Previously healed degloved tail now getting worse

[rambam]

Hiya, I used to go on this thread a lot under a different name and I was quite an active member but stopped having so much time to come on and now it's been a long time! I have 4 Degus now but have had 6 in total but lost 2. I have have 2 pairs of which no one is related so have done 2 successful introductions. I think I've had them for almost 4 and a half years but they're all different ages now (2 originals and 2 rescues). Of the ones I have no thankfully we have had no problems with teeth or anything too serious, my 2 that I lost became ill very quickly and unfortunately couldn't get over it. Anyway back to the point... One of my Degus Rosie degloved her tail just over a year ago, I was on holiday and my neighbour had her out and she got scared and slipped through a gap in the back of my drawers (that I was about to replace) and caught her tail. Not great news when you're away! It healed fine and I knew about degloving from the time spent on here before so I wasn't too worried. She chewed off the exposed tail and it healed, although... it wasn't that clean of a healing as a tiny bit of the bone (or cartilage) was still sticking out ever so slightly. My vet wasn't too worried though at all. After chewing the tail to remove it I noticed she was also chewing the healthy flesh and this let scar tissue (I think) and so the tail was quite thick at the end. The thing is, she's still bloody chewing on it a year later. I didn't realise until I had a good look the other day and it's quite scabby, a lot more than I've seen it. I thought maybe her cage mate Smartie had been chewing it but I saw some dried blood around Rosie's mouth when she was sleeping on me - only a little bit and she wasn't hurt anywhere so assuming it's from the tail. 

My dilemma is that I think more of it needs to be removed but will she still chew on it? Also I'm very scared about her being put out for it to be removed as she's so small. She eats well and eats the same as the rest but her and her cage mate weight around 240g but she especially seems scrawny. I love her to bits and just scared to put her through it but have no way to make her stop chewing and it's only a matter of time before it gets infected. The end of the tail is quite large at the mo but has been for about a year so although it doesn't look great it doesn't hurt her. I have touched it and given it a squeeze and it doesn't bother her at all. I've never actually seen her chew it so thinking she does it when they're cuddled up in bed.  

Also if I do get the vet to remove the end will it affect her balance? She's fine at the mo but don't know how much tail they need left. 

Also does anyone know how much a vet bill for that would cost? and also after a procedure like that should all bedding be removed? Sorry for all the questions, as I said we haven't had too many problems over the years thankfully so not sure what to expect. 

Any advice would be massively appreciated sorry for coming straight on and starting a thread! 

Rheanna x

[goolover]

Hi Rheanna, welcome back to the forum. How much of the tail is left. Tail amputation is possible and will affect her balance and jumping ability but she can adapt to this. My first thoughts if your girl is chewing at her tail is that it is infected and she knows this so is trying to remove the bad tissue. It maybe that it did heal but has just recently got infected somehow as 1 year of chewing the tail would have probably been noticed by now. Don't worry about sedation as I had a girl of 5 with breathing problems who sailed through the operation. They used gas sedation, which is quite safe. Of course, all operations carry a risk and sometimes they use an other way of sedation but sometimes it needs doing and not to do it can make her worse off. Infection if left, can get into her blood stream and spread and can kill if left untreated. Don't mean to scare you but infections have to be nipped in the bud as soon as possible. Has she had any medication from the vet to try and see if this stops her chewing the tail. Perhaps you could try medication before you have to think about amputation.

[yasmin]

Welcome back to the forum rambam. Sorry to hear about Rosie's tail, and about the passing of two of your goos. Also, congrats on the successful introductions – not an easy feat.

With regards to Rosie's tail chewing issue, if it was one of my degus, I would not rush to have the tail amputated, but I would take her to the vet to see what they would recommend.
I would want the vet to advise me on:
• Is there any swelling/pain/other issue?
• Is Metacam worth a try anyway, just to see if she stops chewing while on it.
• Is removal necessary and, if so, how much of the tail would need to be removed? Can it wait until/if it becomes infected?

The vet can also give you some idea about how much amputation would cost and the chances of success.
I too would be concerned that if it is solely a behavioural problem then amputation might not remedy the issue.

Would you be able to show us a picture of what the tail looks like?

[moletteuk]

Hi Rheanna, great to see you!! You were rmazeds before!! (you were registered with your hotmail account before in case you lost your login and want to go back) How are you?

If they lose more than about half the tail it can start to affect balance, but they can still manage with only a small stump, so no need to particularly prioritise that concern. My main concern is that amputating again will leave a more serious wound that will be at even more risk of encourage her to chew it, so I would be inclined to discuss it very thoroughly with your vet and maybe try a couple of other things first. I like Yasmin's idea to try metacam. I also think you could try some sort of cream with antiseptic qualities and a bad taste to try to discourage chewing and encourage healing. I think it all depends on whether there is something wrong with the current stump causing pain which is causing her to chew, or whether she is just idly chewing on it because it's there and not quite right to her.

[deguconvert]

Rmazeds!! Welcome back!!! (Thanks for the ID Moletteuk. I couldn't quite put my finger on her.) I think it couldn't hurt to have it looked at. The difficulty with tails that have not healed well is that the tail can continue to die back, and the dead tissue just keeps following up the tailbone toward the spine. If this is not removed, it will follow up into the body and then there is no recourse. So do have it looked at. If there is no dead tissue, then the metacam may solve the difficulty.

[rambam]

Haha that was it! I couldn't remember my username at all!!!

Ok, I'll book in with the vet and hopefully they'll have some ideas. It definitely it's hurting her but has always been swollen looking (for the last year) so I would imagine it was scar tissue and I can understand her chewing at it as it must feel weird. I'm also nervous of if they remove the less healthy part of the tail she'll just chew on the new wound. I do have a disinfectant spray for animals so I may try putting that on again and see if it stops her and lets it heal. I do think there's a lot of scar tissue making it quite bulky so I don't think that will ever change so it may be that she will always chew it. Will def go see a vet and see what they say!

