One bulldog's reason for having her tail amputated
* Itch his backend alot? *
* Never/Can't wag his tail? *
* Constantly get excrement caught under his tail? *
* Have a tail that is screwed too tight or kinked? *
* Has he lost his enthusiasm for walking? *
* Are his stools constantly loose or mushy? *
* Does he suffer from a constantly sore or infected tail underside? *
Perhaps like us your vet has given you creams and medicated washes to clean under his tail that just don't seem to be working?
Thanks to a brave little Bulldog in the States called Winnie, we were able to recognize Doza's problem. In November 1998 I was lucky enough to meet Winnie herself, all the way Over the Rainbow in Kansas, USA.
Here's Doza's story - Do you recognize any of this
as being your Bulldog?
We first met Doza on March 25th 1997 aged just four weeks old. I
bought her for my boyfriend Dizzy who's birthday it was that day. We had pick of the
litter, second only to the breeder herself - Mrs Olive Hunt who both breeds and runs the UK Bulldog rescue in Luton. She rang us the day
the litter was born and we arranged to go and visit when the pups were just four weeks old
- on Dizzy's birthday (which was also Mrs Hunt's birthday too!).
We knew we wanted a bitch but the choice was really hard,
eventually we picked Doza, the most mischievous looking pup in the litter, evenly marked,
mainly brindle with a white head and chest and brindle ears. She was so tiny you could sit
her in the palm of your hand and it always amazed me how Mrs Hunt managed to remember
which one we'd chosen.
On the day she turned eight weeks old we made the journey up to Luton to collect her. Complete with pedigree papers, vaccination record and a list of instructions she happily rode home in the car wrapped in a towel. She was named by Dizzy himself and his choice was a name that took us all quite a while to become accustomed to. His logic was actually very simple? Bulldozer! However, she was soon to live up to her funny name as her favourite pastime is burying herself in the now dis-used flower bed she's adopted, covering her face in earth and then promptly strolling back into the house! Her proper name is just as apt - "Wicked Lady".
From day one she sat funny and everyone would comment on how comical she looked with her back legs stuck straight out behind her, almost kneeling as opposed to sitting. Now perhaps we can understand that this was obviously the most comfortable way for her to sit as this way didn't put any pressure on her tail area, perhaps this was also the earliest indication that there was something wrong and that maybe she'd been in pain from her tail literally since the day she was born.
We'd not long been hooked up on the Internet, and late one night I put "Bulldog" on a search engine to see what it would come up with. I found the British Bulldog page and quite a lot about French Bulldogs, but the one that I really liked was an American site called "Jakes Snooze". I e-mailed and introduced myself to Mary Ellen Lee and a few days later I mentioned that Doza was having problems with an itchy back end. This was mid-June 1997 and the comment was made purely in passing on the day that Doza turned four months old.
With her being just a pup, I assumed we had a case of worms, the way she dragged herself along the ground was very much in keeping with the way dogs itch themselves when they have worms and so I treated her accordingly. After a few days she was still itching herself, more or less constantly. She'd also completely lost her usual enthusiasm for walking and although she still got all excited when I got her lead out - the minute we stepped out of the back gate she'd start to itch herself and just sit down, it appeared that the actual process of walking irritated her. However, it was the next day that we realized we were up against more than just a normal case of worms. Amber was totally fascinated by Doza's back end, licking her around her tail area and sniffing her everywhere she went. Doza was obviously in a lot of discomfort and couldn't sit still. I booked us into the vets for that afternoon. The first thing the vet noticed was that Doza had a very tight tail and commented on her "design fault", he also noticed that it was actually very difficult to lift her tail. When he did manage to lift it high enough to examine underneath it we realized immediately what Amber's fascination was - the smell. Right up in the tuck of her tail she was very sore, the soreness had become infected. There was always the chance that the itchiness was her anal glands and so poor Doza had them seen to (the down side to being a vet in my opinion). Once that was over she was cleaned and we were sent home with a strong course of antibiotics, a medicated wash and instructions to clean under her tail three times a day.
We were to keep up the treatment for a week and if it was no better after that we were to take her back. Needless to say that after a week, although improved slightly it was by no where near better. I took Doza back to the vets and this time they decided they'd keep her in for an hour for a really thorough examination. The initial diagnosis at this stage was that because of the tightness of her tail the constant friction between under-tail and body was making her sweat, because no air could get to that area of her body the sweat would itch, the itching caused an irritation, the irritation became sore and subsequently the soreness became infected. We were given a cream, told to continue the treatment as we had been and to apply the cream after we'd cleaned her. If her condition was no better by the time Doza was nine months old, her tail would have to be amputated.
Between Doza's two visits to the vets she had developed very loose stools, not quite diarrhoea but not far off, I mentioned this to my vet but he considered this to be totally unconnected. The loose stools certainly weren't helping the soreness especially as most of them ended up attached to her tail.
