Hi everyone!
I'm new here, but hoping someone may have come accross this before and be able to give me some help!
My 4yr old male has just come out of quarantine with a tail injury. Basically he wags his tail so much that he just kept bashing the end of his tail against the kennel walls, which has resulted in him loosing the hair on the tip of his tail where it just kept breaking off, and everytime he hits it (daily!) it just keeps opening up the wound and it bleeds again. The only way I can protect it is to keep it covered and I am having great problems trying to find a way of keeping a dressing on there. The best thing was sticky plaster, but it would appear that he is allergic to that as the whole area became inflamed. Now I am trying to keep it in place with Vet Wrap, but it just wont stay put! Has anyone got any other ideas??

I clean the area daily with an antiseptic wash, and have been using wound powder which is drying the area up nicely, but then if the dressing comes off and he hits it again, it opens the area up and off we go again! We've been to the Vets and have had antibiotics, but to be quite honest they have no brilliant ideas as to how I can keep this dressing on.

Any ideas on how I can get this tail to heal quickly, and/or keep a dressing on there would be much appreciated! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

A couple of questions. Did you double spiral the vet-rap to the base of the tail to anchor it? Is it a wound that can be sutured? Are you seeing gradual improvement?

Here is an idea that might work. Take some soft fabric such as polarfleece or some surgical stockinette and sew a tube that your dogs tail wil comfortably fit in. In the area where the injured part of the tail will go make the the tube two thicknesses of fabric thick to provide some padding to he doesn't wack his tail hard enough to open it up again. At the part of the "tube"
that will be at the base of his tail, make a beltloop of fabric so you can run a strip of fabric thru it an secure around his "waist" just infront of his hips and secure it with a tie or sew a bit of velcro on. An alternate method of securing it on the dog could be to run a strip of fabric up to a d-ring on a walking type harness.
I use a wound spray called Cothivet that I buy at the vets - it is a cicatrizing agent and lets the wound heal without pround flesh and crusty hard scab and I have had good luck with it. Hope you find something that works for your dog - Good Luck. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

How to heal your dogs tail

We had a gun dog with tail problems so we just got his tail bunted. No big deal, he didn't even miss it. If it is really a problem, why not?

There are some schools of thought that say losing the tail later in life will bother the dog in some way, but I think that is a crock 0' poop.

milt,The Leerburg site "Hoe to Heal Your Dogs Tail" should answer most questions on tail problems. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One thing that would be less intrusive to the dog would be: The Black Soft Insulating Rubber Foam Pipe that air conditioner piping uses works very
well. Not as bulky, less weight to be the tail.

VanCamp- How would a GSD look with tail docked??
Just thinking out loud. Shame on me!!
The thought. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Re Van Camp's suggestion...it is not uncommon for military dogs, especially Mals to have their tails docked for this reason if they won't stop beating them against the kennek wire after an injury. A bob-tailed Mal don't look so bad, but I've never seen a GSD done this way.

He is also correct that it has no significant effect upon their performance.

There is a Czech GSD, Apolo Dalema SchH3, IP3, that has no tail (bob-tail), looks funny but it didn't seem to bother the dog at all. Have seen maybe 5 or 6 Czech police dogs with part of their tail missing but none as short as Apolo.

It wouldn't look so bad on a GSD, but the question is who cares? If the dog is always messing himself up, then help him out. I've had dogs (GSD) that have broken their tails, but never really messed them up that bad (open wounds). I'd do it in a heartbeat, rather than mess with a real bad situation like that. Better for the dog in my opinion.

But, thats just me. If wrapping it in foam works too then do it. But when it happens again you may wanna think about it.

There is a GSD two houses down from me with a docked tail... she looks cool actually.