"Happy tail" injuries happen to dogs with long (natural length) tails hitting objects or even walls when the dogs wag. This was recommended to us and it was everything we could hope for. I treated the tail with an antibiotic, secured it with a small piece of cotton and cut a soft plastic straw in half and fit it to the size of the tail and secured it with a band aid. Remmy, our "happy tail" dog, looking comfortable. Change every few days and soak the bandage to get it off w/o hurting the pup. What I finally found a solution that I think works. Wrapping with vet wrap and medical tape works best for wrapping. IF you can see BONE through the tail, this is a fractured tail, and needs to be vetted ASAP. #1 Tail Protection for HappyTail, Breaks, & more. It's Secure and Prevents Re-Injury. That's when he noticed Remy's tail. Our method is fairly simple if you can get your dog to lie still for a few minutes. She is a bully/mastiff mix and her tail is truly a whip! Place the wrapped tail through the wide mouth of the plastic protector tube. Our method for bandaging tails came to us by trial and error after Frank's tail got stuck in the storm door, poor baby what ended up working the best was this. Get the largest size bandaid or other brand "bandaid" (I think they come in 2x3") flexible fabric bandage. Answer: Then I would expect this would never be a problem. It really isn't. Money is Saved on Repeat Veterinary Care and Emergency Amputation Cost. I hope his tail is back to normal now. Its perfect for what we need and still works great! Answer: Remy, the Golden Retriever/Lab mix in the photos is no longer with us. Then wrap around the gauze with vet wrap. Has it healed completely? They may sell the neoprene tube "sleeves" separately from the drinking tubes and bladders (e.g. Pasted as rich text. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/mending_a_tail.htm. Your Dog CanGoPotty.Be Crated. Camelbaks). This is worth the money!!! I checked both dogstheir paws, faces, sides. Question: Have you had any more incidents after putting the Neoprene on your dog's tail? Gently wrap that around the wound. After a happy tail injury, we had to cut 3-4" off Drama's tail, so after surgery, we needed to make sure it was protected from him getting at it, wagging it too hard and hitting something and from us. It looks pretty silly, but isn't slowing down the wagging any. Turned out, it was from my happy dog's wagging tail. With this product I am no longer concerned her entire tail will be taken. Like our Remy, who runs around banging his tail like a whip on furniture, walls, appliances and doors, a dog with happy tail ends up with a bloody stub after repeat trauma. Then I took a tampon tube and pulled it over the area, then used surgical tape to tape the tube to the tail, making sure that when I wound the tape, I put it on each side of the fur that way the fur actually held the tube in place. It took about 3 weeks for it to fully heal. I spent hundreds of dollars on vet appointments and first aide tape trying to get my labs tail to heal! This product works and is just what my dachshund needed to protect her tail. It is not meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from a veterinary medical professional. I hope this article can be of help. may swell painfully, leading to tissue trauma, infection or tissue death. If the injuries keep happening Ill talk amputation with the vet he is now using the sling method on patients, also with good success. Change every day and apply an antibiotic cream. Well, Im SO glad I did. This is what finally worked. Absolutely has changed the game for the saddest happy syndrome a pup can have. Thanks for sharing this really great tip. The neoprene had enough "grab" not to slip off of Remy's fur, even when he started wagging. I am so thankful to have found this product for my baby. Yes I blew hard as I applied it 2 separate times within an hour, stuff sucks because it has alcohol but it also has medicine to help prevent infection and healing. Always communicate your dog's health status to your vet independent of the severity of the condition you are managing at home. Grassmere has directions on bandaging happy tail and I sorta followed those. Deb Kingsbury (author) from Flagstaff, Arizona on January 10, 2015: Thanks for your comment, Roger, but our vet (and another that we know) said what we were using was just fine. The toilet paper roll works, too, but not as well as the curler. We just changed the medical tape after applying new medicine. Also, proceed with caution if your dog is fractious (or overly wiggly)you may opt for assistance from an experienced animal handler in this case to avoid injuries to yourself and others. Question: What if my dog's tail is like a very short one that has been cut off to a nub? Remove, clean, and re-wrap the wound 1x per day for the first couple of days. I ordered this product. The customer service was also outstanding. We went to a few websites like this and tried various bandages, but they all ended up falling off or getting chewed off by our dog. I'm amazed that Remmy (bless his heart) left the tail protector on, but maybe he did realize it made his tail feel better. a gauze pad or cotton and some medical/trainers tape can do the trick. We usually change it every other day. Bandages that are too tight or wrapped incorrectly can cut off blood supply to tissue and may lead to slow wound healing, tissue death and necrosis. