# Part of my dog's tail has been amputated.



## lunayusema (Mar 13, 2010)

I had a little accident with my dog's tail and it had to be amputated. It's been bandaged for maybe about two weeks. A few days ago, the vet had the bandage taken off and the tail looks raw still. VERY RAW. It's not bleeding but it just doesn't look...ok. Is this normal? There isn't very much puss from what I can see. Would the face there there is a very small amount visible to me be a reason to worry? I know nothing about these things. We'll be taking her again to the vet on monday, but I really don't think this vet knows what he's doing. The problem is that well...he's not very expensive. Do you think treating whatever problem she might have with her tail be expensive to take care of? She seems to be fine except when she goes outside, I assume the wind hitting that part of her tail bothers her. She's a small poodle mix. There are stitches in her tail.


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## 5 s corral (Dec 31, 2007)

did they put the dog on antibotics 
that should help with the healing 
jamie


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## lunayusema (Mar 13, 2010)

She was on antibiotics for 7 days.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

Tails are very hard to heal.

My dog a few summers ago did his own partial tail amputation. It was a freak accident, he was on our front balcony, and its all glass with big glass windows. the wind caught a window, and dropped it, and his poor tail was resting on the window sill (he was standing next to it looking out)

It literally took us months for it to actually heal.

I would clean it 2 times a day. Then bandage the snot out of it. I basically made it a huge bandage so it was very very padded. Put a sock over it, then a plastic bag to keep water, dirt ect from seeping in. He was on antibiotics for weeks to keep it from getting more infected. 

You have to be very digilint with tails, as they wag them like crazy and can hit them off anything to re break them open. Which is why I bandaged his tail so thick. I would take it off at bed time it could breath.

Good luck. I think these are one of the worst spots to heal. But maybe mine was more so due to the freak nature of it? Not sure why yours was amputated.


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

I'm so sorry your dog is going through this, yes, it will take a long time for this to heal and far more than 7 days of antibiotics may be in order. If you're having doubts about your vet, then you may need to find a new one. Be sure you're keeping the area clean and well bandaged ( you may need to rebandage a couple times a day) and watch for ANY indication of infection. If you see that it may be getting infected get the dog to the vet IMMEADIATELY. Since it's a Poodle mix you may need to keep the tail shaved down, ask the vet for an appropriate dose of Ace to make this job a bit easier.


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## lunayusema (Mar 13, 2010)

Hm, it sounds like it takes some care to heal the tail. My vet hasn't given me any instruction for the tail really, just to come back in a week. It's bound to get infected this way. Bah. Thanks guys.


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## ozzy29 (Mar 25, 2010)

Call a different vet and get an opinion. 3 weeks from all the sites i read is an average healing period, but puss is not a good sign take the dog back. If you have a good vet then any treatment related to the surgery should be covered.
And talk to the vet, not just the assistants. Ask questions and get answers!


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