How to Heal Your Dogs Tail

How to Heal Your Dog's Tail

dog tail supplies

When a dog has a wound on the tip of his tail it can be very hard to get healed, especially if it’s a dog that wags his tail a lot.

My local vet showed me a really cool idea to fix dog's tail when it is hurt or cut. Go to your local hardware store and buy a piece of pipe insulation (see photo) and some elastic sticky tape.

Cover the tip of the tail with a good antibiotic. Cut a six inch piece of the insulation and slide the insulation over the tail (do not put a bandage on the tail). Leave part of the insulation showing so the tail can have contact to air. This will help the healing.

Wrap half of the insulation and then several inched up the tail hair. With luck your dog will leave this alone. I like to use a type of tape that looks exactly like and elastic bandage that is sticky on one side.

If your dog trys to pull the wrap off the tail, you may have to muzzle him, I did not have to do this to my dog.

wrapped dog tail

To stop dogs from tail chasing we feel its best to use a remote collar and low level stimulation to teach the dog that this is unacceptable behavior. Dogs that do this can also benefit from extensive exercise. They need two long walks a day.

QUESTION:

I needed some thoughts on healing a dog’s tail, I am going to look for some pipe insulation. The photo didn’t publish. Here is our current dilemma. Our dog has (Labrador retriever) suffered a blunt force trauma to her tail a week ago. At the vet they shaved her tail, about a four inch section from the tip up and then stapled the wound. It was about an 1 and ½. . It was then bandaged. When we returned to the vet yesterday, she took the stitches out and rebandaged it. Mollie now has an infection and is taking antibiotics orally. The vet stated that the tail section might face amputation of it doesn’t heal after 2 weeks of antibiotics. I will start calling today for second opinions. It seems to me that air to the wound would be very helpful. I have searched the web and don’t find a lot about wounds to the tail.

PJ Silvestro

ED'S ANSWER:

Hard decisions and a difficult thing to fix. My old lab (narcotics dog) had two operations to shorten the tail. The first time I made the mistake of allowing my kennel staff to wrap the bandages. They wrapped them too tight and the blood flow was cut off. It would not heal. STUPID mistake on my part.

CUSTOMER REPLY:

Thanks so much for your response, after my early morning plea to you, I took Mollie to another vet. They took of the “tight” bandage, put on a wet dry combination, changed anti-biotics and asked that I bring her back in three days. The tail began to look better and is now encased in a plastic tube with holes for air circulation. We now have some good chance of healing. Wow, it certainly takes some constant vigilance and asking a lot of questions. I learned a lot during the process and we now have a new vet for Mollie. I appreciate the ability to contact you and your response. Warmest regards and keep up the good work.

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