# Dead Tail Syndrome



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Sorry to hear Uncle Riley is having trouble with his tail. This just happened to his cousin Lola- it lasted about three days and the vet gave her rimadyl(?). I dont know anything about it or have any advice, but I love the beautiful Riley and wish him a quick recovery.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

Riley's Mom said:


> This morning when I let Riley out I noticed his tail was limp. When he peed he did put it up but then it went back down. I tried to get him all excited to see if he would raise his tail and he wouldn't. I have been reading about dead tail syndrome however, everything says it is caused from swimming. Well he has not been swimming. He was outside yesterday while I did some shoveling and stacking wood for about an hour. It was about 20 degrees out. Would the cold weather have caused it? It doesn't seem to be painful as I did touch it to see if he was in pain.
> He looks so pitiful with his limp tail
> Any advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Dead tail, or "limber tail", can actually occur without the dog ever getting wet, but is very often seen after swimming, so is associated with it. It is to be considered that rather than the water having caused it, would be exertion of the tail while swimming. Nothing definitive has been identified.
His tail could have gotten gold and wet while being in the snow. I've had dogs get dead tail after a bath, so have always paid particular attention to drying it very well. I've used warm, dry compresses and baby aspirin to treat.

Bumping and bruising at the base of the tail can cause it.

Ongoing studies suggest that limber tail is associated with muscle damage in the tail with dogs examined early in showing elevated muscle enzymes eg., creatine phosphokinase.


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

Pointgold said:


> Dead tail, or "limber tail", can actually occur without the dog ever getting wet, but is very often seen after swimming, so is associated with it. It is to be considered that rather than the water having caused it, would be exertion of the tail while swimming. Nothing definitive has been identified.
> His tail could have gotten gold and wet while being in the snow. I've had dogs get dead tail after a bath, so have always paid particular attention to drying it very well. I've used warm, dry compresses and baby aspirin to treat.
> 
> Bumping and bruising at the base of the tail can cause it.
> ...


Thanks Laura. I'm wondering now if his anals have something to do with it. He was laying beside me and I noticed he was a little stinky. When I checked under his tail I noticed he was a little soiled. I cleaned him with some baby wipes and he was trying to scoot away from me(maybe the wipes were too cold). He was groomed on Tuesday but the girl that does him knows how particular I am about his grooming and she force drys him till he's dry. I checked on him a few times while she was drying him (I work at PetSmart). So I think he was dryed really well. 
If he's not better tomorrow I will take him to the vet.


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

Ljilly28 said:


> Sorry to hear Uncle Riley is having trouble with his tail. This just happened to his cousin Lola- it lasted about three days and the vet gave her rimadyl(?). I dont know anything about it or have any advice, but I love the beautiful Riley and wish him a quick recovery.


Thanks Jill  I hope Riley recovers quickly too. He just looks so sad I can't stand it  I will see how he is tommorrow and take him to the vet if needed.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

Riley's Mom said:


> Thanks Laura. I'm wondering now if his anals have something to do with it. He was laying beside me and I noticed he was a little stinky. When I checked under his tail I noticed he was a little soiled. I cleaned him with some baby wipes and he was trying to scoot away from me(maybe the wipes were too cold). He was groomed on Tuesday but the girl that does him knows how particular I am about his grooming and she force drys him till he's dry. I checked on him a few times while she was drying him (I work at PetSmart). So I think he was dryed really well.
> If he's not better tomorrow I will take him to the vet.


 
Does the groomer express glands? It used to be that all groomers did as a matter of routine - a practice that I disagree with adamantly. The glands are easily ruptured, and if done incorrectly can cause bruising to the surrounding tissue. This could result in a dog not wanting to lift his tail. Likewise, if the glands are impacted and swollen.


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## WLR (May 11, 2008)

Possible pinched nerve?


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

Pointgold said:


> Does the groomer express glands? It used to be that all groomers did as a matter of routine - a practice that I disagree with adamantly. The glands are easily ruptured, and if done incorrectly can cause bruising to the surrounding tissue. This could result in a dog not wanting to lift his tail. Likewise, if the glands are impacted and swollen.


