My dogs infected tail
By gmangel12
@gmangel12 (99)
United States
November 24, 2006 6:46pm CST
My dog got her tail stuck in the door tues night. I took her to the vet on wed and the cleaned up and bandaged it and gave her antiobiotics. The problem i am haveing is whenever she wags her tail the bandage falls off right away. Even after the vet wrapped it it fell off as soon as we got home. Now it looks like it is starting to get infected even though i am putting neopsporn on it as instructed. They told me if this does not work we will have to have a few inches of her tail taken off. Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep the bandage on or any thoughts on having some of the tail removed. I think it is horrifying but the vet seems to think it would not be that bad and is fairly common. Thanks sorry so long
1 response
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
25 Nov 06
Hmm, personally I wouldn't use Neosporin on it. I'd let it dry more but keep cleaning it regularly with chlorhexiderm.
If the infection is bad, honey is often used. I've seen honey packed into abscesses before on pets, and on wild sea lions where I volunteer, we use it to pack sharkbite wounds before bandaging. It works wonders.
How are you doing the bandage? I'd recommend gauze roll first, then vet wrap over that to keep it on. If you're using an ace bandage instead of vet wrap, try using a hairclip to keep it in place as that doesn't seem to stay as well.
Best of luck that your dog won't need to lose her tail!
@gmangel12 (99)
• United States
25 Nov 06
you do not think i should use neosporin even though the vet said too? What i am doing is putting the neosporin on a Telfa (a ouchless non adherent pad) then putting gauze over it then taping over the gauze. i have tried different lengths of doing this as well but they all seem to fall right off as soon as she wags her tail. Just plain honey from the store?
thanks for responding
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
25 Nov 06
It depends on the vet recommending it I guess. The vet I go to and the vet I worked for rarely if ever recommended Neosporin. If you are using Neosporin, usually an extremely thin layer is recommended rather than a whole lot.
I believe unpasteurized honey is supposed to work better for some reason, but plain honey is what is used on the sea lions.
Try putting the bandage over just the wound, but put the wrap around that bandage as well as a large section of the tail. It's okay to use tape on the wrap as well, just don't tape the wrap to the fur (tape wrap to wrap).
