Page 20 - Chiron Issue 2 2014

‘Happy Tail’ – tail tip injuries in working dogs.
Tail tip injuries are small but frustrating wounds to fix. They are caused by repeated impacts as dogs wag their tails against hard surfaces. These injuries will happily spray blood everywhere and they are a nightmare to fix.
Bandages can work, but they are heavy and can create a ‘pendulum’ effect. If the bandage gets wet, the wound sits and festers under the bandage layer. Amputation is the normal answer – quite a serious operation in an adult dog, and you often get the same problem on the surgical stump.
We had an especially difficult case to
handle on a dog doing prison hospital searches - you can’t spray blood up the walls in there – that’s their job! We developed ‘Dog Ends’ - small stretchy woven mesh tubes that overhang over the tail tip. They are flexible yet strong and absorb tail impacts without transmitting them down to the wound, while still allowing fantastic airflow.
The tubes are lightweight and easy to apply. We’ve made them black to be unobtrusive on working dogs. They can be used for first aid (the packaging will roll to fit in a belt pack), or treatment of
an existing wound, or for prevention while working in difficult environments.
They come in packs of 10 with an applicator and veterinary grade tape and normally stop the bleeding within 1-2 days, with full healing in about 2 weeks. At around £4 per dog end, they are much cheaper than conventional veterinary treatment, and a lot less than amputation!
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