"There is only one
option when the dog or cat suffers serious injury to its
tail," I said to Vet 1 who had stitched up the spiral
tail laceration wound of more than 6 cm long and sent
the dog home with e-collar and medication after 4 days
of warding at Toa Payoh Vets.
"Based on my past 30 years experience, many Singaporean
dog and cat owners are not able to nurse their dog's
tail wounds. Even with e-collars, the dog or cat hits
the injured irritating tail, causing more damage. The
tail does not heal and becomes gangrenous. The owner
becomes upset as she had already spent money on this
first surgical treatment. It is not working and now the
owner is upset."
"In all tail injury cases, the owner must be advised
firmly and in writing that tail amputation is the sole
option as gangrene is likely to set in, with stitching
and other bandaging. There was a case of a cat with tail
injury. I advised tail amputation and you did it. We
don't see any complaint post-op. Now, this case comes
back with lots of unhappiness as the tail becomes
blackened and the tip has become cold."
As the owner was unhappy with the outcome, I advise that
she and the operating vet and myself meet at the same
time to discuss the matter. It is best done that way
than individuals giving their points of view to me
one-on-one basis.
The outcome of a case of tail injury is very important
to the owner. The owner wants just one visit and not be
inconvenienced by having repeat treatment. "Even with
gushing blood and copious bleeding, ligate the tail
blood vessel, bandage the tail and amputate the tail 2
days later with antibiotics given for the 2 days."
I held a meeting
with the owner and Vet 1 to listen to both sides of the
story rather than listening one-on-one. It turned out
that the dog bit the owner when she tried to clean the
wound. "The dog is quiet at the vet and permitted
cleaning of the tail," the lady had observed this. The
vet had also told her that the tail tip was cold to the
touch and gangrene would be setting in.
I took over the case and amputated the tail after around
3 days of antibiotics. The gangrenous tail part had
stiffened and it would be releasing toxins that would
kill this dog. On Day 4 after amputation (yesterday, Sat
Dec 3, 2011, my day off. Sunny morning), I washed the
tail. One stitch was breaking down and the tail was
painful to the touch. I taught my assistant Min how to
wash the tail with syringing of water or using a bowl of
water to rinse the tail. He used to handle it to wash
away the blood clots and debris. Coaching is important
as Mr Min had only seen 2 cases of tail amputation when
he worked previously.
TOA
PAYOH VETS
