Prayers needed for Noba.... broken tail? GOOD UPDATE ON POST #12

Hi all,

I wrote this in the "general" section because this one wasn't showing up, and then "Bam"... it shows up here... oh well... So my Noba may have broken his tail... I will get the final word tomorrow at his vet appointment. The ridiculous part is that we have no idea how or when he did it. We went to the Drive-in movies last night and the dogs were outside in the backyard. When we got home, they went straight upstairs with us to bed. He was fine, tail wagging and no problems. This morning, I got up at 7 am to take the dogs out to potty, no problems. We all went back to bed until abotu 9 am. When I was letting the dogs out of the bedroom, I noticed that he was holding his tail down (like he does when he is in trouble). I really didn't think anything of it as he was still waking up. He went out and went potty. When he came back in, he started biting on his tail ferociously. I freaked out at first, thinking it was fleas. But when I went to look at it, I lifted it up and he screamed bloody murder. He has been unable to lift his tail since then. He can wag it slightly while it is hanging down and that's about it. The pain is about three or four inches away from the base of his spine... so I'm confused at to what is wrong with it... He goes tot he vet tomorrow afternoon... please keep him in your prayers.

Poor Noba, I hope he's ok. :( He may have what's known as "dead tail" Nebo has had this twice from swimming. It sounds like the same symptoms, if it is that, it will heal itself in a few days. Hopefully it's that instead of a break, good luck at the vet. Here's some links about it http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/coldtail.html
http://www.working-retriever.com/library/cwtail.html

Wolf Q,

Thank you so much for that link. I gave the dogs a bath yesterday and did use the hose outside (this is the first time I've given them one outside of the bathtub)... so of course the water was pretty cold. My fiance just called me at work and told me that Noba is still nursing his tail, but it seems to be lifting more and more... so I'm wondering more about "cold tail" now....hmmm

Poor Noba. Will keep him in our prayers. Let us know what the vet says. Amy - I've never hear of that before, weird.)

Wow, the links that Amy gave you are very interesting.I had never
heard of this either. It's good info to know,Prayers that the Vet confirms
it as something that will get better with a little time.

Aw, poor Noba. I hope he is feeling better soon. I had never heard of that before I found Pet Talk, but since joining I have learned a lot of things. ;)

I'll keep Noba and family in my thought and prayers. Poor guy.
{{{{{HUGS}}}}}

Poor Noba, I hope he will feel better soon. Are you back from the doctor's office yet, what did the vet think?

Well when I got home this morning, Noba was moving his tail more and more. He was able to raise it just above spine level, but it was still painful to wag back and forth. I called his vet (who is amazing dealing with Noba and his ongoing battle with HD)... the vet had heard of water tail before and said it was a possibility since the hose water for his bath was pretty cold. I took him in to the vet and they looked at his tail. Noba dog loves his vet, so when he came into the room, he began wagging his tail as much as he could, then he cried and started biting it. He was such a trooper when the vet looked at his tail, you could tell Noba was in a lot of pain, but he did great.... :D . The vet said it didn't appear to be broken or sprained, so he wrote it off pretty much as water tail (I brought the articles in that Wolf Q sent me the links too) and gave him some Rimadyl to take once a day... (he already takes it every other day for his HD). The vet called me on his way home to see how hound dog was doing and was amazed at the progress. We've been putting heat compresses on his tail all day (much to Noba's dismay... :rolleyes: ) and he seems to be improving. He can lift his tail up about 60% of the way up to almost "hound dog status"... :D , so we'll see what the next few days brings. The vet told me to bring him back in within a week if no noticeable improvement. Thanks again Wolf Q and everyone for their prayers... I will try and post a picture of the "limp tail" hound as soon as I can!!!

Yay Noba!! Get better soon pal, glad to hear you poor tail isnt broken!!

That's great! Hopefully his tail will be back up and wagging in no time. I'm so glad it wasn't anything too serious. :)

So Noba is once again raising his tail in traditional hound dog fashion. The base of the tail still comes out a little straight before it starts to curve upward, but it's improving every day!!! He still winces when he wags it at full force, but definitely better than a few days ago!!!! :D :D

Noba's Mom --- how is Noba's tail?

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Originally Posted by Nobas Mom

So Noba is once again raising his tail in traditional hound dog fashion. The base of the tail still comes out a little straight before it starts to curve upward, but it's improving every day!!! He still winces when he wags it at full force, but definitely better than a few days ago!!!! :D :D

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Great news. :)

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Originally Posted by cassiesmom

Noba's Mom --- how is Noba's tail?

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Thanks for asking. Noba's tail seems to have fully healed... although there is still a little straightness before his tail arches, so not sure if that will ever correct itself... but unless someone has all the interaction with him that I do, it's something that isn't even noticeable!!