 No, they don't do anals unless requested. He's never had issues with his anal glands so that's why I'm so puzzled. He was fine at 11pm last night when I went to bed. Guess we will be off to the vet tomorrow.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Dead tail, cold tail, limp tail happens and should return to normal with in a few days. I see often with dock jumping. Usually the dogs who do a lot of practice jumps. I wondered if the dogs are landing badly on their backsides, but I have since been told it is a fitness/muscle fatigue thing. Sometimes it really hurts the dog, some dogs don't seem to care it happens. 

If your vet prescribed Rimadyl, that should ease any discomfort. If it does not return relatively soon, call the vet again to be safe.

Hopefully Riley will have the happy golden tail very soon. Dogs with cold tail look so sad to me. I love happy tails.


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

Merlin had dead tail syndrome this past September while we were at the beach. It lasted about 3-4 days. My vet told me to cover the area with a heating pad a few times a day. I didn't actually take Merlin in to see him, but would have if it hadn't improved. 

I agree, it looks so pitiful and felt so bad for him!!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

My vet calls this "tub tail" because he says he's seen it many times when an owner uses the tail as a handle when giving a bath!
Now that you said he just had a bath, I have to wonder....did someone move him around a bit by his tail??




Riley's Mom said:


> No, they don't do anals unless requested. He's never had issues with his anal glands so that's why I'm so puzzled. He was fine at 11pm last night when I went to bed. Guess we will be off to the vet tomorrow.


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

hotel4dogs said:


> My vet calls this "tub tail" because he says he's seen it many times when an owner uses the tail as a handle when giving a bath!
> Now that you said he just had a bath, I have to wonder....did someone move him around a bit by his tail??


I had him groomed at my work (PetSmart). There in one girl that I have do a bath/brush on him. She knows that I am very picky about his grooming. She is very carefull and thourough with him. Plus he just jumps into the tub. He is very well behaved for his groom so I don't think the grooming caused it. Also, he was fine after the groom and all day yesterday. I'm hoping it's just a fluke and will clear up quickly.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

I think my dog Sammy may have the same thing... But I am not sure. Been reading about it on this webpage. This morning I got up, let the dogs out, they ate breakfast, then back to bed for awhile. When I got up I went outside to setup some agility equipment and left the dogs in. We were very quiet in the morning as my husbands little brother came over yesterday and was sleeping on the couch. 

I was outside for a bit as I was having trouble putting our teeter together and my husband open the door and says something is wrong with Sammy. So I came in, as I understand it, this is what happened: Josh had gotten up and removed the baby gates that were keeping the dogs out of the living room and they had gone in to say good morning to his brother. They are always very excited with him. Sammy yelped, twice. No idea what happened. So I brought him outside by himself so I could see him, check his paws etc. He was going to lie down and yelped again. I was not touching him at the time. Once he was down I did not want to move him much, but paws seemed fine. He got up and walked a bit, I did not see any limp, but he looked funny walking. His tail was hanging. I think he looked weird because he usually has a very gay tail.

We took him to the ER Vet, but by the time he was seen everything seemed fine except his tail was still hanging. They vet went over him very thoroughly and no discomfort with anything, and he said everything felt fine. He did not think x-rays were needed. He said to rest him a few days and keep an eye on him. So far today he has seemed fine minus the tail. It still seems to be hanging most of the time, but once in awhile it goes up a little, but not normal. 

Yesterday we had gone out to Fiesta Island which is an off leash dog area surrounded by water. They did a lot of running and did go in the water, but briefly and not even far enough in to swim. After they did get baths outside (It was just under 80 here yesterday)

I am thinking it may be dead tail syndrome, but they initial yelping got me worried… Could it come on the morning after and suddenly like that?

Stacy, I hope that Riley is better now! Any update?


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

sammydog said:


> I think my dog Sammy may have the same thing... But I am not sure. Been reading about it on this webpage. This morning I got up, let the dogs out, they ate breakfast, then back to bed for awhile. When I got up I went outside to setup some agility equipment and left the dogs in. We were very quiet in the morning as my husbands little brother came over yesterday and was sleeping on the couch.
> 
> I was outside for a bit as I was having trouble putting our teeter together and my husband open the door and says something is wrong with Sammy. So I came in, as I understand it, this is what happened: Josh had gotten up and removed the baby gates that were keeping the dogs out of the living room and they had gone in to say good morning to his brother. They are always very excited with him. Sammy yelped, twice. No idea what happened. So I brought him outside by himself so I could see him, check his paws etc. He was going to lie down and yelped again. I was not touching him at the time. Once he was down I did not want to move him much, but paws seemed fine. He got up and walked a bit, I did not see any limp, but he looked funny walking. His tail was hanging. I think he looked weird because he usually has a very gay tail.
> 
> ...


