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Broken tail

3K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Susan Young 
#1 ·
We have a 7 month old female lab with a broken tail. The break is approximately six inches from the end.
Interested if someone else has experienced this and what is the healing time, if in fact it will heal at all. I understand it depends on the severity of the break, but generally folks that have experienced this situation.
What are the consequences of cutting the end of the tail ?
 
#2 ·
Are you sure it is broken? Or it just a common problem often called "cold tail"? You might do a search on cold tail and get some information from either here or just a google search.
 
#6 ·
I had one Lab break a tail, never would heal, just very difficult to keep stable, as Dr. Ed says. It was about 4" we ultimately had removed, she was fine other than being sore for a couple of days post-surgery.
 
#7 ·
Yeah that's what I was thinking too. I've never had one actually break their tail but have seen quite a few with the bloody end they knocked on everything and they never seem to heal. Result was amputation of the end.
 
#8 ·
Yes, I think the amputation was more for me, got a little old cleaning blood off of walls and cabinets, didn't appear to bother her wapping that thing against every surface in the house. It was ugly and a mess all the time. We just told people she was a fat pointer after the docking.
 
#9 ·
Vet placed her on steroids for inflammation and Acer for hyperactivity of which she
possesses a great deal of, on or off the meds. This was a week ago Thursday when the
xray was taken. The bulk of the tail has come up, although the 6" at the tip has not satisfactorily erected itself. It is impossible to keep her calm. Fighting a losing battle.
thanks for the input.
 
#10 ·
I've had a couple heal by using a plastic tube with the fractured part of the tail inside. I've used a syringe case of the appropriate size. It may work if the pup will tolerate it. May need to use an ecollar (that's an elizabethan collar) to keep him away from it. Healing time would be approx 2 months.

On the other hand, Amputation of the end of the tail should not be an issue after it heals.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Had an adult toller get a broken tail, very painful for him. stepped on? Caught in a door? We weren't sure but the vet wrapped it thickly nearly the whole length, it healed beautifully. Long time ago, don't remember how long the healing took. he was a thousand times more comfortable after it was wrapped up.
--betty king
 
#12 ·
As far as the question about the aftermath of tail amputation, we have a 4 year old Lab with a stub of a tail not much more than one inch in length. Most likely due to complications of a bone disease she inherited, the circulation was cut off in her tail after a simple case of cold tail when she was a year old. Despite treatment, her tail literally withered and fell off in chunks. To get to healthy tissue, the vet had to amputate much shorter than he would have liked. We had to be very careful with her during recovery because if it didn’t heal, there was no more to take off. She seemed to be in pain for a while, especially the day she backed into the garage door, but eventually it healed up nicely.

We call her our Dobrador. She looks more like an oversized black Doberman than she ever looked like a Lab. Her lack of tail has not caused her problems with any activity, including swimming. She hunts, and has so far earned her SH in AKC and HR in HRC. She’ll make her Finished debut this year. She prefers not to sit, and wiggles her way down into a sit whether for a whistle in the field or a cookie in the kitchen, but I think that’s more related to her bone development issues than to the her docked tail.

Just call us Whitecliff Kennels… home to special need retrievers
 
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