Happy Tail Syndrome: A Bloody Nightmare

Imagine  coming home from work and finding blood splattered across every wall,  floor and surface.  You would 100% go into panic mode, right?  We would!   Yet your hound is standing excitedly in front of you, tail wagging,  happy that your home!

You  immediately start checking them over (as you take in the state of your  house…it’s even on the ceiling!) and they look fine?  No obvious wounds  or legs hanging off or anything else quite so traumatic…but where did  all the blood come from?

That’s  when you notice the tip of their tail is red, and you realise your home  is victim of the dreaded happy tail syndrome!  As have you, having now  also been covered in the splatters as they continue to wag in  excitement.

Very ironically  named, happy tail syndrome is anything but ‘happy’.  It is far from  enjoyable experience!  When we tell you that it gets everywhere…we mean  everywhere!  No matter how much you clean, you will be finding the odd  spots of blood all over the house for months to come!

If you know, you know.

Though for those who don’t know.  What is ‘happy tail syndrome’?

Otherwise  known as tail trauma, it is a common (and insanely frustrating) injury  to a dog’s tail tip which is particularly common in greyhounds  (especially the very long tailed ones!).  

It  often happens while they are in kennels, or in transport crates, from  repeatedly banging their tail against hard surfaces, which causes it to  bleed.  This could simply be from a small scratch or a deep wound, but  the more they wag the worse it gets, and they are usually completely  oblivious to it as they continue to wag in excitement and continue to  bang it against things.

Though it  can, and does, often happen in the home.  The end of a hound’s tail is  sensitive and thin, like the rest of their body, there isn’t a lot of  skin on them, and it is quite easy for them to get an injury from  catching it on a wall or corner of a table…which given their height,  puts their tail in the unfortunate position of catching every bit of  furniture around.

So, apart from  every wag of the tail continuing to turn your home into a horror movie  set, managing the injury is incredibly frustrating and often long  winded.  You cannot stop a dog from wagging!  We have dealt with every  kind of illness and injury going, but for all the trauma that comes with  them, tails are by far one of the most stressful!  The tails constant  movement causing repeated trauma preventing healing, the high likelihood  of wound breakdown or infection, and their incessant need to undress it  of any bandaging means that in nearly every single case of happy tail  we have encountered, it has resulted in amputation.

Unfortunately,  we cannot in good faith tell you that happy tail is preventable,  because it’s not.  It can happen in an instant.  One poorly aimed wag  against the corner of the coffee table, and the red stuff is all over  the sofa, walls and carpets.

There  may be signs, if they have traumatised their tail but it has not yet  started to bleed in which you may be able to prevent the fountain such  as spotting redness, swelling or fur loss on the end of the tail, or  excessive licking…but generally it goes from zero to one hundred.

So, how do you treat happy tail?  Usually with a lot of swearing…though that might just be us!

The  first thing you want to do is to clean the wound and stop the bleeding  with pressure and take them to the vet to be properly assessed, treated  and bandaged as appropriate.

Sometimes,  if you are lucky, your quick thinking first aid and some  anti-inflammatory pain killers, antibiotics and bandaging from the vet  may be enough to stem the problem there and then and prevent any further  issue.

Unfortunately, rarely  seen that happen and despite best efforts, 9 times out of 10 we have  seen the wound get re-traumatised, break down to expose bone or become  infected.  On a couple of occasions this has been due to underlying  medical conditions, but others the hounds…no amount of bandaging,  padding, cones of shame or other protections seem to have worked!  

When  happy tail syndrome becomes recurrent, either with the one injury  reopening again and again, or breaking down, or where they get recurrent  incidents of happy tail throughout a period of time…the only real  option is to amputate to prevent further pain and suffering.

Once  you see the wound open and the bone is exposed, you can try all the  management in the world to get that to granulate and heal over (yes, we  have tried this before) and you will spend weeks of your life trying and  you will think you’re winning and then one day they just bang their  tail in the wrong way and yup…the bone is exposed once more and  amputation comes back onto the table.

Amputation  is typically considered to be the ‘last resort’, but for some  long-tailed hounds or hounds who you can take one look at  (behaviourally) and know that bandaging is not the answer…amputation is  often considered quite early on.

Now,  don’t panic.  Amputation typically does not affect a hound’s mobility,  balance or ability to communicate with other dogs.  They may look a bit  ridiculous, and everyone you meet for the rest of their lives will be  like ‘oh what happened to their tail?’, but it’ll be okay!  If you are  concerned, you can discuss other management options with your vet if you  would prefer not to take this course of action as there are several  risks involved.

As with any  surgery, going under general anaesthetic runs its own risks although  they are low for healthy hounds.  The main risk that comes with tail  amputation is the same as leaving the tail as it is with bandaging and  other management.  The wound breaks down, gets re-traumatised or  infected.

We were chatting with a  friend of ours yesterday, who has more years of greyhound experience  than all of us put together, and as with our own experience, she has  never seen an amputation work first time around.

We  don’t say this to put you off, but to be prepared and to have a frank  discussion with your vet about how much should be amputated.  You have a  higher chance of success in taking more off in the initial surgery, but  it is also a gamble should it be unsuccessful.  Many vets will want to  take as little off as possible to give more options moving forward.

Every  amputation we have had had done or known about has failed.  A second  amputation is required.  Whether it is a greyhound thing, or that the  first amputation is so far down the tail that there is just not enough  skin and muscle to successfully cover the wound and stitch, who  knows…they just don’t heal well (and this has been across various vet  practices, not just one vet before anyone starts pointing fingers!)

Thankfully,  in all but two cases, the second amputation has been successful.   Taking more of the tail (so they’re at the thicker section of tail) and  having more to work with in terms of and wound management thereafter has  wielded better results…but it’s not always the case.

We  have had three instances in which a third amputation has been required,  leaving them with tiny little nubs.  These cases were hail  Marys…because if they were unsuccessful, there would have been no tail  left to work with which exposes the spine to infection…and in these  cases the vet would have to recommend euthanasia as there is nothing  that can be done.

We have had two  instances of euthanasia due to tail amputation breakdown, one due to an  underlying medical condition which prevented them from healing and the  other due to complex behavioural issues that caused the tail to be  repeatedly traumatised.  You can only imagine how heartbreaking it is to  have to make the decision to let a dog go because of a tail  injury…something that starts out so small and insignificant!  It hardly  seems real that these things can happen, but unfortunately, they do.

But then, that begs the question of how you can prevent this from happening in the first place?

You  can’t.  Not really!  It’s one of those freak accidents!  Though some  hounds will be more prone to it occurring than others depending on their  tail length and waggy-ness!