Yes Riley is fine now. On Saturday afternoon when I came home from work he was wagging like crazy I really don't know what happened and I hope that was the first and last time.


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## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

I'd avoid the Rimadyl (possible side effects) and treat with buffered Aspirin instead. IMHO vets use Rimadyl far too often.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Riley's Mom said:


> Yes Riley is fine now. On Saturday afternoon when I came home from work he was wagging like crazy I really don't know what happened and I hope that was the first and last time.


Good to hear Riley is back to normal. We are on day 3 and it seems like Sammy's tail is back to normal today. I still gave him one last buffered aspirin this morning though.


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## HovawartMom (Aug 10, 2006)

Priska had that,last january,when we had a couple of cold days and she kept swimming!. There's no much you can do but wait and keep them calm until the movement comes back!.
They also say it can happen to dogs that have a happy tail!.
I used ARNICA 30,3 pellets every 4 hrs and it helped!.


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## feenie'smom (Jan 24, 2009)

*dead tail syndrome*

I'm surprised this is so common. I thought my dog had a unique injury. I do know what causes it because, I'm sorry to say, it was ME! During her bath I had to hold her tail up for quite a few minutes to clean away some matted, sticky poop caused by a food change. I had a firm hold and pulled her tail up and back to do the outer anal area. When I dried her off I noticed the "dead tail". I felt horrible about it and was afraid it was permanent but I didn't need to worry. It never caused her any pain and was completely normal within three days.
Clearly, there are some sensitive nerves back there. I supposed a long swim could exert the same tension on the tail.


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## johnluce (Sep 7, 2014)

I see this is an old post but my golden fits this syndrome exactly. What was,is confusing me is the fact that he has bilateral HD but one hip was THR a year and a half ago. After a day out running carrying on, jumping in the cold pond etc. we thought he did something to one of his hips and his tail was down because of the pain. Called the vet and an appt is made for a x-ray to check the hips. In the meantime I start googling the symptoms and it comes up with this limp tail syndrome (never heard of it almost thought it was a joke). He is walking around ok, the tail is just not moving even when you know it should be and I can see that he is in pain. In massaging the rear hip area I discovered that he is REALLY tender at the base of the tail. Im not a vet and dont want to pretend to be one but I think thats what is going on here. He goes to the vet for a recheck on the hips tomorrow so well find out except Im reading that many vets do not know about this syndrome.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

My Ruby had three episodes of dead tail, two after swimming and one after a long walk in really cold weather. Heat pads on the base of her tail helped enormously. The vet prescribed Metacam for one of the episodes. Without Metacam, the symptoms went away in three to four days, and with Metacam, in 24 hours.


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

Oh the things I learn about on this Forum.


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## johnluce (Sep 7, 2014)

I know! When I discovered this syndrome
I thought..."you can't make this stuff up" !


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## craigtoo (Jan 6, 2016)

I'll just go ahead and add this to the list of things I'm going to freak out about when I get my puppy. 

"My God!!! Don't touch his TAIL...!! Are you crazy? Haven't you ever heard of limpus tailus maximus?" 

If I keep reading these threads, I'm going to keep the dog in his crate... in a bubble! 

(Where there is some sun, but not too much, and no other dogs unless they travel with their health clearance paperwork, and feed him raw food only, but only if it agrees with him, and no carbs, but sometimes chicken and rice, and no tennis balls, except dunlop, and OMG is THAT RAWHIDE???, and he'll have Nylbones, but not "worn" ones, and a Kong filled with canned pumpkin, BUT NOT THE PIE TYPE!!!........) 

God help me.


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## johnluce (Sep 7, 2014)

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No tail movement


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## craigtoo (Jan 6, 2016)

Poor guy.... 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## johnluce (Sep 7, 2014)

Reggies tail movement is slowly coming back, Id say 80% as of today.


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## craigtoo (Jan 6, 2016)

johnluce said:


> Reggies tail movement is slowly coming back, Id say 80% as of today.


Good news!


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