My dog's tail won't quit bleeding!?

Question

Okay so my poor greyhound, Annie, got her tail broken in a door. We at least think that its broken. It's Labor Day weekend on a Sunday so vet care isn't really an option. The wound isn't very big (less than a pencil eraser) but it won't quit bleeding! I am very concerned and was wondering if anyone knew what to do to make the blood clot and quit bleeding. She is doing well for now, the bleeding pretty much stopped but I want to make sure that it doesn't start up again. My mom went to go get "Blood stop" to help but I need to know what else I can do for her! I am giving her lots of water because of the blood loss and am with her as we speak. Please help, I REALLY appreciate it!! :D

Okay, so I used kwik stop and it is really helping because then i dressed it with gauze and medical tape and she seems to be doing fine. We have been changing the bandages and putting more kwik stop on it for a while now, and she is doing fine.

GOOD NEWS! it stopped! YAY! xD

Answer 1

This is a fairly common occurance in greyhounds and other breeds with thin, bony tails and little hair for cushion. It is commonly referred to as 'happy tail'. The tail probably isn't broken; rather there is a hematoma that is bleeding. A dog that is constantly wagging it's tail and hitting things around the house is liable to develop this and it is very hard to completely cure without amputation.

The most effective thing that I have heard of is this:

Got to your local Home Depot or hardware store. In the plumbing section, look for pipe insulation. It is extremely thick foam. Clean the injury thoroughly and put a light bandage on the affected area then wrap the entire tail in the pipe insulation. Attach the pipe insulation to the top part of the tail with vet wrap or medical tape. This will stabilize the tail and prevent it from reopening when your dog starts to wag it. You should open the wrap and change the bandage every 2-3 days. You'll need to keep the tail wrapped until the hematoma is completely healed. Otherwise it will just keep reopening and amputation will be your option.

Check out http://www.greytalk.com for more info on happy tail. It is the world's largest forum for greyhound lovers and there are a lot of people who have dealt with this problem and can offer support and advice.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Even though it's Labor Day weekend, there should be a 24 hour pet hospital somewhere near to you. I'd really suggest you take her there, you're not sure whether her tail is broken, or what kind of damage she's done to herself, so she needs to be seen by a professional asap.

Apart from the pain she'll be feeling, there's a risk of infection and other things that really need to be considered. You can put a clean gauze pad over the wound and keep it in place with a bandage (don't make it too tight though), if you put some pressure on the pad once it's in place it should help with the bleeding. Also put some antiboitic ointment on the wound before you cover it.

But bottom line is see a veterinarian as soon as you can. Good luck, hope she's doing better soon.

Answer 3

Sorry, but you're going to have to get Annie in to the emergency vet clinic. They will probably amputate a portion of her tail. It sounds like a LOT of blood, which is obviously not a good thing. I know tails can bleed a lot when they merely wag it too hard against a wall, so you don't want to mess with this. If you can get the bleeding slowed down by wrapping it, duct tape a sock over it to protect it and take her in today.

Answer 4

My dog growing up had skin allergies. Sometimes he would bite/lick his skin raw. Kind of like dog eczema--would only affect certain spots and would get worse with scratching. Take him to the vet and see if there's any medicated cream out there for him (you might even be able to use something over the counter, like Cortaid or other hydrocortisone). It could also be fleas that have for some reason concentrated on his tail!

Answer 5

Broken tails are common. The vet either does nothing or amputates depending on the severity. In this case, it sounds like he would do nothing. Corn starch will help clot blood if direct pressure fails sometimes. Alum is better, but not everyone has it available. You can put some antibiotic cream on the wound and get some antibiotics if you feel the dog has an infection next week.

Answer 6

The fact that it is Sunday and Labor Day weekend does not matter. Call your vet's after hours number or go to a 24 hour emergency vet clinic.

Answer 7

There has to be a 24hr vet somewhere in your area, please check your phone book. The tail is a constant moving part of a dog's body and will be hard to keep it from opening up again. If no vet is possible, please wrap the tail as securely as possible with gauze and tape and keep the dog as still and resting as possible until you can take the dog to a vet when they open. I am no vet but that would be my first step until I could get to one. I have had my dog's paws split open and I did that until I could get to one.

Answer 8

My old dog had this happen, it does bleed a lot. We put an anti septic cream on the wound (germolene) until we could have a vet look at it. The trouble is, if you dress the tail your dog will try to pull the dressing off.

Answer 9

Tails are the very worst thing, aren't they? One of my greys injured his tail, too. If you have any vet wrap, you could wrap a bit around the area just to prevent Annie from breaking it open again when she wags her tail. (It's a wrap that sticks to itself.) What you would do is wrap a bit of gauze around first, then the vet wrap - only until you can get her to the vet.

Answer 10

All vets have an after hours service option.