Adult Tail Docking.......

[Amstaffer]

Athena recently injured her tail...by banging it on a metal railing. My Vet tech friend said they might have to remove part of the tail :yikes:

I take her to the Vet on Saturday to get her checked out.

My question is....how big of a deal and how much pain is she looking at and what is the recovery like if she has to lose part of her tail (about 5 inches from the end.)

I know there are some vet techs here....what have you guys seen?

 

[Zoom]

Is she letting it heal at all or is she now giving herself "happy tail" and keep whacking it on stuff?

 

[Amstaffer]

Is she letting it heal at all or is she now giving herself "happy tail" and keep whacking it on stuff?

It hurts her...she wags it but keeps it down so nothing touches it. I have to settle her down right away because she wants to bite it when she wags it to hard.

 

[Zoom]

Ohh, poor girl!

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

If I were you, and the dog must be docked, I would dock it short to prevent every having to deal with this again.

If it were my dog I would not leave more than 4" of tail.

 

[Amstaffer]

If I were you, and the dog must be docked, I would dock it short to prevent every having to deal with this again.

If it were my dog I would not leave more than 4" of tail.

That is what I was thinking...I was wonder about the pain and recovery difference....is there any?

 

[Miakoda]

If I were you, and the dog must be docked, I would dock it short to prevent every having to deal with this again.

If it were my dog I would not leave more than 4" of tail.

I agree. One of our APBTs, Nala, has a docked tail due to an extreme case of "happy tail syndrome" & the fact that it got infected & begin to die off.

AmStaffer, IMO all surgeries involve some pain & discomfort. But I've never seen a dog really uncomfortable or show signs of being in extreme pain after a tail dock at a later age. The big thing will be to keep her from turning & chewing on it while it's healing.

 

[Aussie Red]

Whiskey had his done due to injury. It of course depends on your dogs tolerance to pain. Is it painful ? Yes it is an amputation long and short of it. Is it safe ? for the most part yes. Is the recovery long and painful? not really. Whiskey sailed right through it. We did have to e collar him to not lick it but otherwise after 1 week he did not have a problem. What he did suffer was phantom limb syndrome for awhile. What I mean is he would chase after it even though it was gone.
We opted for as short as it could go without causing nerve damage so no more likelihood of a repeat on injury.

 

[savethebulliedbreeds]

The recovery time for docking a tail should be short and fairly painless. There will be some pain but they will prescribe pain meds to reduce it.

 

[hbwright]

I would agree with having it done as short as possible to start off with, not just the injured part. I've known of dobermans in particular who have had to have their docks redocked because of the origional dock being too long and them having irritation on their nubs from rubbing when they sit.

I'm sorry about the tail, poor guy. Hope he recovers quickly and painlessly. I'm sure he'll be spoiled rotten during his recovery.

 

[poodlesmom]

Years ago I had a Great Dane who cut his tail and although it was stitched because of how much he wagged his tail we could never get it to heal. He ended up having his docked quite short and within a week he was without the e-collar and acted as though nothing had happened.

 

[Amstaffer]

Athena's update

For you that are interested, Athena's tail has healed pretty well and will not need to be removed according to my Vet. It still has a little bump and a slight bend to it but she pretty much seems back to normal.

Thanks for all the comments and advice.

 

[Melissa_W]

Oh, I'm glad to hear that!

 

[Denaluvscorgis]

I'll be sending good thoughts to Athena for a speedy recovery!!!

 

[ACooper]

Well that is good news!

Tell Athena to quit being so dog gone tail wagging happy all the time, and it won't happen again........heheheheheheh

 

[Whisper]

Aww, I'm glad she's healing. Thank you for the update!

 

[Amstaffer]

Tell Athena to quit being so dog gone tail wagging happy all the time, and it won't happen again........heheheheheheh

that ain't going to a happen. I had a real tough time keeping her from wagging when ever we came home or when we had visitors.

 

[nica]

It's alright to go ahead with the docking, they cut the soft bone area inbetween the actual bone. Just be very careful with her after the operation and do not let her lick her wound and also to ensure she dun hit the tail on surfaces after her operation. dogs are fond of wagging their tails sometimes against hard surfaces even when it is painful...their threshold for pain can be quite high. this might lead to infection or complications