[rambam]

Oh and I am fine Since last being on here I moved into a flat on my own, got a new job, rescued some guinea pigs (one died and I recently got a neutered male for my remaining girl) So basically I live alone but with 6 pets in a one bed flat. Somehow it works out well though!! I hope you're all ok too?? What have I missed?

[rambam]

So... Went to Vet yesterday and although Rose's tail isn't looking great it isn't infected or hurting her. The vet I went to wasn't the exotic vet that they have in one of their other branches as she had no appointments that I could make. I have to wait to hear back as the vet took a photo and was going to send it to the exotic vet to see what she thinks. They want to decide whether amputating it will be necessary or if it will be a waste of time in case she just chews the wound open or if it's worth it to prevent any future infection although it's been a year and there's been no infection yet. I have asked her to ask if there's anything I can put on it to prevent her from chewing - anyone got any ideas?? If I can stop her chewing then that would be a start. I have been spraying it with an animal disinfectant spray so that might taste bad and help anyway.

She did tell me the ball park of what it might cost to remove though... £200-250... got to laugh really or i'll cry.

[deguconvert]

OUCH!! I totally didn't expect that amount!

[ntg]

They definitely aren't cheap pets when things go wrong I think I was quoted a similar amount for a tail amputation a few years back.

Can you get cones of shame for degus? 😂

[zenaida]

They are such dexterous creatures between the digging and the teeth that I can't imagine a cone of shame staying in place. Especially with being with other degus. MAYBE if you could make a wire cone or something.

[rambam]

The problem with Degus is if you put any obstacle in front of them they won't stop until they've destroyed it. They mentioned taping something to her tail and I said there is no point as she'll just go at it until it's off. It's like when I used to have them in my room when I lived with my parents, I tried to block off parts of the room so that they didn't get into places I couldn't reach and eventually learned that there was no point as they can get passed everything in their way and they'd spend the entire time they were out trying to escape. Now they have my whole room and sometimes the hall as well (although one of them eats the hall carpet at the end so I don't always let them in there - they have done a lot of damage and I'm renting!) and I just don't have any wires about. I do have some of the wall covered as they like to eat the wall... any one elses goos do that??
Anyway I'm rambling! I will just see what the vet suggests after the Bank holiday and go from there. It's a LOT of money.

[goolover]

I remember when Millie had an operation and they designed this little cute plastic cone to put around her head. It was very nice of them but as soon as we picked her up, she was very distressed and I took it off. She was thrashing her head around, it was really upsetting to see.

[moletteuk]

Great to get an update from you, what exciting times getting your own place and new job and filling your life with more furry friends You haven't missed anything with me personally, the forum has been lovely recently with a nice core of dedicated members, although it's gone a little bit quiet lately as people have suffered a few losses in the last few weeks.

Bitter apple spray is the main product sold to stop chewing, but it only slowed my lot down for a bout 20 seconds. Something like F10 is probably the safest type of antiseptic spray, maybe that is what you are currently using (?) but I suspect it doesn't taste too bad. I believe Sudocrem is fairly safe, there is also a pet antiseptic cream www.amazon.co.uk/Johnsons-Small-Pet-Tree-Cream/dp/B00393UBWC/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1495965464&sr=8-7&keywords=pet+tea+tree+cream I think some kind of cream product might be good to try as the skin might be a bit hard and dry at the end of the tail, maybe see if the vet has any good ideas on that front. You could even try a dab of plain oil like sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil. I certainly wouldn't rush into the operation if there is no infection or other problem.

Goos eating carpets and walls sounds fairly normal. Maybe you could take the idea of these skirting board protectors and make them a bit taller to protect the base of your walls? deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15739/save-skirting-board And you could get some large ceramic tiles and place those over the areas of carpet getting attacked, or get some cheap rugs to cover areas of carpet.

[rambam]

I never updated this thread. The vet came back and said to leave it as it is and only move forward with an op to remove it if he showed signs of infection.

BUT the other day I noticed the little minx had chewed at it again... but actually it's quite lucky because she has finally chewed off that bit of bone that was sticking out and it actually now looks a lot cleaner and not as "swollen" as before! Maybe the whole time she was aiming to get rid of that bit of bone and maybe that was what was causing it to irritate her. Hopefully now it will heal and she'll leave it be! I still disinfect it but fingers crossed I won't need to soon.

[Emziedee]

Oh god fingers crossed!

I came back today to find my Garf's tail degloved 😔 after a lot of tears I've calmed down now but reading this thread is making me anxious.

I hope it heals with no problems

[Bexi87]

Jun 25, 2017 23:34:35 GMT Emziedee said:

Oh god fingers crossed!

I came back today to find my Garf's tail degloved 😔 after a lot of tears I've calmed down now but reading this thread is making me anxious.

I hope it heals with no problems

Oh no! Do you know what has happened?

I know it's easier said than done but don't blame yourself! Just bathe it and he should be fine. Sending lots of cuddles to you and Garfybum

[Emziedee]

No idea no. There was a hole chewed through the floor that has Tibbs beneath so I'm assuming that he's grabbed the tail from underneath him

[Bexi87]

One day they will regret all this pesky behaviour!

[Emziedee]

I know you do blame yourself don't you! I've cleaned and disinfected his cage and washed all his bedding, just have to let nature take its course now.

I couldn't find the tail anywhere so it hasn't helped me deduce what happened, only a tiny amount of blood too was at the scene. Is it meant to bleed a lot?