My flatcoat has the waggiest tail ever and keeps splitting the tip of her tail open due to violent wagging. I've posted about this before and followed some advice, ( i think by Terri) and have been attaching a hair curler with plaster tape to her tail. This does work as it protects it from banging, and still lets the air in to heal, but the problem is that she can and does bite it off. Last time she managed to bite the curler off and was left with the plaster tape in a big mess because she's been sucking it.. Well today it's happened again, blood up the walls,on the sofa..., so the curler is on (does look quite funny!) My question is, if we took her to the vet would they have a better bandage to fit and has anyone ever had a bit of the tail amputated due to this problem as this was mentiond before by someone. It is always the very tip of the tail that bleeds. Thanks.

wispa slip her again today so back on antobotics.she was on them for seven untill sunday but beacuse she pregant we donot want any cross in injecton,so another 7 day course,her tail is banage up with a pink bandage from the vets then tape over,this works,i try the curl it to heavy and she chew it off,i know of a couple of gordon setter that had a bit amputated,thia ia why wispa on antbotics to stop infection plus she can not be op on at the moment beacuse of the puppie,if you want to chat about it thn give me a call on 01252310267,hope when she has the puppies she be resting in the whelping box and recover the tail.

I get split tail problems with a Labrador. "New Skin" made by Germolene is good for sealing the wound. I then put a dressing on the wound to cushion it. I find "Micropore" to be the stickiest tape to hold the dressing on with. Make sure you don’t bind too tight of you will stop the supply of blood to the tip of the tail and gangrene could set in. I layer the hair in the micropore to help to hold it on and find that feeding immediately after putting the dressing on helps them to forget.

Regards, John

One of the wolfhounds I'm living with at the mo has had part of her tail amputated. It was bandaged and changed daily for about a week then every 2 days then we attached a 50ml syringe case to the end of the tail with the tip about halfway up to allow air to circulate and the tip to heal even with wagging and that has worked really well.
Bec

One of my dalmatians used to do this (as a breed they are prone to it.) What I did was to make a solution of alum (you used to be able to get it from chemists) according to the instructions, and add a little TCP, and keep it in a jar. When she split her tail I would dip the end of the tail in the jar for about 30 seconds. The alum is a styptic and stopped the leeding, and the TCP helped prevent infection. It would be completely healed in 2 or 3 days, then I would rub a little baby oil or similar onto the tip, because the skin had dried. This got the skin supple again and she would be fine.

Worked like a charm every time. The vet was astonished. Hope this helps. :)

to make a solution of alum (you used to be able to get it from chemists) according to the instructions, and add a little TCP

I have a wolfhound mix with the "wagging tail" syndrome. What is TCP? I have seen alum at the pharmacy but I'm not familiar with TCP.

I am in North Carolina.

Thanks for your help!
Susan

Sorry! TCP is an antiseptic - it may be under a different name in the US. :)

Thanks for your response. Does anyone know what type of powdered antiseptic could be found in the states? I have a call out to a nurse friend of mine - so hopefully I'll be able to get a response from somewhere.

If you can't get TCP (it's a liquid, by the way) very dilute iodine or Savlon (another trade name, but the vet says it's better for dog skin than most) would probably do as well. :)

Hi,

Danes are hell for splitting tails, and they are notoriously hard to heal - particularly in a smooth coated dog - my friend's Champion dog was so bad at one point they were on the verge of having a third of it amputated, literally bone and flesh with no skin covering for a couple of inches. However, she was advised to give very high internal doses of Aloe Vera, and Eureka ........ it was saved!!

M.

Thanks everyone, your comments have been really interesting. We took her to the vets today, because she'd chewed off the bandage we made and blood was everywhere again. The vet shaved the fur,put on a bandage and syringe like thing (as someone suggested) and taped it up, layering the fur as John suggested. I'm glad we took her as it's so hard trying to sort it out ourselves, but at the vets she's so frightened she sits still! He's given antibiotics for a week and then he wants to see her again. He said that it can be a difficult problem to solve as the tip of her tail is very hard+dry and the bone is almost sticking out at the very tip. She might have to have half an inch amputated, but we'll see. Thanks again for your comments, i'll print them off and keep them.

We used to use a reddish black spray (iodine?) when my previous Labs tail use to split, reasonably often, this seemed to stop the bleeding and help it heal quickly, not sure if you can still get it though

well wispa did it again today i put a syringe over tail as well but i did rub arnica cream on it to,she again is on another course of tablets,it take andrew to make her sit in a corner,while i do the work.i hope it works and heals up before the pups come,

My working springer had a tail until he damaged it, several courses of anti-biotics and a very blood splattered house later it was necessary for the vet to amputate it. That was just horrendous and he was in considerable pain for ages. Hence, when chosing a new pup we decided on one with a tipped tail (1/3 removed). It was not easy to find a vet to remove tails. I would still never chose a working springer with a tail as I would never want a dog to go through amputation.

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Livvy has split her tail again! Had 2 trips to the vets today(was bandaged but she wagged it off!) and she has just managed to wag the second attempt off! I have been to the chemists and bought "new skin" by germolene and some plaster tape. Tried to get some syringe things but they only had 5ml which is too narrow. The vet wants to amputate one and a half inches off her tail, but we would rather try alternative methods first. Her tail is very dry at the end where she always splits it so maybe the suggestion of aloe vera would help. Would a cream help, or does it have to be tablets? How much is a high daliy dose, and are there any problems with this kind of treatment? Any other comments appreciated :)

Sharon

The card centre of a toilet roll will do or even try cutting the centre of a kitchen roll in half. Adhesive bandage possibly has more "Grip" but I have always has success with Micropore. Trouble is, a Flatcoat has so much more feathering than a Labrador and also a more wippy tail so you have even more problems than me.

I also lightly rub a little Vasaline into the skin once it has healed to try to soften the skin. It gets so hard where they keep banging it that until it has been softened it will always be at risk of splitting again.

Best wishes, John

sharon can you ring me asps wispa i going though the same think and what you are doing is not rigth,i can tell what my vet has done this week,and it is working well.

01252 310267.plus we are a week in front of you at the stage you are at.

thanks you both, have rubbed in some vaseline and I will call you later today Terri, thanks xx