I am hoping someone out there can help with info regarding my puppy's tail. I am bottle feeding an 8 day old pup with a hair lip. Thankfully, I found this website and the puppy formula recipe or she wouldn't be here today. My problem is her tail is dying at the end. The top 1/2 is growing normally but the bottom 1/2 hasn't grown since she was born. It's hard as a rock and I'm sure it's dead. The transition point looks like someone has placed a string on it and tightened it. Each day as she get bigger, the transition point is worse. I'd say today, about 2/3 of her tail is a stump and the dead piece is on the side only now. It's still fully attached, just being so small compared to the rest of her tail, it only takes up a small amount of space. The hair is normal on the dead piece too but I am worried it might break off and leave exposed bone or cause dry gangrene if it stays. Unless and injury occurred during birth, she has has no injury to this tail. I am wondering if anyone has experienced this before and if anyone has suggestions on what to do. The nearest vet is 2 hours away. Any info or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks very much

Debbi

Debbi, has the pup seen a vet at all since the birth? Maybe for the harelip?

I assume that you are asking whether the tail is an immediate emergency vet concern or whether it can wait for a few days?

Is there any chance that you can post a photo of the tail on Photobucket or elsewhere and link us to it? Maybe others understand what this means: "Each day as she get bigger, the transition point is worse", but I cannot picture what you mean.

I am not knowledgeable about neonatal care, but others here are. To me, dying muscle or skin means "vet immediately," but maybe a closeup photo will mean more to the breeders on the board.

If it is already dead on the end it will probably fall off on it's own without any problems.

I'm also a bit confused about your description of "the dead piece is on the side only now."

By hare lip usually this happens along with a cleft pallet. If this is the case it's best to let this one go. Nature does not intend for these puppies to live sadly.

If it's just a hare lip she still needs to see a vet to have that tail docked before she gets kidney failure from the dying muscle matter in that tail. You may consider at that point getting a plan of action together on fixing her face or euthanizing.

Good point, Melissa, because I did not even think of cleft palate.

Her palate does not seem to be cleft, nothing visible to sight or to touch and she does not aspirate milk. We have an appointment tomorrow with a vet for her tail as well as her mouth. We were told that Xrays may be the only way to show a small cleft. We'll cross our fingers and hope for the best. I can't let anything die without trying, sorry to those who feel differently. I make braces and prosthetics for very disabled and disfigured children for a living and am guilty of "humanizing" animals. If she's in pain or will be unable to live a healthly life then there will be no question but to euthanize but if it's just an unsightly problem then so be it, she'll be loved just the same. Her mother was a rescue dog from a high kill facility, we had no idea she was pregnant when she was rescued (we foster for a rescue group)and unfortunately, when the mother was discharged from the shelter before coming to the rescue she was given all her vaccines as well as rabies shot within the first week or so of pregnancy. The mother herself is under a year old so it's been unfortunate from the begining.

For those interested in the tail, I will try to figure out how to post a picture for everyone. The best way I can describe the smaller portion of the tail is if you think of drawing a big thick line and a small thin line with with one side of the lines being even. The thick line would "overhang" the thin line on the opposite side and that is the appearance of her tail. This "overhang" gets larger each day as the top section grows. The is no problem with the top of the tail. I will post a picture when I can.

Thanks everyone so much for all the info!

 Quote: Debbi Corbett

I can't let anything die without trying, sorry to those who feel differently. .... If she's in pain or will be unable to live a healthly life then there will be no question but to euthanize ...

This is all that was being suggested. Please do not make the mistake of thinking that anyone here was suggesting PTS for a cosmetic challenge.

Please let us know how the vet check turns out, and good luck!

Debbie B. is probably right about the tail; if it is dead, and the rest is growing at a normal healthy rate, which it sounds like it is, it will probably fall off all on its own. I have seen that happen w/an injured cat's tail. If the rest of the tail weren't growing rapidly or more tissue was appearing to die, I'd say get to the vet asap.

You're going to the vet anyway for her mouth, so I wouldn't worry about the tail too much. If this pup doesn't have any problems other than cosmetic, then by all means keep her and love her; I think everyone was just saying if she has a cleft palate and no hope of a normal life then PTS.

Good luck, Debbi. It's nice that you are trying so hard w/this little one.

Sorry I never posted an update. For those interested, my puppy's tail fell off the night before the vet appointment. When she saw the vet, he said it was nothing to worry about and that the skin (I took the tail that fell off with me) did not have the ability to stretch and grow so acted like a band as she grew which cut off the circulation, a birth defect he stated. I looked after the tail stub as soon as it fell off so there was no infection and it was well scabbed over by the time the vet saw her. He did say that depending on how it heals, they may have to "fix" it when she is spay. He's hoping the skin will cover the end nicely but if by chance the bone is close to the surface or it becomes bothersome, they will address it although likely it will be fine. Today, it looks great and is healing nicely. Only time will tell.

In terms of her face, we are lucky, there is no cleft pallet at all. He said she should live a normal life but swimming and eating really moist food is not a good idea. We have always been careful with feeding her as the liquid is able to go into her nose pretty easily. I have a baby aspirator and if I suspect any milk has gotten in her nose, I suction immediately. This far, she has no fluid in her lungs and is healthy. Her hair lip is from just above the top edge of her nose, down the entire length of nose and to her mouth so it's pretty big.

In terms of size, she's very petite but healthy and gaining daily, yesterday, she gained an entire ounce and is now 8.4 ounces total! She's chubby like the other pups too which is nice to see as she was thin for a long time even though she ate like crazy. The other pups in her litter weight between 1lb 7ounces and 1lb 15 ounces so she is really small. Developmentally, she is on par. Her eyes opened second and, maybe because she is smaller, she is able to use her legs better and actually stand and walk (although very wobbly) VS still pushing herself across the ground. The vet figured if no infections set in, she stands an excellent chance of growing into an adult and deemed her a healthy weight for her size (about the size of my hand, I wear sz small gloves). We were very happy to hear that as she's won us over!

The only thing we aren't sure of is if she'll reach the same size as the rest of her litter, just at a slower rate or if she'll always be petite. Birth weight wise, she was only 0.2 ounces behind the next smallest but now she's almost a pound behind him. Body shape wise, she's similar now she's gotten chubby, everything is just smaller.

Thanks to everyone for the info and the help. One more puppy saved because of this website. The formula on here works great!! Thanks again and good luck to everyone with their dogs!