Broken Tail, What To Do?

[Guest schell86]

Hi,

We discovered tonight that our greyhound has a broken tail (we think). It is about 4 or 5 inches from the tip and is a swollen knot and I can feel it moving under the skin when I touch it. He cries whenever he lays down on it, but other than that he is acting normal- eating, drinking, playing, begging for extra attention. We found the break tonight, but think it must have happend a few days ago- he has been crying out but always when we were in another room. He cries when he scratches his ears too so that is what we thought was happening a first. We've been checking his paws and legs, tonight we finally figured out it was the tail.

I'm calling the vet first thing in the morning for an appointment, but is there anything I can do for him in the meantime? Is there even anything the vet can do besides pain killers?

Any advice welcome!

[Houndtime]

Our Paul had a tail with a clean break. The only way we knew, he had a knot the size of a golf ball. Our vet took x-rays and we saw the totally separated break. She said to leave it alone, unless there became some issues. That was 6 years ago and he has been fine. Hope that yours is as simple.

[Guest FreeholdHound]

Harry had woke up with the last 3 inches of his tail pointing straight down & a gumball size bump. He didn't want it touched but seemed normal also. Couldn't get into the Vet for 3 days but by then the kink had straightened. Vet put him on 10days of Rimadyl for the swelling - it may have helped a bit but he still has the bump. Many had suggested trying to splint with a syringe case or pink sponge roller, but it was too close to the end to work I thought. He's been fine bashing the tail against everything as usual so I guess it's okay as far as he's concerned. Hope all is fine with yours

[greyhead]

We didn't discover that Spencer's tail problem was a break until probably 2-3 weeks after it happened. The x-ray showed the bones growing back together. The vet said the usual treatment for a broken tail is amputation but that since the bones wanted to grow back together and she knew me to be conscientious, she came up with a different plan. She had a tech hacksaw off the tapered end of a syringe case and used it over padding to sort of splint and protect the area until the growth process could complete. (We secured the ends to the fur with medical tape. We had to change the padding every few days, being sure not to make it too tight. Six weeks later we repeated the x-rays, saw the the plan had worked, and that was the end of that! Hope you're as fortunate.

[3DogNite]

My boy Rascal broke his tail --- and unfortunatly there was a rupture of some kind - so there was a oozing wound.

He was on anti-biotics for a while. I kept it wrapped and it did eventually heal just fine.

 

one vet wanted to amputate - the other said "wait" ~ I'm glad we waited,, his tail was gloriously long ~ it was worth saving

good luck!

[MP_the4pack]

If it bothers him to wag it or he accidentally keeps hitting it. You can take a toilet roll cardboard holder, slice it lengthwise so you can make it smaller and just tape it around the affected area. It acts like a splint without cutting off circulation. A little tape keeps it from sliding off.

 

I did this for my Bwat who broke her tale, not once but twice.

[TINMANPDX]

Our girl came to us with a one inch krink at the end of her tail - an old injury. I've been told this may have occured as she was coming out of the starting box at the track, as it is a common injury. Doesn't bother her - we think it's cute. I have seen tail injuries where there is an open wound, which might require amputation if it won't heal. I hope your boy heals up without much intervention except maybe something for the pain if he needs it :-)