Fast And His Happy Tail

[SarahsBlackPack]

My new guy Fast has a case of happy tail. I've tried wrapping it several times. He's starting to get to the point he doesn't like having his tail messed with. But he's such a good boy when we see him going after the tip of his tail he actually does stop and leaves it alone. It seems like every time it seems to get a really good scab on it he manges to break it open again and then were right back at square 1,

 

Anyone have any ideas or tips! I could really use them right now!

[macoduck]

How long have you been leaving it bandaged, including re-checking for healing, in total between bleeding episodes?

Wouldn't be unusual to keep a dressing on for weeks at a time - but with periodically checked to see the health of the tissue.

 

How long have you been leaving it bandaged, including re-checking for healing, in total between bleeding episodes?

Wouldn't be unusual to keep a dressing on for weeks at a time - but with periodically checked to see the health of the tissue.

 

Editing to add if the tissue looks good and it keeps bleeding, I wonder if this would be an occasion to use Super Glue?

Edited August 14, 2010 by macoduck

[Guest Energy11]

Our Oakly had a GOOD case of Happy Tail when we were renting a cabin at Mt. Hounds... what a mess, but a good story for the first aid seminar :-))

 

Thanks to wonderful suggestions from the people at the seminar, I went to Family Dollar and bought a bag of those old fashined sponge hair rollers! I cut the sponge part in half and wrapped his tail with it... using sports tape *** also available at Family Dollar *** to hold it on! I dressed the tail with my favorite antibacterial spray, then, a large bandaid, and then, the cut down the middle sponge from the roller. I finished it off with the sports tape, spreading the tape high up on the tail, AND IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Good Luck....Happy Tail is anything but happy!

 

 

[Houndtime]

Idol came to us with a really bad case of happy tail. We kept her wrapped in 1/4 inch pipe insulation, elastikon tape and vet wrap for 6 weeks. We checked the wound every few days of course, and applied EMT gel as needed. You must keep it covered until the scab itself is healed. Good luck and have patience.

[Batmom]

Wrap with padding -- but keep it light in weight -- until the scab falls off, leaving a nice pink scar, PLUS at least 3 weeks. I feel for you.

[Guest mcsheltie]

That would horrible to have happen in a rental! My house looked like an axe murderer had gone wild. I was washing blood off the ceiling in every room.

 

I bought a big air conditioner filter (spongy material) at Wal-mart for a buck. I liked it cause I could make it as thick as I needed. Thicker in the beginning and just a little padding toward the end of the wrapping period. And I could vary the length so the tape was on a different part of her tail each time. I put one wrap of tape midway around the filter to hold it together. And a wrap around the top, just catching some hair to keep it on. I used water proof bandage tape. It came off without pulling out so much hair.

 

I kept it wrapped for about two months. It takes a LONG time for it to heal and the skin to get thick enough not to break open again.

[Guest Greytluv]

I tried to heal my Danger dog's happy tail for 3 years. It was just an open wound most of the time. We finally had it amputated. Best think we ever did. Danger was so much happier w/o his tail.

 

And it was a beautiful, long, curled tail

Edited August 15, 2010 by Greytluv

[SarahsBlackPack]

Thanks for all your ideas everyone. Maybe were just keeping it wrapped long enough for it to really heal. I just feel so bad for him because his tail is all wrapped up. I don not want to cause any permament damage to his tail too.

[Guest Berylsmum]

I'm still battling with Beryl's happy tail. She's done it 3 times in the 4 months I've had her. This time I'm going to keep it protected for at least 2 weeks. I'm thinking it will probably be an on-going thing unless I move into a tent! Good luck:)

[kudzu]

Thanks for all your ideas everyone. Maybe were just keeping it wrapped long enough for it to really heal. I just feel so bad for him because his tail is all wrapped up.

Don't feel sorry for him because of the wrapping. Just keep it up until it heals so hopefully this won't go on forever or end up worse. It is healing when given an opportunity, correct? If you are not really sure & have not done so yet you may want a vet to look at it just to make sure. If the tissue is getting necrotic & not healing well there is a cause to be made for amputation. Not saying your average-joe, run of the mill happy tail is reason to amputate but once it gets to a certain point I really think the dogs are better off.

