Ray's tail....at a loss now!

[tojoniki]

An update on rays tail

Just thought i'd update you guys....we took ray back to the vet and they checked out his tail, told me it was dislocated....:( nothing else they can do but take the tip of it off.

Thats the reason why it wasn't healing...

does anyone have any advice? I have no idea what to expect - Ray is my first dog, my wee baby!!

 

[TwoDogs]

Every once in a while a dog will come into the shelter where I volunteer with a tail injury that requires amputation--in fact, we have a little Lab girl there now who just had the surgery. She now has 2/3 of a tail. We've never had any complications with the surgeries as far a I know.

I've also had some training clients with dogs who had their tail amputated before my clients adopted them and the dogs didn't have any long-lasting issues with their tails. They all were happy, healthy, stumpy-tailed dogs.

 

[LILYLARUE]

The only experience I have had with an amputation was my first rescue boy. He had a broken bone and "happy tail" syndrome. Not to scare you but it was awful! For him as he was in so much pain, as the tip would hit the floor every time he tried to sit down. The bandage wouldn't stay on, even with 10 or more inventions to help it. He was 2 when he had to have it chopped off, and it took 3 amputations to finally give him some relief. Poor boy is still terrified of going to ANY vets office and usually has to be sedated even for basic shots. It was even worse for me to watch his pain, hold him up so he could sleep standing and have to position him so he could lay down if only for a few seconds. Plus all the lost bandages every hour cause nothing would stay on. Finally he was left with one vertebrae and that solved all his pain and discomfort. He was always a unique looking boy, very sleek and built beautifully - now he even looks more unique without his tail! Looks like a deer from behind, . But he kidney beans now without a tail!

It is a terrible thing to have done and I sure hope your vet is experienced enough to understand the trauma it will be to your dog. And take into consideration the length at which to cut so it's most comfortable for the dog during healing. I'd ask the vet at which length is he planning to cut, and then see if it's a suitable length for your dog to work with while healing.

I wish you all the best, and hope it goes smoothly for both of you. Sending positive vibes and a fast recovery!!!!

 

[kcttiger]

same exact problem....

I can relate completely to your story, Harley spackled our walls in the house with blood for 2 years. We tried everything, vet wrap, plastic syringe covers cut to protect the tail taped with that elastic, ace wrap feeling super sticky tape and we had to tape up at least half even 3/4 of the tail. The ver recommended acetone too, to help it stay, but I didn't feel like that was healthy for him. He even chewed up the plastic covers when he could so we couldn't put them back on.
As soon as it healed and we thought he was good to go, a week later he would hit it on something and it would have a new open area and go through the whole process again.
We finally had the tail removed, we didn't want to, but felt if we just did the tip then we may have the problem again and didn't want him to have 2 surgeries. So, we had the tail removed when Harley was about 4 yrs, it is now about 5 inches long. And he is still the happiest dog ever. He didn't have much pain or problems with the surgery, i am so glad we did it, but was a very hard decision.
Good Luck.

 

[Gatorblu]

I was just wondering how Ray is doing?