# Fix for split tail



## Matt G (Nov 4, 2004)

So my search didn't yield quite what I'm looking for. I've got a young lab with a split right at the tip of his tail that I can't get healed up. Been this way for about 2 weeks. It bleeds constantly when he starts wagging it (not much blood, but enough to sling it on the sides of his box, my clothes, the furniture in the house, etc). I keep it clean, and will wrap it with medical tape for a day, but I also want to let it get fresh air. So then he wags his tail and hits the sides of his box, other dogs, the kitchen cabinets, etc and busts it open again. It looks as though you took a knife and made a 1/4 cut right at the tip. I hate to make a trip to the Vet just for a wrap and some gauze, and I can't see it requiring stitches. Any ideas?

Running out of neosporin, tape, and patience from the ole' lady Regards,

Matt G


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## Last Frontier Labs (Jan 3, 2003)

Wrap it up good. Vet wrap all the way up the tail if that's what it takes to keep it on. Leave it for a couple of days, then re-do it. You have to give it time to heal in the bandage. I wouldn't put any neosporin on it, just a dry non stick (telfa) pad at the tip. 
You can buy all the necessary supplies at your local dept. store. The vet wrap will just be flesh colored LOL.
Just gotta give it time...been there and done it.


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## DH (Oct 3, 2006)

Get some EMT gel, put a good gob of it in the split and then wrap it up. A couple days and it will be totally healed. My Brittany split the stopper pad on a front foot completely in two, EMT gel healed it right up. I keep a tube in the house and one in my dog first aid kit.

DH


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## Patti Benton (Jan 6, 2003)

This is funny. I have a dog that Dave and I are watching and she split her tail too. The only thing it didn't try was wrapping it from tip to butt. She won't like it, but tonight she gets a new look to her tail.


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## Keven (Oct 25, 2003)

*This worked for us ...*

Ya'll excuse me if I cut and paste ... it'll save me some typing: 

We've had this happen. The tip of a tail got caught in a stainless steel box on a dog truck when one of our dogs was a pup. To this day the tip of his tail is bald. Those tail injuries can bleed like crazy and blood flies everywhere. 

I took him to the vet about it and the vet wrapped it like you would a horse tail: wrap it in gauze and then a strong surgical tape. After you wrap it with gauze a couple of times, take a tuft of hair on the tail and bend it backwards and wrap again. Then tape the heck out of it. He explained to me that this will keep the bandage on - even with wagging, etc. and that the dog can't pull it off. Change it every 5 days (unless it gets real dirty or the dog goes swimming). Initially, we were told to leave the tail wrapped for about a month. It takes awhile to heal and is prone to re-injury, especially if the hair doesn't grow back. 

In the past year, he has started wagging his tail even in his sleep (no kidding). We've been real lucky - I think we've finally got it to where re-injury is rare. I do confess that when I know something's going to make him very happy, I tend to take him to an open space so there's plenty of clearance. 

Hope this helps! 

Kev

P. S. - Just wrap the last two or three inches of the tail and pad the tip good with the gauze.


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## Bill Watson (Jul 13, 2005)

Must be something to do with Gator Point happy dogs. The first litter we had many years ago we kept two females, Candy and Sue. Candy was mine and Sue was Cleo's. They both wagged the ends off their respective tails. If we were running in khaki pants, they ended up stripped about knee high. Sue was always the happiest dog ' cause she belonged belonged to Cleo. She had a hairless stump about 2 1/2 inch long that ALWAYS started to bleed whenever it came in contact with anything hard. Candy was not as bad, but we learned to live with the situation and tried not to make the dogs too happy around hard objects. (They didn't have EMT GEL back then) Bill
________
Janny live


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## DRAKEHAVEN (Jan 14, 2005)

REINFORCE SIT AT EVERY OPPURTUNITY.
Most of the dogs with "happy tail" injuries are the class clown type.
They will be much better off if they learned to be calm, sit and stop bang'in that tail on every thing :x 

Then wrap and bandage. 

John
________
marijuana hemp


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## Steve Hester (Apr 14, 2005)

Dogs with happy tails are the class clown type??????? Not necessarily. Happy doesn't have to equate with class clown... :roll:


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## AmiableLabs (Jan 14, 2003)

Matt,

I just want to add this is a VERY serious issue. You have to clean it, wrap it, and keep it protected, even if it means the dog wearing an Elizabethan-collar (from the vet).

One of my wives best friends is a veterinarian who breeds Great Danes. One of her dogs split open its tail and no matter it wouldn't heal, the dog kept injuring it. She finally had to dock (amputate) it! And she is a veterinarian!! :shock: 

Imagine your Lab without a tail.  So take this issue seriously.


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## Guest (Mar 1, 2007)

A lady on another board that I frequent recently amputated couple inches of her Lab's tale because the end kept getting injured and would not heal. The dog and the tail are in much better shape now.


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## Jay Dufour (Jan 19, 2003)

*Syringe*

Somewhere I read that you take a large syringe body and tape it onto the end of the tail.It is protected...yet the air comming in the small end can get to the injured part of the tail.Sounded pretty good to me.


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## Patti Benton (Jan 6, 2003)

The dog we are watching is not a class clown, she just has a happy tail. It's aways wagging and wagging fast. Jumper is a very energetic dog and making her sit will stop it from wagging for a bit, but even sitting she wags her tail. 

To me a wagging tail in a dog is like a smile to a human.


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## Mark (Jun 13, 2003)

Two tips:
1. Pipe insulation, the foam type. Secure it to the tail all the way up.

2. With mine it always seems to open the wound when in her crate. She thinks it is a drum and she is Ringo Starr.
get some foam rubber and glue it to the back wall and rear end of the sides of the crate.

3. Make her sit when she is near any hard objects, wall doors, tables etc in the house and she starts to get excited.


They take forever to heal and for the hair to grow back to provide a bit of cushioning. 


Mark


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