 

I don not want to cause any permament damage to his tail too.

 

As long as it isn't wrapped too tightly you won't cause harm. Someone, somewhere posted a wrapping technique that worked very well for keeping a happy tail bandage on my girl's tail & did not require removing all the tape each time. Dr. Gillette showed me how to wrap her foot in a related manner. It involved a long piece of Elastikon tape, perhaps only half width depending on how wide the tape is, that went down one side of the tail, around the bandaged part & then up the other side again. When doing the bandage change you cut off just the bottom section & rewrap with the new tape sticking to the old tape, not the skin/hair. This way you are not pulling the tape off every time. It worked quite well for her tail & fairly well for her foot except when it got quite wet if we forgot to put her booty on outside. I am terrible at describing things unless fresh in my memory. Hopefully someone else can explain the method better.

 

There is a type of adhesive remover marketed for human skin. Forget the name. It works very well at removing the sticky, sticky Elastikon adhesive. I used that to remove the Elastikon completely once or twice to make sure the skin underneath was not being harmed or getting irritated.

 

Good luck. Time usually does heal nearly all happy tail so be patient & diligent. Just remember that amputation, though not preferable, isn't as awful as it sounds *if* it ever gets to that. And *if* it came to that, take off enough to prevent likelihood of recurrence.

[Guest mcsheltie]

I'm still battling with Beryl's happy tail. She's done it 3 times in the 4 months I've had her. This time I'm going to keep it protected for at least 2 weeks. I'm thinking it will probably be an on-going thing unless I move into a tent! Good luck:)

Two weeks usually isn't enough. Think two months. The injury may heal in two weeks, but the skin isn't strong enough to withstand being banged into solid objects. There isn't any muscle or fat between the skin and bone to cushion the blow.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

So many dogs are able to heal and have the healing work like a charm! I hope that's what happens with Fast! With Woodie, he had a happy tail wound when we got him and it got worse and worse. Wrapping helped to stop the bleeding but he would reopen the wound whenever we got close to healing it. His tail was so lethal, it would slash your leg and leave a red mark, sometimes it even cut through my skin. The thump of his tail on the wall or the tv, especially, was thunderous. If Fast is not that bad, then he will have a chance to keep a healed happy tail wound closed, in my opinion!

 

Woodie got 4 inches chopped off and he had it done at Harris Animal Hospital in Paddock Lake. I believe it was about $100 with his neuter (because we got Woodie straight from a kennel owner). So he has more than half of a tail and can still thwack that around without mercy!! There have been no open wounds on his tail since then!! He never grew fur at the very end but the fur from above that is long enough to cover the tip.

 

Best of luck.....it was a horrible time, almost worse than cleaning up poop on a rug!!!

[SarahsBlackPack]

Here is a small update on Fast. Since he will not leave his tail alone. He has only made it worse. We had to muzzle him since he will not leave it alone. He is wearing one of those cones right now that way he can at least drink some water. And yes I do realize that he could drink with a muzzle on, but the muzzle does have a stool guard on it. My dad and I tried to rewrap his tail this morning, but he was having to part of it. So my dad made appointment for Fast to be seen tomorrow morning at 9:30. And we will go from there. But my dad and I both have a feeling that they might to ampute part of his tail.

[Batmom]

Don't freak if the vet suggests amputating part of it. Sometimes that is the quickest way to healing if pup just won't leave it alone. Hugs and best luck.

[SarahsBlackPack]

Friday update:

 

My dad took Fast over to the vet yesterday. They ended up shaving most of his tail. Our vet started him a really strong antibotic for the infection. He'll be on that for the next month. The vet said that he chewed his tail to the point it was infected. We also have to wash his tail with the blue cleaning stuff they gave my dad. The vet also told my dad that we shouldn't have been wrapping his tail, that we were actually making it worse by wrapping it. I don't know it I believe that though. And our one vet thought having to ampuate part of Fast's tail would be a last resort. So for right now the dreaded cone is his new best friend.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

That would horrible to have happen in a rental! My house looked like an axe murderer had gone wild. I was washing blood off the ceiling in every room.