I e-mailed Mary Ellen with the bad news and the reply was simply - find a vet who would amputate now! This shocked me, amputation, surely at this stage was a last resort, Doza was still just a baby - only four months old. Mary Ellen suggested I checked out another Bulldog site in particular Winnie's Story on a page called "Tale of Tails". Winnie had an inverted tail and as I read on realised immediately that I was reading Doza's story. Winnies tail turned out to of been broken at a very young age, but the break caused the tail to grow inverted. I didn't think that Doza's tail was broken but the symptoms were uncanny; sore, tight tail, lack of enthusiasm for walking but the one thing that really set the alarm bells ringing was the fact that Winnie had developed loose stools. My vet had already assured me that the sore tail and loose stools were not connected but as I read Winnie's story I realized that they might well be after all. Winnie's inverted tail was growing into the rectum, by the time Carolyn had found a vet who would amputate Winnie was eight months old and the tail had caused nerve damage within the rectum itself. Carolyn said that if she'd realized what was happening earlier on in Winnie's life the tail would of been amputated at a much earlier age. I knew there was a connection between Doza's problem and Winnie's so I took a close look at her tail. It left the end of her spine pretty much normally, it grew round her back end OK but then about half way down it dipped inwards, the tip of her tail then flipped upwards like a ski-slope. The kinked part was exactly where the soreness was underneath, her actual back passage was constantly in friction with her tail and that was why she was so sore. I e-mailed Carolyn with the full story so far and her reply was the same as Mary Ellens - Amputate her tail now!
The thought of amputation no longer horrified me, I knew I had to convince the vet it had to be done and long before she was nine months old, that was still five months away. We were treating Doza three times a day as instructed, it was very difficult to lift her tail high enough to see exactly what was going on underneath, but to actually hold her still enough, clean her up with the medicated wash, dry her and apply the cream took as few and two people and as many as three. Cleaning her also made her squeal out and Amber thought we were hurting her and would come to her rescue. We knew we couldn't continue with things the way they were so I printed off Winnie's story, included both Mary Ellen's and Carolyn's advice and wrote a short note to my vet - "Do you think this could be Doza?" My vet is also a neighbour so I put my "evidence" through his door. All I could now was wait, I'd left the ball in his court.
We decided we would contact Mrs Hunt and bring her up to date with Doza's problems. Mrs Hunt suggested that we took Doza up to meet her vet who had looked after all her dogs, including the rescues for almost 20 years. Although it meant a 2 hour journey on the motorway we agreed and Mrs Hunt booked us in with her vet for the following Friday. Meanwhile, my own vet contacted me about the literature I had sent him. He'd found it all very enlightening and agreed that he wouldn't and indeed hadn't connected loose stools with a sore tail. I must admit that I'd been so pre-occupied with what was going on on the outside that it hadn't even occurred to me that something could be going on on the inside. I explained that our breeder wanted us to see her "expert" vet and he considered this to be a good idea. A second opinion certainly wouldn't do any harm.
Upon our arrival at Luton I explained to the vet that we were now in our fifth week of treatment and this was the best it got! He took a look under her tail, gave me some more cream and agreed that the tail should be amputated "sooner rather than later".
Both the vets had kept in touch with each other and each didn't mind who did the job. Mrs Hunt's vet was obviously more qualified with the Bulldog breed, especially when it came to anesthetics, but I wasn't keen on such a long journey home afterwards. My own vet was also a friend and neighbour and I considered him to have more of an emotional involvement. We agreed that he would do it. We still had over a week to go before the op and although we kept up the antibiotics we cut the treatment back as far as we could, cleaning her up every few days just to keep it in check, there seemed little point in distressing her further when it would all be over soon enough.
I e-mailed Mary Ellen and Carolyn the good news and the following week passed very slowly. It seemed that as Doza got bigger the problem became more exaggerated and the passing of stools, especially in their "melted chocolate" form was a job that became more unpleasant every day. The opening to her back passage was in effect blocked, each time she needed to go "it" would instantly hit a barrier and squirt out sideways, what was caught in the net so to speak would drop off around the house during the course of the day, or would be smeared over my already over-spot-cleaned carpet during her itching ritual.
At 9.00am on Thursday 31st July 1997, Doza was safely delivered to the vets surgery. As usual she couldn't wait to go in and as usual her fan club of nurses were waiting to give her a cuddle. I left her in the care of a nurse with instructions to ring at 2.00pm for a progress report. Two o'clock couldn't come quick enough and dead on the dot Dizzy rang the surgery to see how things had gone. Unfortunately Doza had to stay in overnight, she'd only just come round and they wanted to make sure that she could go to the loo OK, we were to ring at 9.30am the following morning. The next morning she was alert, on pain killers and due to be kept in that night as well, they said we should ring again at 4.00pm for an update. At four o'clock they confirmed that Doza was to stay in for a second night. Andrew, our vet called in on his way home that evening, he guessed that we'd be anxious as everyone had expected a routine day surgery procedure. He explained that she could come home the following morning but she needed a lot of cleaning and it was easier to administer her pain killers and antibiotics via injection. Doza had developed diarrhoea (good and proper this time) and it was this that was making it almost impossible to keep her back end clean.
