My dog's tail is black and painful. Will it heal or need amputation?

Question

My dog split the tip of his tail on thanksgiving, I think it's happy tail syndrome. We've bandaged and cleaned and now the tip is black and you can tell it's very sensitive and painful. I intend to get him in to our vet tomorrow, but I'm wandering if this sounds treatable vs amputation? Pet's info: Dog | American Staffordshire Terrier | Male | neutered | 9 years and 8 months old | 48 lbs

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

Poor Brudis! If it's the first time this has happened, there is a good chance that it will be able to heal with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication, along with keeping it bandaged and protected for the next 2-3 weeks or so. If it doesn't seem to be healing in that amount of time, or if this problem recurs later on, this is normally when amputation would be considered - most of the dogs I have seen who required tail amputations were "repeat offenders" who were constantly whacking their tails against things :) So I don't normally jump straight to this as a solution, since many wounds like this will heal just fine with time and care.

My dog's tail is black and painful. Will it heal or need amputation?

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