My 2yr old Gordon Setter has split the end of his tail, he is an extremely enthusiastic tail wagger. The problem is, just as it scabs over and looks like its healing he licks it and fetches off the scabs and we're back to square one. I've tried covering it with the syringe cover taped to his tail, but he just chews it off - I've put baby oil on the scabs to keep them soft but he just licks that off too - am at my wits-end as to what to do - nothing seems to work. Any advice is more than welcome. Its not infected so he doesnt need a trip to the vets at this stage though.

Get some alum from a chemist and make a solution using a 5ml spoonful to half a pint of warm water. Dip the end if the tail in that for a minute or so a few times a day, and it'll dry up nicely. It's a good idea to do anything like that just before you feed him or take him out - that way he'll be too distracted to bother with licking it off.

Hope this helps!

Can't think what it's called think it begins with a Z :d  You can get it from the chemist and it's used for babies umbilical cords.  Should dry your dogs injury up and help it to heal.  I'm sure someone will come along with the right name.

Sterzac?

i know what you talking about with a gordon setter i had one,but i got fcr now,one of my girls wispa bad her tail we did the syringe cover but be careful that that heat of the weather and the plastic of the syringe cover can came the tailsweat which it did with wispa thenit caused another infection,
the trouble it scar tissue that forming which is a soft tissue  a lick or a hit cause it to go back to square one,

we allsort of things with the tail over 8 week and in the end the wispa was getting down with it,so we had to had 2 1/2 inches off,which you wouldnt notice once the tail feather came down,

a very good friend and breeder in our breed told how the vet should do the op on the tail,once wispa had the op she was happier in her self and went on to win the show ring but you must let the kc know that you have had it done.

Hi,  Our dog had this problem, was leaving blood all over the place!  Can't offer much advice about how to stop that, but all I can say is that within 10 weeks his tail had healed completely, and we've had no problems with it since.  So hang on in there, it does heal eventually!

blimey - 10 weeks!!!! the problem is with Murphy is that he just wont leave it alone! its healing a treat so he decides to lick it and back we go! have tried baby oil on the scabs to keep them soft, but he likes the taste so had to stop that one!! will try the "New Skin" stuff - and see how we go with that - am doing the alum solution - but he likes the taste of that too!!! The syringe cover lasted 5 mins - found it chewed to bits at the bottom of the garden!!

Will persevere though - thanks all for your input - will do all I can to avoid amputation - heard its really painful - last resort me thinks.

Yes Toby licked his tail too, but only after it had started bleeding again.  I think he just caught it time after time whilst wagging it.  I often thought that he'd been biting it himself due to SA, but that wasn't the case at all.  When the vet told us 8 - 10 weeks I was amazed it would take that long, and marked it on the calendar so I knew when I could take him back to the vets and demand another opinion!  But, he was right, after 8 weeks there was a visible improvement, and after 10 weeks no more bleeding at all, completely scabbed over.  It has bled once or twice since in the last 2 months or so, but has always healed itself immediately afterwards.  Good luck :)

My Lab had a similar problem and the vet said after about 12 weeks that she would have to amputate the end of his tail. I pleaded that I have another couple of weeks to try to get it to heal. I was recomended by a friend to try Aloe and it did the trick.

It dosent matter if it is liked off as it will work from the inside or outside. I just applied every time I thought of it - probably 4 or 5 times a day. It just made it seal fast enough with us trying hard not to encourage tail wagging, although nearly 8 years later he still has a bald patch on his tail it is at least a whole tail.

Aloe is easily available at healthfood shops, I normally use the gel and although it is quite expensive a tube lasts us about a year and we use it for everything. 

My springer had a similar problem with his tail and no end of potions, lotions, or magic spells could help it heal.  We tried all sorts and the effect was always temporary.  After more than a few courses of anti-biotics and a whole year of a blood stained kitchen, we decided on amputation.

You are right in saying that amputation is a very painful operation.  Our boy has never really forgotten the op and still dislikes anyone stroking his lower back and now hates children after one 'touched' his barbie pink tail bandage after the op, causing lots of discomfort.

He is a working springer who works eagerly and it is now my personal choice to never have another springer with a full tail.

Hi Jackyjat

It is so fraustrating when you cant get it to heal, not to mention the cleaning up after. Sadly even with a fairly short dock I have seen springers whose tails are in shreds because ot thier enthusiasm in hunting dense bramble. Much as I hate seeing a dog without a full waggle I have to say that it is the best way if there is nay chance of it working. Of course Labs only ever go in to deep cover to eat the blackberries so it isnt such a problem, Hook actually split his on the hall wall as he was so excited to see someone and then cover them in blood :o  Sadly our hall is on a width that when he got a reall waggle going he could thump his tail on both sides and this is largly what kept it open. Thankfully as he has got older he has become a LITTLE more restrained, not much :D

Same as our boy - all the way up the narrow hallway, either side of the dog box in the car, on his cage, it would whip from one side to the other.  He did have a particularly long tail too!  It's now horribly short :-(

I do wish I had kept pictures of him all blood stained, he is quite dark in colour but every last bit of white was covered in blood on a bad day!  It got everywhere.

My cockers have been 'tipped' and have a nice long dock but no skinny part of their tail.

Thankfully a brown dog dosent show the blood, but after that we repainted the magnolia walls teracotta. Having said that they are now back to mushroom so must say something  - either I love cleaning up/ am a glutton for punishment or forget far too quickly.

I do like to see them tipped, althoug again it does depend on the dog as I know a keepers Cocker whose tail still suffered, although she was one of the hardest hunting dogs that I have known. Probably the origin of the term doged determination!