I went down to the surgery at 10.30am the following morning, I was anxious and didn't really know what to expect. I dropped Amber off at mother-in-laws - banished for the weekend - and sat patiently in the waiting room. Eventually I was called in and handed a carrier bag, the female vet, Diane who had assisted the operation began to go through it's contents. Special diet dog food to limit her fetal activity and help control the diarrhoea, lotion to bathe her in twice a day, more antibiotics and pain killers. Diane then explained what had happened. The tail had been removed successfully, the x-ray had shown that the kinked part was indeed growing/pressing against/into the rectum and the operation did indeed need to be done, Andrew had commented on his visit the previous night that even whilst Doza was asleep under anaesthetic he still could not physically lift her tail - Amber can put hers bolt outwards when alert and can wag it without any problems at all. The surgery wound itself and stitches were very neat, a vertical incision had been made and a tiny stump was all that remained from where her tail had been, they could only hope at this stage that no severe nerve damaged had been caused, with the diarrhoea she was now suffering it was impossible for them to say. The problem that we now had was the sore patch that was left. The tail had been in constant friction with her rectum and surrounding area for most if not all of her life and despite cleaning it, it always looked red, angry and mangy, now with the tail gone we were left with an "indentation" which was basically a pit of raw infected skin. Every time she emptied her bowels, the dip took the lot. This meant cleaning it away by hand. The vet also warned me that since that morning she'd begun to pass blood, they told me not to worry about it too much at this stage. Satisfied that I'd taken it all in - off she went to get Doza.
I don't really know what I expected, the door opened and a very sleepy little bulldog plodded in, she looked at me and you could almost hear her ask "I know you - don't I?" Then it clicked and she covered me in nice sloppy bulldog kisses.
I led her out to the car, she stood the short journey home but seemed very pleased to be home, although the first thing she did after all the hellos had been taken care of was to throw up! Not too much so I assumed this was due to the car journey - all five minutes of it, I was glad that we'd not gone to Luton!
Then she slept. She seemed very sore, very unhappy and very tired. She emptied her bowels only about 3-4 times on her first day home, loose but not quite diarrhoea. However, it seemed to really scare her and she'd try to run away from herself, spinning round in circles and spraying it everywhere. Even when she passed wind she'd jump a mile and shoot off. Obviously her whole bottom area was very sore indeed.
By her second day home, fourth day post-op, she was a different dog, almost back to her old self, barking at everything that moved.
Keeping her clean was a different story as after emptying her bowels, dregs left in the indentation had to be wiped away. Although by the second day home we had managed to find a stronghold that she couldn't escape from, cleaning the area was obviously very distressing for her and the efforts involved in holding her still resulted in her finally biting me, this showed me showed just how much it hurt. We were due for a check up the following day so I mentioned the problems we were experiencing. Andrew suggested that they kept her for a couple of hours so they could give her a really thorough clean up under mild sedation. She looked so sad as I left her in the vets once more. I collected her a few hours later, a sleepy little Doza was brought out to me. Now clean, she looked great. She was obviously still very sore but it really did look so much better. Although Andrew didn't want to sedate her too often he suggested that we repeated the excersise the following day.
Whilst I'd been at the vets I'd finally been able to get a look at the x-ray. The v-shaped kink in her tail was very prominent and not that I needed any further proof that we'd done the right thing, but if I had this would of been it. You could very clearly see the extent of the deformity in her tail and exactly how badly it was pushing against her body.
The following day (Tuesday) I took Doza back to the vets to be
cleaned, she didn't need a sedative after all and an appointment was made for the
following Monday to have the stitches removed. This time however, they anticipated that a
sedative would be required. That night I took Doza for her first walk since her op - what
a difference! She took a little persuading to get out of the drive (old memories still
obviously haunted her), but once we were out - not one single sit to itch, not once did
she try to turn back, she trotted along, ears pricked the whole way round our usual
circuit. I was amazed in this change of attitude. Mary Ellen had said that after her dog
Jake had had his tail removed he found his enthusiasm for walking again almost instantly.
She still sits funny though - this must just be through habit now as she's never really sat any other way.
Now it's all over I can't help but wonder what would of happened if I'd not read Winnies story. There's so many people to thank; Mary Ellen Lee and Carolyn Waller in the States for pointing me in the right direction and for being there through out. Each would e-mail me just to ask how Doza was. Of course Winnie herself whose own experiences helped me to recognize Doza's. Mrs Hunt for her advice and for bringing us Doza in the first place and of course all the staff at the Woodlands Veterinary Hospital, Midhurst in the UK for their support.
Read Winnie's Story
Doza is the Shaloney Foundation Bitch producing a litter of 7 puppies on 17th June 1999
Tails were obviously our biggest gamble with this particular breeding, we ensured that the sire had a good tail and gave her folic acid from 6 weeks prior to her being due into season
For the record she produced one screw tail, one kinked tail and 5 straight spiked tails.
