Broken Tails

Broken tails are most commonly caused by accidently closing a door on your dog’s tail or from damage sustained when your dogs takes a fall. Although many tail breaks can heal on their own without long-term consequences, a broken tail will be very painful for your dog and will generally heal in a bit of a crooked fashion if not treated. Thus, the best thing to do is take your dog to the vet where the tail may be set and splinted and your dog will be given some medication to reduce the pain. Surgery is generally not necessary except in the cases in which your vet determines the tail has been severely damaged and/or neurological damage has been done to the tail. In these cases, a portion of the tail may have to be amputated. Amputation is done under general anesthesia. The damaged area or areas are removed and the remaining portion of the tail is sewn up and bandaged.