Ways to heal a tail injury?

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AmandaDi

AmandaDi

You Have No Idea!
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
389
Location
Central Texas
Please see my original thread for more detail. This has been going on too long!!

http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39441

Do any of you have advice on things to help heal a wound? Can you use some sort of liquid bandaide?

I take Skylar back to the vet Tuesday at 2pm and I hope to have some ideas to contribute with whatever he might say.

I worry they will want to amputate... not sure how that will heal if I cant get a tiny tip wound to heal. Not to mention what it would do to her balance!

Running low on hopes here!
 
I tried Blu kote on my chin's tail that worked for a little bit. I wrote in your previous thread that 1/2 of her tail had to be amputated. After the amputation she stopped chewing on her tail, she runs on her wheel, jumps, etc no problem with balance. Good luck.
 
The vet got creative today. He said that without that puff of hair on her tail, she is easily banging it and busting it open. Hopefully the tube around it will prevent that, but still allow for the oxygen to get to it and help it heal.

Fingers are crossed!

He doesn't want me to put any meds on it for 72 hours so her body can try to heal itself first. We'll see what happens I guess!
 
I totally attached a pic but then it vanished I guess! Hmm... resized it and everything to be sure it fit! Now I tried to reload the same pic and it wont let me. odd
 
The tube is still on!!! Today I am going to put some meds on it, but my fingers are crossed that we have found a good way to help this heal!
 
Hope your chin's tail heals up!! Fingers crossed for you! I actually have a female chin who only has half of her tail. It was like that when I adopted her. It almost looks like it got pulled off by accident or something because the stub she has left is a clean looking break. I am her third and forever home. I don't think her first owners were very careful with her. I'll never know for sure how her tail broke, but I can say that she gets around just fine! It doesn't bother her a bit and she jumps, walks, and runs just like any of my other chins. So if your worst case scenario of amputation ends up happening, rest assured your chinny will adjust!
 
Update! Tomorrow will be one week *knock on wood* with the tube on and no new injury! I put some meds on it on Saturday and play to do so again on Tuesday. I have to call the vet to see how long he thinks I should try to keep this tube on.
 
Well, after the tube was on for a week her tail was looking great!!! About 3 days after the one week mark, she got it off. I put it back on and it was good for another week before she pulled it off. Only this time, there was a little blood on the bandage up higher and there were little pin worm looking things in the bandage. OMG! Of course this was Saturday night! So I cleaned it up, nothing on the tail, but it just looked so sore. This went from just an injured tip to a sore tail... With all the tape irritating it she has almost no hair on 3/4 of her tail.

Took her in this morning and the vet just called. He said the tip is infected and the rest is just really irritated. He is going to sedate her and go in and really clean it and see if there is anything else to do to save it. He said worse case, he will have to amputate part of it.

UGH!
 
A friend of mine is a vet tech at the clinic. She said Skylar is waking up now and they did have to amputate about 1.5 inches from her tail.

Pray that I can get this to heal. Not sure how it is going to go since I couldn't even get a cut at the tip to heal!
 
Snickers said:
I'll post a picture of my chin later on today that had 1/2 of her tail amputated.
Click to expand...

I guess it is more than 1/2 of her tail. She is with her 1/2 sister, runs on a wheel, jumps, etc.
 

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Thanks Snickers! How old was she when she got it done. I worry so much because Skylar is 10 and I worry about the stress.

I have her home now and she seems to be doing well. We go back to the vet Wed.
 
Awww your poor baby! My chin is almost four, and had half her tail already gone when I adopted her at about age two. She does great without it, and is just as energetic and mostly well balanced as my other chins.

Perhaps your vet could give you some extra tips on how to help it heal without your chin messing with it too much. I bet they will probably prescribe some antibiotics and pain meds too since its a minor surgery. Come to think of it, none of my chins seem to pay any attention to their tails at all! Perhaps if your chin is given some pain meds then she won't mess with it as much while it heals since it will be bothering her less. Hope your chin gets better soon!
 
Asha, Thanks! Yes, they did give me antibiotics and pain meds. Our hopes are also that if it isn't hurting, she won't mess with it!

I really am happy to hear that there are chins missing part of their tail and their balance seems okay.

She has a 3 ft cage that she hasnt been able to go in for the last month and a half due to this injury. I am hoping once it heals that I can get her back in it - thought I might have to take out the top half of the shelves and slowly reintroduce them. Id hate for her to realize her balance isnt the same and fall that far!
 
Took her back to the vet today. Skylar's tail looked good (according to the vet). It is all bruised up, but he said the skin looks healthy. It bled a little, so he said that is still a good sign. He bandaged it back up and she goes back Friday to get it checked again!
 
Took her back yesterday and the news was bad. The tip had died again and the tissue above it wasn't looking good either. He went ahead and amputated the rest of the tail :( ...... starting a new thread for meds... UGH!
 
My friend's chinchilla, Mog, had her tail amputated several years ago now - apart from the obvious lack of bushy appendage, you'd never know she didn't have a tail as she whizzes around like any other chin. Her balance is almost perfect now she's gotten used to not having a tail.
Catching her is a different issues though! LOL
 
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