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately. I know it sounds horrible but it is less hassle to keep cleaning walls and carpets! Then we tried wrapping from a few inches higher with even more tape. Want updates from SHUG? We spent hundreds of dollars at the vets and were facing an amputation surgery with it's own set of risks. Kelly -- Happy tail is such a pain, Ive had luck with paper towel tube, plastic tubing and that foam tubing used for pipe insulation (even used a pool noodle on a fat-tailed lab once). We'd walk to the middle of the room first, where there was nothing for him to whack his tail against, and THEN greet him with our usual enthusiasm, and he'd go bonkers. Thats why we developed the happy tail saver, it saved our dogs tail from being amputated, saving us hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. By My only complaint with it is the velcro only lasts about a week or so until you will need to replace it. You have to put the vet wrap fairly far up on the tail so that it stays on. I was starting to think we would have to dock her tail at 7 years old, and with a baby due any day we really didnt have the ability to handle that. Zoom Doggies-Racing Coats for Racing Greyhounds. Soon, my husband came home and, as usual, was jumped on and licked by two excited pooches. This is fantastic, have just ordered some tubing on ebay and will look forward to doing 2 of our 3 dogs. Once his bleeding "happy tail" healed the first time with the Neoprene, it was probably the better part of a year before it ever bled again, but not as badly. His tail is healing well and he isn't bothered by the harness at all. Ketchup? This tail saver literally saved my dog's tail, and my sanity. I did have to contact Julie because I stupidly trimmed the under strap too short!! Nothing. K9 TailSaver is a set and Includes a Breathable Padded Tail Sleeve, aCarefully Designed Support Harness, a Wag Strap and a Cross-Body Anti-Twist Strap. Susan Try one of those old fashioned pink foam curlers. She has a small sore still and I do not want to be premature and pull it off until she is totally healed. I have gotten to where when I get home I don"t immediately speak when I walk in the door and also tell him to watch his tail when I let him out of his crate and believe it or not, he apparently understands because our blood spatter has lessened, but please don't think I am being cruel by not speaking to him immediately because he is spoiled rotten, it just makes him less excited. Good luck cleaning! I've read that if you wrap the tail from the tip to the base (towards the body), it stays on, but: So, we began wandering around the house to see what else we might use to wrap and protect that battered tip of a tail in order to give it a chance to heal. I tried it all for 2 days but it all came off and blood everywhere. Then, vetwrap the tail starting and ending several inches on either side of the bandage. Paste as plain text instead, Well worth the investment. Very fortunate. You have to tape directly to the tail though, so it might pull some hair coming off. We checked the tail daily for any sign of infection. Changing the world . After a week my labs tail is nearly healed. Clean it. I was lucky not to have had to treat such a wound. I would recommend this product to anyone who has a dog with happy tail. Product is of good quality and delivery was super fast. - The YouTube video instructions are helpful, so probably start there. Amazing. By the time we found the TailSaver, we had spent nearly $2000 on our dog's badly infected tail-tip injury, which started as a wound so tiny we couldn't see it. She's a 70 pound lab with a 90 mile per hour tail swing. Splatter. There is a new product to help with Happy Tail. (Definitely no pun intended.). (Hint: unwrap a long length of vetwrap from the roll before you wrap the tail with it; this will make it easier to avoid wrapping too tight.) This was literally the only way we have been able to help our dogs tail heal! Hold pressure on the area with your hands, and a towel, until the bleeding stops. Wag. Its so thin and doesnt always want to stay. Thanks. The little delay definitely helped prevent happy tail. He has some "wiggle room" but no big swings to whack into anything which means the tail can heal properly and my house doesn't look like an episode of CSI. THANK YOU FOR THIS MIRACLE DEVICE! It took her a few days to get used to wearing the full harness, but it stayed on perfectly and she can do 'her business' no problem with it on as well. I had visions of a horror movie. Tail's are Protected by the Padded Tail-Sleeve and the Supporting Harness. This caused her to get blood all over the walls. Our veterinarian told us that there was nothing we could use on her tail that wouldl stay on. . It is a quick fix when you don't have anything else around. Then I use duct tape over the whole thing and up the tail to keep it in place. for one dog at a time. . An incredible buy, would recommend a million times over! If you are in doubt at all, I'd see the vet What I did was to first, shave the tail to expose the wound. So looking forward to not washing walls and even ceilings!!!! I'd rather not bleach the paint (or the carpet) but will if I have to. Every veterinarian in the country should stock this product. It still is wrapped for another 6-10 days but he does not seem to miss it being long and it does not hit the walls like before. When we placed the neoprene around the tail, we allowed it to extend roughly half an inch beyond the tip. This article is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge. Everywhere. You have to tape the tail and then tape the insulation to the tape. Question: Did you tape the top of the neoprene to your dogs tail to help it stay on? It's the only thing that worked since the vet wrap wouldn't stay on when she wagged. It was late in the day and she was already home but went over everything with me. Kristie When one of our dogs gets happy tail, I goop it up with Manuka honey. Then I took "new skin" the liquid bandage stuff, and applied it to the wound. Look everywhere for blood, you'll find it in spots you could never imagine blood would be. He had the longest monkey tail ever and whacked the walls and blood everywhere - we tried everything and just this past week had about 4 inches amputated from his tail - just to the point of where his back legs have the "elbow". Veterinary care is important, but you can save the cost of dog tail amputation. A vet visit is in order if the wound isn't healing. He died of cancer at a young age, sadly. With a cropped tail, that would not happen. I tried everything but my little dachshund just kept beating her happy tail on everything. Question: What should be done with a dog's tail that is splitting, but not bleeding? In his excitement, he tossed more blood all over the kitchen and even splattered it six feet high. She answered me very quickly and immediately sent me a new strap! If the plastic tube appears to be "damp" inside, remove from the tail and cut to make the ventilation hole wider. When I was struggling to get it to fit my dog, they responded immediately and walked me through options. I drove up to Richmond today to pick up a new foster who, so far, is settling in ok.