image/126577584

 

The vet said the wound was too bad to let it try to heal full length.

I feel almost guilty worrying over a dog with a 'normal' injury with all this dire stuff about Osteo going down on here. Talking of which there was a dog on the BBC's "Bionic Vet" that had a replacement joint made to get over Osteo.

 

http://wscdn.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t14qf

Edited by JohnF
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Update: Picture in the link has explanatory caption.

http://www.pbase.com/image/126577584

 

The vet said the wound was too bad to let it try to heal full length.

I feel almost guilty worrying over a dog with a 'normal' injury with all this dire stuff about Osteo going down on here. Talking of which there was a dog on the BBC's "Bionic Vet" that had a replacement joint made to get over Osteo.

 

http://wscdn.bbc.co....rammes/b00t14qf

 

 

No need to feel guilty.....we all have been through critical issues - but that doesn't mean that others aren't serious...and though I'm pretty new to GT, it's pretty clear that everyone cares about all of the issues that we deal with daily.... Good luck with her!

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Guest eaglflyt

Update: Picture in the link has explanatory caption.

http://www.pbase.com/image/126577584

 

The vet said the wound was too bad to let it try to heal full length.

I feel almost guilty worrying over a dog with a 'normal' injury with all this dire stuff about Osteo going down on here. Talking of which there was a dog on the BBC's "Bionic Vet" that had a replacement joint made to get over Osteo.

 

http://wscdn.bbc.co....rammes/b00t14qf

 

John, I really think we are all relieved to see a *normal injury* in this section. So please, don't worry or feel guilty about anything. This section is for anyone with *any* medical questions or issues ... minor or major. ;)

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Hope girly heals up nicely now! Tail injuries are very difficult to heal. In any case, Gidget says that white tail-tips are overrated -- you camouflage much better without one.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Oh, isn't she pretty? :wub:

 

No need to feel guilty - look at it this way: if all anyone sees posted here are the critical, life-threatening, horrible problems, they're going to get a pretty skewed view of greyhound health issues!

 

Anything you need to know about medical issues, no matter how great or small, is good to post here! :)

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The plural of anecdote is not data

Brambleberry Greyhounds My Etsy Shop

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How is your girl doing? I went through the same thing with Sterling. I tried to let it heal up but it didn'tsad.gif and we ended up amputating 4 - 5 inches. It healed up beautifully!

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Mimi- mom to Burdette (KB's Burdette), Sophie (LL's Stupid Is) and bridge babies Kelsey (Kelso's Logo), Sterling (Cold B Tiger), Fritz, Tasha, Chloe and Molly

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Guest kydie

what a beauty your pup is, and so what if her tail is a little shorter than she started out life with, just think of all the things we as humans no longer have, that we started out life with,,, the doctor told me I'm getting shorter,,, WHAT,,, I'm only 4 ft 11 to start with :lol I think she is beautiful,,,, keep us posted on her healing process :)

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Hi, thanks everyone for showing an interest in my little black & white girl. She's doing OK I guess with dressing changes every 3 days and still on antibiotics night and morning. Dreadful gas from the antibiotics but I've found a little natural yogurt mid-day kind of keeps it under control. She's restricted to leash walks (more walking for me or she will get bored and start wrecking things) and I have to be very careful she doesn't tear around the backyard at 40mph as there are numerous obstacles that she likes to just miss.

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Sedated for a tail injury?

 

I have way more experience with tail damage than I want!

 

George's healed on it's own, thank goodness, once he was out of the crate.

 

My other dog, Kramer, had an ultra long tail, and since he was having surgery for something else anyway, my vet amputated a few inches. It healed up just fine, there were no problems at all.


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  • 2 weeks later...

Update on Peggy's Tail.

Two and a half weeks out and she has an infection in the wound. It would appear that the 1 and a half tablets of Noroclav 250 twice daily didn't keep it clear, though it looked like it was healing on Monday. Now she is on Clindacyl 150mg twice a day (supposedly a better wound infection antibiotic), but with cultures being grown over the weekend to identify the specific bacteria. Dressing changed every 3 days. Tail injuries are a nightmare!

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She's a beautiful girl. So sorry for the set back! If you could get some genuine Manuka honey try that. It has remarkable antibiotic/healing properties. Please keep us advised on her recovery and tell her to get well soon.

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Aw, jeez. Hoped she'd be all healed up. Fingers crossed the culture provides the right antibiotic to finish this process for you and her!

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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