Glad to see she's healing so well! :)

I'm very happy to hear that she is doing well!! :)

OUCH. Poor pup.
So...her tail became infected, and the whole thing had to be removed? Would you mind giving me some more information on that? I'm really confused, and from an anatomical perspective, it's more confusing. (I'm not saying you're a liar! I'm saying it's a really oddball case.)

I hope she feels better soon. She must feel weird without a tail. I'm sure she'll adapt.

It all started with this journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6581466/

I didn't go back that far.

Not as oddball as you'd think, actually. My dog had the same issue, a cyst that got bigger, couldn't be drained, and was very susceptible to further infection (from basically sitting on it all the time). It's also very hard to bandage a tail. I would also imagine that the muscle damaged by the cyst would potentially make the tail useless, but I'm no expert.
So our Amber lost her tail in October 2013! And after 12 months of having an open wound near her butt, having it removed was a relief for everyone! She doesn't even worry about it being gone, she just wags faster than she did before ;)

Yeesh. I didn't know it was cystic, or had to do with tumors (I didn't read as far back in the journals as I should've before asking) so it's less oddball than I think, yeah, but still. Sounds terrifying. I doubt muscle tissue is very at-risk from surface cysts, unless they get so deep, but I'm no expert either.
12 months? Wow. Ouch. What breed is Amber? Is she a fairly large dog, or a small one? I imagine a smaller dog it would be possible to wrap the tail, but maybe not a fairly large dog (not without blocking important behind parts.)

Amber is a golden retriever. She's also weirdly flexible and no cones-of-shame would prevent her from licking her butt!

She had a tumor on her tail that turned cystic. It was lanced by a vet, but the flesh underneath the cyst had turned septic from infection. Nobody knew that it was that bad until her visit with the surgeon. At first, it had been to see if anything could be done to remove the tumor, but her fever spiked and the infection spread rapidly. It was life threatening by the time that we got her into an ER visit with the surgeon. It was either remove the tail, or lose Sam to infection. The tissue inside of her tail from the tumor down to the bone was literally already dead. It was amputated above the tumor, but they still didn't get all of the infection, so she's been on extremely strong antibiotics to rid the infection from her blood. She is currently doing very well. Fever is gone and everything is looking very good.

Well that's a lot less oddball than I thought. I've never had to deal with cysts or tumors, really - how do they get that bad? Does it just kinda pop up overnight, or is it just not really noticeable 'til it's that bad? Cysts and tumors sound fucking terrifying. I'm sorry you (and your dog) had to deal with that. Sounds like you have a really good vet, what with her doing so well after a septic infection and necrotic tissue.
Her lil' tail stump is gonna be real cute when it heals up. (I hope that's not offensive.)

No worries, its not at all offensive. It will indeed be cute. She already wiggles it when she's happy.

She had the tumor for a while, and it had a cyst before. Usually cysts aren't bad, and don't pose any threat to anyone, you just have them lanced and they go away. Well, hers came back for a second time. We had made an appointment to get it lanced again when it got to about the same size, but within the three days that it took to get her into the vet, it had grown to the size of a tennis ball. That was likely when the real infection started killing tissue. Of coarse, you can't even know that until you have a look inside of it. Our vet had set up our appointment with the surgeon to see about getting it removed, but that night her fever spiked, and we moved it up to an ER visit the next day, as soon as the place was open.

It was scary.

The tumor wasn't cancer though, so that part at least, is good. It was just some tumor that had popped up when she was about a year old. Stayed small. The cyst was what caused all the issue. :[

At leadt she still have some tail, good to hear she recovers.

So good to know she's recovering well!

Once the stitches heal and the cone of shame is off you can post her happy smiling face for us to see. I hope this works out for her. You and Sammy have been though enough over this.

https://scontent-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/h.....69948463_o.jpg
She had her grumpy face on this morning because of tractors running back and forth by the railroad tracks not far from here. XD
This was first thing in the morning, so I had yet to wipe her face down. Her eyes water a lot, so she gets doggy sleep in her eyes. Comes with grass allergies. Poor pup.

sometimes because of of fashion to dogs tailings is cut off. and they feel good. I hope Sammi also will not suffer. !

Anna:

My antivir thing doesn't allow me to view(does it seldom), I'm afraind you probably should use another image hosting site to avoid risks... ^^;

Here's one that I'd posted on the Indigogo page. Please let me know if this one works.

https://images.indiegogo.com/file_a.....JPG?1427139274


Edited because the other didn't work properly. Derp.

Anna:

Yes, this one works properly, thanks. Hope your Sam gets fully recovered!

The vets did a great job with her tail. Glad she is getting better.

They never like the cone, but the pixar lamp look will be over before she knows it and then her butt will be whole and well!

She doesn't actually mind the cone much, since she's had to wear them before. She used to chew her paws quite a lot when she was younger, because of food allergies that we hadn't known she'd had. She's much better at not chewing them now that her diet is... ... extremely limited. (no corn, beef, chicken.. and low protein and sodium because of kidney and liver issues. ..........) Poor pup has such health issues. >: I wish she could get better completely. Hopefully this will lessen her worries.

I'm so happy for you and Sammy! I'll keep my fingers crossed that they don't see any signs of infection when they remove the stitches, but the fact that she's up and active is a really promising. :3

Glad to hear she's doing well!

So great to hear she's doing pretty well.

I'm so glad she is doing well, it's amazing of you to do anything that it takes for her. She is extremely fortunate!

Glad she's doing well!

Looks pretty good. Three to five days with a drain is pretty standard, as the wounds will stay open another day or two to drain anything nasty. If they did a good job digging out the necrotic tissue, you won't have to worry about what's under the skin that you can't see. Thanks for keeping us updated on her progress!

Ahw, if she didn't before now she's going to have to wiggle her butt happily instead of just her tail. XD

She wiggles her entire body when she's happy. X3
Always has. She's starting to wiggle her stub quite a bit now.

Lol, I love dogs that do that. It's so adorable. Their happiness cannot be contained by a mere tail! XD

Glad she's up and about. Hoping for the best :3

When the wolf I bonded to tails' scent gland got infected, they tried to do surgery, but it was too late, it had to be amputated.

>: Aw. Well, at least they got it in time to save it's life. That's what I'm thankful for here, with Sam.

I am very glad it worked out for Sam.