Retriever Rescue

The week before Christmas Toby was diagnosed with a bacterial infection of his tail which caused large sores at the top and tip of his tail. After medication it has now cleared up but has left large scabs at the tip of his tail, the ones at the top have disappeared and the fur is growing back nicely there. The problem we now have is that he is so pleased to see us when we get up every morning and when we return after being out that he frantically wags his tail and bangs it against cupboards, doors, walls tables, in fact anything solid, which causes the scabs to bleed and they are therefore not healing. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can protect the tip of his tail to prevent further damage and allow the wounds to heal? We would just like him to be able to wag to his hearts content and not reopen the wounds.
We have tried tying bandages on but he wags them off (he chewed them off at first so had to have his cone collar back on which he hates). We tried a finger bandage with the same result. At the moment when he greets us we try to grab his tail to stop it from hitting things but that just causes him to turn around and try to get free and we all end up going round in circles like a conga! He then lies down still banging his tail on the floor which again causes the wound to open again. Sometimes we're just too late to prevent him hitting things.
Any practical suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks
Sue and Tim

It is very unusual for a Golden to have this problem as their tails are so thickly covered with hair which protect the end. Spaniels are the ones who have this problem and long tailed short haired breeds. There is no quick fix unfortunately. Bandages do not help.Perhaps someone has some ideas other than amputation of the damaged part.

Gosh, amputation never entered our heads. We are just trying to stop him from bashing the scabs and making them bleed again so they can heal like the ones at the top of his tail have done. The thought of amputation when the infection has gone is a little upsetting.

Tim

Only the end of the tail if the skin is so damaged it can not heal properly

Hello Sue and Tim

I've heard of this before 'happy tail syndrome' I think someone called it, not the consequences that it causes though.

Does Toby wear a harness? if so, could you cut the arm out of a cotton sweat shirt and sewing it up around the cuff, it's a bit bulky, then attaching it to the back of his harness with a tie made from another part of the sweatshirt, then the 'arm of the sweatshirt over Toby's tail just might protect it.

When Ginnie had a cruciate op and we cut up a cotton sweatshirt and put her back leg in it, and it stopped her having a go at her stitches, (I don't like the 'tulips, cones' on a dog's neck) we also put bells on her collar so we could hear when she had sneaky scratch in the night. I also slathered her stitches in hypericum and calendula cream, a natural painkiller and repair nasty cuts and wounds, when we took Gin back to our previous vet's practice the vet remarked on how well it had healed in just ten days. I used it on Calli when she was spayed last year.


Can I mention a cream called 'Skinny cream' it has Neem in it, £9.95 (the website I get it from is http://www.csjk9.com as it is post free whatever you order) I also use the Skinny dip shampoo and Skinny dip spray, the cream is also good for humans too, it quickly repairs the skin and stops itching and scratching, a nice coconut smell. Calli was biting herself to bits usually after running through heather, and after several visits to the vet's in 2016 and having antibiotics and steroids several times I knew I had to find another way of helping her.

Lynda

The hypericum and calendula is a good one to try. Willow had an op' before Christmas to remove some fatty lumps, the one on her bottom kept opening so I put the cream on which Lynda had recommended years ago, it worked along with a salt wash. The cream came from Holland and Barretts. Anything worth a try I guess. Hope all goes well.

Thank you Lynda and Lynn for your suggestions. We will try them and see what happens, it's not got any better over the weekend.

Tim

Could mean another Vet' visit if this persists, better to be safe than sorry. Must be worry for you when it lingers. Fingers crossed.
Just to mention, the cream is called Hypercal in an orange and white box, but I imagine you would need to resort to using the buster collar so he can't lick.