Preventing Tail Injuries

[jaegertheweim]

I have an undocked Weimaraner who is a vigorous tail wagger and has for the second time in as many weeks injured the tip of his tail causing it to bleed and splatter blood everywhere.

Is there anything I can do to prevent further injuries from occurring?

[Dogsfevr]

Goodluck .

Whilst healing you can try placing a hair roller on the end & wrapping it,even wrapping the end with vet wrap.

The biggest problem is the constant bruising & damage.In our first show grey the damage in the end resulted in a few inches being removed.

One of my setters many moons ago also damaged his tail but it was decided through our vet & ourselves to leave it as it wasnt causing him distress but the end was dead,black & in reality could have snapped off but it didnt.It no longer bleed so it was best he keeped damaging that area unless it was seen to cause him distress

[The Spotted Devil]

Not sure if it's helpful, but I've got a mad tail wagger here too. What I've done is taught Zig the command "Steady" which generally means "stop being a git" and I use it in many situations e.g. approaching another dog when he's in a silly puppy mood or getting too far ahead when walking on lead or very hyperactive when I get home. If he's in a narrow hallway etc I just ask him to steady and he's very careful - kind of hard to explain as I've been working on it since he was a young 'un and don't really know how I've taught it

[Swizzlestick]

Similar to Settrlvr, but I like to use a 20ml syringe.

Just take out the plunger part, and place the main part over the end of the tail. I secure it to the tail hair with Elastoplast. I do this often for the greyhounds and have found it to be very effective.

[Toohey]

My two year old cocker has thrashed all the feathering off the tip of her tail, and now has a bald patch that is increasing in size quite quickly. She has not split it yet - but I think it is only a matter of time, as the area is now unprotected.

Might be too late for you, but I have been advised to keep the area well moisturised with lanolin or heel balm to stop it cracking. My vet suggested the hair roller too, but I doubt it would work - it would just become a missile. Taping the tip of the tail might work for a while - with something like hypofix, that's if the dog does not chew it off.

It's a real worry, as it so difficult to heal once it is damaged.

Edited May 15, 2008 by Toohey

[aranyoz]

I will be watching this thread with interest to see if anyone has any truly workable ideas.

I have a 5 month old with an ongoing tail injury. No bleeding yet but it has been swollen for quite some time now. Her litter mate has has already split her tail tip with some bleeding.

[jaegertheweim]

Thank you for all the replies so far. Is it true that if it does become a persistent problem that amputation would be the best option?

[Dogsfevr]

The hair roller works very well

[Toohey]

The hair roller works very well

How do you secure it, and how do you stop the dog chewing it off?

[appygirl72]

Thank you for all the replies so far. Is it true that if it does become a persistent problem that amputation would be the best option?

for sure if nothing else works & the vets shouldnt have a problem doing it, as its a health issue

[vnv]

I had this with my dog, the vet banadaged it really well when she was under for her desex. It split again when the bandage was removed so I used elastoplast and left it on for over a fortnight. It healed enough then not to split again and now the fur has grown back fully. I think it was from wagging her tail against the brick walls in the pound. The vet did tell me that she would amputate if the problem continued.

[aranyoz]

Thank you for all the replies so far. Is it true that if it does become a persistent problem that amputation would be the best option?

The surgical amputation is for damage is legal the thing is it will depend on your vet as to what level of damage your dog will need to suffer before they will do it.

Once the tail starts splitting it is important to ensure that it does not get infected.

I would ask around other weimaraner owners and breeders in your area to see if anyone else has had this problem and which vet they used as a vet who has experienced this problem before may not allow your dog to suffer for as long as a vet who has not any experience with this problem.

[aranyoz]

jaegertheweim how is your boys tail going?

Have you spoken to a vet about your boys tail and if so what have they suggested?

If you haven't been to see a vet yet you probably should so the length of time and the severity the injury can be monitored.

[jaegertheweim]

Yes, I spoke to my vet last Friday. He said that it doesnt look too bad at this stage but that if it keeps occurring we should consider bandaging it.

How is your girl's tail?

[aranyoz]

My girls tail is marginally improved but still has some swelling but no longer looks as if all the hair is about to fall out. When it was really bad 2 weeks ago it looked a bit like a lions tail with a tuff of hair on the end because of the swelling.

Sadly the end of her bothers tail has some swelling on it as well. Another litter sister had already had a split with bleeding.

[aranyoz]

Hi jaegertheweim

I found this site called European Weimaraners (just in case you don't alredy know it) and it has lots of info and post about surgical amputation that may be of interest to you if your boys tail does not heal up and needs surgery.

The link isn't bring up the thread about 'Late Docking' but it is easy to find from this link. Hope it helps.

Edited May 21, 2008 by aranyoz

[New Age Outlaw]

I had a greyhound who was a chronic wagger. We used to use Savlon antiseptic powder on the affected area, then lots of padded dressing material secured by that really strong sticky plaster stuff (can't remember the name of it but I got it at the chemist). The dressing provided protection to the healing area and I found the antiseptic powder helped it dry and heal more quickly. Dressing was changed daily - it ended up being expensive and time consuming to do, but effective. Good luck with it.

[jaegertheweim]

Hi jaegertheweim

I found this site called European Weimaraners (just in case you don't alredy know it) and it has lots of info and post about surgical amputation that may be of interest to you if your boys tail does not heal up and needs surgery.

The link isn't bring up the thread about 'Late Docking' but it is easy to find from this link. Hope it helps.

thanks for the info

good luck with dog's tails!

[aranyoz]

I found this link with instructions and diagrams with a method to allow healing but it says it could take up to a month and to also to ensure that you don't bandage it to tightly as this will cut off the circulation and the tail tip could die and drop off :D

http://www.dogstuff.info/tail_healing_method_arndt.html

Edited May 22, 2008 by aranyoz