Question re: Brenda's glider with tail SM

He did that to his tail himself? The end looks shriveled....

I believe so as I caught him chewing on it before I could get the collar on and I have taken the collar off a few times to try to get him to eat and he eats a few bites and then goes back to the tail.

This is why we share pictures and stories - so that other owners can learn what might happen.
It looks like he chewed and then the tissue has died. That is very normal for this type of injury. I'm so glad it was taken care of and he is on the mend! With quickderm applied to the surgical site, he will heal up in no time.

A few days after the 1st amputation, I let Tas go back in with his family and they did well until we went to Tulsa and they chewed the heck out of it. Tas needed another amputation and Dr. Walsh did a great job with it and I tried to put him back in 6 days later and had to separate and stick him back in the collar because they had removed some of the skin on the end of the tail. Today was a checkup and the vet decided they wanted to start laser treatment to help it heal faster. The 2nd treatment will be on Saturday morning and in the meantime, I will continue to use Quikderm and hope it heals up fast. I will try to get a current picture soon. The vet was surprised to hear that Tas had gotten a shot of convenia after the 2nd amputation. I hope that helps show them it can be used on gliders.

Tas had his 3rd laser therapy treatment this morning. The receptionist and the tech all thought it was looking good and so did I, but the vet was concerned. However, she doesn't have that much experience with this sort of thing. She is worried that the skin is pulling away from the flesh and that the bubble of flesh at the end will become necrotic. I told her that I would show the pictures to Val and Dr. Walsh and get their opinions and she was very happy for me to do that. Here are the pictures from 3 days ago (ignore the messy fur - I had just given him a bath to get him less crusty):







And from today:







Anyone have any experience with this? Val, what's the best way to show Dr. Walsh these pictures? The vet thought a 3rd amputation may be in order, but I would like to avoid that if at all possible. I figured, since Dr. Walsh did the 2nd amputation and has so much experience with injuries, that he may have some input on this.

Bren
I will copy your photos and send them over to him. I have to ask him a question for someone else anyway, so I'll give him a call in the next few days and ask. I'll send the pictures over tonight (so I don't forget).

It does look kinda angry, just FYI. That is not what most tails look like as they are healing, but that does not mean that it is bad. Is it warm to the touch?

Val, with something like this, do you believe that it is better to try to save part of the tail or do a full amputation from the beginning (like America's)? What is the benefit of having the partial tail over no tail at all as I have not seen any hindrance with my no tail bootyful girl?

Thanks, Val. It is slightly warm and sort of sticky. As you can probably see from the pictures, some fur gets stuck on it at times. The bubble seems to be growing over time and I was hoping it was the skin growing back over. The vet said that it is not skin, but could be because of granulation. However, she is unsure about it. She thought it would be okay to wait a while, have another laser treatment or two, see how it goes and to get yours and Dr. Walsh's opinions before we decide how to proceed. Other than the tail and his hatred for the collar, Tas is doing great. He's lost quite a bit of weight, but is eating like a champ, basically cleaning his dish every night. He's very active and loves to jump - the collar doesn't slow him down much.

Is he still on antibiotics?
I have sent the pics via email. Will let you know what he says when I hear from him. Tomorrow being a holiday, I would expect it to be Monday or so.

He is not. I was thinking of asking for another shot of convenia now that they know it can be done.

I would do that. Or at least talk about another antibiotic. The "slightly warm" is worrisome.

Thanks, I definitely will.

Tas is doing great! He is out of the collar and back in with his family - well, in with his dad and sister, as his mom passed away while he was separated. I'm sure I could have put him back in a while ago, but at least a few times, I had done it too soon which resulted in more injury and surgery. The fur on the tail has been growing back fast since he rejoined Lan and Tika and the fur on his neck that had gone away with the e-collar is coming back, too. He's loving the freedom and the wheel and is gaining weight back.