Trust Your Instincts! A Dog's Tail...

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

Hi all,

It has been a while since I've posted but thought I'd share our situation so that others may gain some insight...back in September, Simba was hit by a car.  Fortunately it was a slow moving vehicle where we live and Simba ran back up 59 stairs to my husband.  There were no visible signs of damage aside from that he would not sit and after a couple visits to an animal hospital, our regular vet, and a surgical consult, we were told that in time all would heal and that it was only his tail that really seemed to still be giving him issues.

A couple weeks pass and Simba is completely back to being the same lovable, yet sometimes crazy, doodle.  We were all so relieved that he had made a full recovery.

Now it's early November and I noticed some matting half way down his tail.  He would occasionally be trying to lick or chew it but nothing too extreme.  We have a dog walker 5 days a week, my parents came to visit, and we are always paying attention to the doods and none of us really thought much of it.  Simba was full of life, constantly wanting to play, and showing no signs of illness. 

For those who don't know, I am 5 months pregnant, we just went under contract for a townhome, and I am working two jobs so things are undoubtedly crazy.  On Sunday for some reason, I told my husband I thought we should just go ahead and get his tail checked out.  We were both going to be extremely busy during the week and my husband volunteered to take him back to the animal hospital at 8:30 PM.  After thinking about, I couldn't let him go alone so we all piled into the car (Whopper included for moral support) and headed back to the animal hospital. 

The vet told us that it was clearly infected and they would need to sedate him and shave it to know the extent.  He would likely need to be on an antibiotic and hopefully that would clear up the infection.  About 25 minutes later we received a phone call from the vet saying that when they shaved it, they discovered that the lower half of his tail was receiving no blood flow and we now were in danger of septic shock due to the infection.  An emergency amputation of his lower tail was necessary and performed that same night.

I share this story because I think it's important that we all trust our instincts. No matter how busy we get, we can all sense when something just doesn't seem right.  While Simba lost the bottom half of his tail, had another few days passed the whole situation could have been much worse.  Over the next week and 1/2 he will recover and we are confident he will return to his usual happy antics. 

(And we have pet insurance so fortunately we could get him all the care he needs and focus on his healing and being comfortable rather than on the costs)

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Thanks for sharing this with us, what a story. Wishing Simba a good recovery and good wishes to you too.

[Donna K & Quincy]

I don't think you can ever go wrong when you trust your insticts, it's when we go against them that we find ourselves in trouble. So glad that Simba is going to be fine. Congratulations on your soon to be new addition.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

OMD poor Simba. So glad you followed your gut and took him in. I hope he feels better real soon!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Wow! Lindsay, I am so glad that Simba is going to be okay! I'm glad you listened to the" little voice!":) Best wishes for you and your new family member and happy healing to Simba!

[Carol and Banjo]

Oh Lindsey!   I can't believe how lucky Simba is that you knew to follow up on this!   I'm so glad that Simba will be OK.   What a scary close call for you all.   Thank you for sharing this....it's a good reminder to all of us.