last Sunday it was such nice weather that my husband decided to go to the beach and let Finn swim. On Monday Finn went to doggy daycare for I was admitted in hospital and my oh had a meeting in the evening. I got a message that Finn probably hurt his tail for he cried when jumping in the car into a crate. The following morning my oh saw Finn has his tail low, with a kink in it. Now we are a couple of days further and I think that it has cured with rest... Do you think I have to check with the vet? I read that a dog once affected he is prone to get it again....
Oh poor Finn. It can be quite painful and sometimes painkillers are needed. Anti-inflammatory tablets can help with healing too. Lilly has only had this one, quite mildly, but others have had it a few times. If he is his normal self, you probably don't need the vet, would say.
Oban only had it once, from jumping off a bank into quite warm water. Apparently it's a hazard of dock diving, the tail goes SMACK on the water. I gave him aspirin to help with pain and allow us all to get some sleep and he had it for two days. I've read in really bad cases it can last two weeks and the swelling around the base of the tail can cut off circulation to the tail and some have had to be amputated. Those must be not only rare cases but also ones where the owner was not observant, or caring. Anyway Oban never had it again and he's 9 now. Sure must hurt though, nothing else made him whimper like that.
I think all of our dogs have had "cold tail" once or twice. For ours, it seems to be from too much swimming. They seem to get over it in a few days with no meds and no harm done. They never seem to be in much discomfort, just have a low quiet tail for a little while. Ours have gotten it from a lot of swimming, but not from dock diving. I always thought it was from over exercising the tail while swimming. FWIW we did try to make a dock dog out of Tilly, but she would never make a long jump into the water. She always paused at the end of the dock to make sure no one drained the water out since her last jump.
My last boy got it from constantly wagging his tail when we had visitors staying . He was pretty miserable for a few days and needed anti-inflammatories.
Poor Finn that's miserable, I hope he will be OK. I also hope you will be OK Anne. A tough week for all of you x
My girl has had it a few times. The first time lasted about 10 days. We went to the vet and got anti inflammatories which really helped. The second time lasted 7 days, the last time lasted about 5 days. The first time was from running around in really cold weather, second and third was from swimming and being too cold.