 

I bought a big air conditioner filter (spongy material) at Wal-mart for a buck. I liked it cause I could make it as thick as I needed. Thicker in the beginning and just a little padding toward the end of the wrapping period. And I could vary the length so the tape was on a different part of her tail each time. I put one wrap of tape midway around the filter to hold it together. And a wrap around the top, just catching some hair to keep it on. I used water proof bandage tape. It came off without pulling out so much hair.

 

I kept it wrapped for about two months. It takes a LONG time for it to heal and the skin to get thick enough not to break open again.

 

 

Julie,

would you be speaking of sweet Jessica's happy tail?

 

To the OP

You have a lot of good ideas, I have used the cardboard applicator for a tampon as the tail protector (we were at a reunion and my foster split his tail open, the only thing handy was one of my wife's tampons). The nice thing about that is it is a tube that is closed so that you just slip it over the tail, and tape. Voilla.

 

 

My Jesse has some of her tail missing as well as she does get happy tail from time to time so I know why parts of her tail is missing. Why do you have to use the cone? Could you just muzzle your hound with a poop guard? Thats what we did with a foster that wouldnt leave his tail alone.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Greyt_dog_lover

[GeorgeofNE]

Friday update:

 

My dad took Fast over to the vet yesterday. They ended up shaving most of his tail. Our vet started him a really strong antibotic for the infection. He'll be on that for the next month. The vet said that he chewed his tail to the point it was infected. We also have to wash his tail with the blue cleaning stuff they gave my dad. The vet also told my dad that we shouldn't have been wrapping his tail, that we were actually making it worse by wrapping it. I don't know it I believe that though. And our one vet thought having to ampuate part of Fast's tail would be a last resort. So for right now the dreaded cone is his new best friend.

 

Wow. First of all, shaving it removes all his natural "padding." Not wrap it? I don't even know what to say to that! My dog's tail sprayed blood EVERYWHERE in my old apartment. If they ever used that Luminol stuff on those walls, they would be certain several animal sacrifies had been performed there.

 

I have lived through happy tail on two dogs. The first dog was a 16 week ordeal of blood, sweat and tears. Then he had major surgery for his torn ACL, and while he was under, the vet amputated a couple of inches. But my regular vet wrapped it, and I took him in once a week for a check. She also showed me how to wrap it myself. I can't imagine how your vet thinks your house won't look like a scene from CSI if you leave a bloody tail unwrapped!

 

On my Greyhound, the foster mother had taken him to a vet (not the group's vet, just her own vet) who shaved it. Makes it much more difficult to deal with--the first thing MY vet said was, "Oh, they shouldn't have shaved it." George's wasn't as bad as Kramer's, but when he had his dental, I suggested they go ahead and amputate a little bit. She took a look while he was under, and decided it really didn't need it.

 

Anyway--here is my technique! Remember, light is best. If you put anything bulky or heavy on the end of a long whip like tail, it'll come flying off!

 

Start with a Band-Aide. The knee sized ones. Wrap it around the tail, making sure you stick it to the fur. Then take a smaller Band-Aide, the stretchy kind, and fold it over the tip.

 

On top of your Band-Aide job, use vet wrap. Go up a few inches higher than you think you need to, and make sure you wrap as much hair as possible into the vet wrap. Then at the very top, use a piece of white first aide tape.

 

You'll have to replace as necessary--it may come off, it may not. In any case, change it every couple of days. When you unwrap it, clean it and put on a light layer of antibiotic ointment. Rewrap. Plan on at LEAST two months.

 

 

I would never suggest you ignore your vet, but...his advice is very different than the advice three separate vets have given me for my two dogs who suffered with happy tail.

 

Good luck!

[SarahsBlackPack]

Here a update on Fast!

 

As it turns out his tail is just not healing as we hoped. My mom did take him back over there this morning because he really smacked it open last night. And it was bleeding pretty good.

 

So Fast is having part of his tail amputated tomorrow morning. My dad is taking him over around 7:30 am.

 

So if you could spare some good thoughts for my guy Fast, I would really appericate it!