Happy Tail - not so happy

It sounds like a joyful thing, but when a Happy Tail injury strikes it can be very serious.

Blood splattered over the walls, the floor, my dogs. Where is this coming from? Who is bleeding? And then I see the tail dripping and whipping blood around the room. It's my Irish Wolfhound Princess Poppy who is currently engaged in a game of tug with her deerhound sister, and flinging her tail - and drops of blood - around without any sign of pain. And then I realize what happened. Earlier that day I had caught the very tip of her tail in the car door. I had assumed it was only the hair at the very tip, as she never made any sounds of pain, and never acted injured. As I manage to catch her and look closer at the tail I can see there is at least one wound, possibly two on the very end of the tail flesh.

We have now experienced the dreaded Happy Tail issue. Happy Tail sounds like such a lovely thing to see, and if you aren't familiar with it, you may not realize the dangers of this issue.

Happy Tail is a serious injury which can lead to partial or full tail amputation. So what exactly is Happy Tail?

Happy Tail or Happy Tail Syndrome is a condition where a dog damages their tail - most often the tip - by striking the tail while wagging. Pet owners may not realize an injury has occurred due to that amount of hair covering the tail, and the damage may be compounded when an already injured tail whips into objects such as walls, furniture, or even people. Tail injuries can also happen if the tail is caught in something, such as a door, or pinched in a tight place.

You may notice blood dripping from the tip of the dog's tail, blood splatter on walls and floors, bald spots on the tail, chewing or biting at the tip of the tail, or raw cracked skin. So what do you do once you identify the issue? How do you proceed with treatment?

The first step is to stop the bleeding and then consult your veterinarian. If the injury does not look serious, it is still best to consult you veterinarian. Tail injuries are difficult to treat and can take a long time to heal properly.

You will want to bandage the area until the bleeding has stopped. Once the area is no longer bleeding, pad the tail to protect it from further injury. There are some great products on the market to treat happy tail injuries. I have used the K9 Tailsaver and been very pleased with the product they make. It is a harness system that attaches a tail sleeve to the harness and can be worn 24 hours a day for as long as necessary.

Another option is to make a homemade tail sleeve using soft material to wrap the tail and attach it around your dog's waist to keep it from sliding off.

A tail injury will reopen during healing if it has contact with hard objects. Due to the length of a dog's tail, the tip of the tail is farther away from the body and blood supply. This limits the amount of blood and oxygen getting to the injury. If you have access to a medical grade laser, this can be a good option to speed healing, however make sure that you are well-versed in how to use a medical laser. In the wrong or inexperienced hands a laser can be detrimental to your dog.

Maintaining a healthy wound site is the key to effective healing. Check the wound often to ensure there is no infection starting. Your vet may prescribe antibiotics or a sedative. If the tail is repeatedly injured, or infection sets in, a tail amputation may be the best course of action. It is important to maintain good communication with your veterinarian and their staff. If anything changes, get your dog in for an in person check as soon as possible. A physical exam by a knowledgeable veterinarian is the best way to assess how the injury is healing. Depending on the severity of the injury, an x-ray may be needed to look at the tail's internal structure. Try to get in as close to the initial injury as you can, as this will be the best time to optimize the dog's own body's healing systems.

In Princess' case we were fortunate. She healed fully and relatively quickly. At the time of her injury I applied styptic powder to help stop the bleeding and wrapped it with medical wrap until all bleeding had subsided. We then carefully shaved the hair around the injury to assess how bad the damage was. After soaking the injury and cleaning it thoroughly, we debated about whether to go to an emergency vet or not, as our regular vet was closed on Sundays. Thankfully, one of my local dog mentors was able to help.

My mentor advised me about the K9 Tailsaver product and offered us the use of a homemade tail wrap she had from a previous injury one of her dogs had dealt with until our Tailsaver arrived.

I contacted our vet the next morning to ask if we should bring Princess in. Our vet asked for photos to see the extent of the injury and felt that we had done a good job in our home care, but wanted us to keep them updated on how healing progressed.

Princess wore the tail cover for just over 5 weeks. She reopened the injury 3 times, all during our daily inspection and treatment of the wound. As part of the daily treatment I used a red light therapy unit twice daily for 5 minutes each time. It was necessary to have the tail uncovered for this treatment, and she tried to wag her tail which resulted in the reopened wound.

However, diligent monitoring and treatment paid off and her tail finally healed. We left the tail cover on for an additional week beyond what we considered "healed" to give the skin more time to thicken. She can once more wag her tail without any concerns, and I am much more vigilant about making sure no tails are anywhere near doors when they are closing.

Our story has a very happy ending, however, we know several dogs who have needed to have their tail partially or fully removed due to non-healing, or severe infection, despite all of their owner's efforts. Sometimes a tail simply cannot be saved, and for the dog's health and well-being the best option is to remove the affected tail. Your veterinarian can guide you and help you make the best decisions for your dog if you should ever find yourself facing this issue.

Wishing you good luck and healthy tails!