HELP! END OF DEGU'S TAIL CAME OFF!!

[sophie9901]

Hey guys,

I feel terrible, I was feeding my degu's some special natural leaf mix and caught the end of one of their tails in the cage door, i heard him make a massive squeal and then saw that the tip had come off and now the tip is just this raw ended piece of skin stuff if any of you know what I mean!!

Will he be ok? He doesn't seem in any discomfort now other than the time of it happening?

Any advice would be appreciated x

[NightwishRaven999]

I would forgo the use of the sandbath for a while, atleast until the remaining stump of the tail has healed completely. Is there any blood loss ? How much of the tail was shed ? Is the tail bone visible ?

Although I could imagine my own reaction to such a thing happening, it is important to keep in mind the tail shedding does not endanger the life of your degu.

[sophie9901]

Hey nwr,

We left him for a couple hours and the bleeding is quite bad, we dipped the wound in flour to help ease the bleeding, which seems to have helped a little, the blood isn't EVERYWHERE, but for example it's clear that there has been bleeding in his bed. There is about an inch and a 1/2 missing from the end and there is still a bone stump with some blood which he hasn't yet bitten off. Oh god, he won't die will he? I read somewhere that it can happen quite easily and that most degu's live?

Thanks for replying so quickly! x

[NightwishRaven999]

I am defenitely not an expert on this, as I have never dealt with this situation personally.
From what I understand, what you describe is quite normal.
The degu tail is mostly composed of muscle and tissue. It would seem logical that such a tail injury would cause moderate blood loss.
I have never heard of a degu dying from this, in fact...the majority of those who have been through this mention the quick recovery time.

When you think about it, the shedding of the tail is a natural defence mechanism...designed to save the degu from its predator. Although blood loss can indeed be scary, I do not think it to be fatal in this case.

I suggest you keep a close eye on your degu over the next few days, making sure he/she is eating and drinking properly. You may also want to boost the recovery time by giving your degu high energy foods like oats.
These are great for sick or recovering degus coming out from a state of lethargy.

Hopefully, others who have been through this will be able to guide you and provide you with reassuring experiences.

Keep us posted !

[Kins]

Aww, bless you. It is such an easy thing to happen. I have 4 goos and 2 of them have part of their tails missing, they came to me like it from their previous family.

Your goo will be fine, try not to worry too much. He will pretty much (as I understand it) clean up his tail himself and it should heal fairly quickly.

Accidents happen unfortunately, but the little guy will be totally fine!

As NWR says, keep us posted!

[sophie9901]

Thank you for your responses everyone! I didn't sleep well last night, worrying about whether he was going to be OK or not! I woke up this morning though and the tail doesn't seem as bad and he's running on the UFO like normal Luckily I have a big box of oats so thanks for that advice NWR

Thanks again for help people, i'll keep you updated if any more happens, but hopefully this will be the end of it now and he will be fine! x

[fuzzymum1]

Sorry I didn't see this yesterday. I have had a couple of tail injuries like you describe - one was down to a swipe by my neighbour's cat who'd come in (mine ignore the goos). There was a good 1" of bone showing at the time. I did nothing and the goo chewed the end of the bone off and it's healed just fine now.

[princessveronica]

Poor thing! I know how you AND your degu feel!

It should be OK because it was only the tip that came off. When I was buying my degu, the member of staff that was telling me about degus said that the tail won't grow back. I think you should go to the vet. (If you bought your degu in pets at home, you can call them and they will call their vet.)

I hope your degu will be OK. Veronica xoxo

[harpic01]

I have had a lost tail - stood on the end of one of mine - it degloved which is the technical term. Bloody stump and bone. I personally took mine to the vets and he stayed in whilst they cut it off (the part with no hair) and stitched it came home following day and he was fine. But apparently they will clean and chew off dead bit themselves in the wild and as pets, i just didnt fancy the possibilty of infection - im lucky like that - if it can go wrong it will. IDegloving is a natural defence incase they are caught by predators the end will come off so the predator is left with the hair and the goo gets away.
So vets or not vets its up to you - suggest keep it clean dip in water with very mild salt and watch it - if in doubt Vet

[louise10172]

Hello,
I am shaking right now and I am going to cry so bad. So I got my degu out for the first time and I think she felt thretened and her tail dropped off. The other degu has been out before but she was fine. I put her back in the cage and blood was nearly everywhere all over her bedding and the sticks I put in. My mum said she would bite her tail off and eat it. That is what made me scared and I don't know what to do. It only happened today and I want it to grow back. 😭😢

[degulover21]

Feb 23, 2017 18:56:10 GMT louise10172 said:

Hello,
I am shaking right now and I am going to cry so bad. So I got my degu out for the first time and I think she felt thretened and her tail dropped off. The other degu has been out before but she was fine. I put her back in the cage and blood was nearly everywhere all over her bedding and the sticks I put in. My mum said she would bite her tail off and eat it. That is what made me scared and I don't know what to do. It only happened today and I want it to grow back. 😭😢

hey Louise yeah she will sort her tail out her self , did it just drop off , her tail won't grow back try to relax , don't let her use The sand bath cos it will cause it to really painful and she will bit out it until it bleeds more

[goolover]

louise10172 - dont panic hun. She will be fine, just make sure the bleeding has stopped. Have 2 goo's who have degloved their tail and it healed fine without me having to intervene. Follow harpic01 advice above. Degloving of the tail looks bad but she will be just fine.

[moletteuk]

It's OK, breathe!

This is called tail de-gloving, it's quite common, it normally happens when the tail gets caught on something, it's a natural mechanism to allow the prey animal to escape if they caught by the tail by a predator.

Anyway, you need to keep it clean, remove the sandbath. It should heal by itself, but if it is very messy and there is a lot of bone sticking out you should take her to the vets. If you leave it, you need to watch very carefully for any inflammation, redness, swelling or distress in the degu and take them to the vet if you see these things, you need to make sure it does not get infected. Any small amount of bone should dry up and/or get chewed off.

The degu should be OK but the tail won't grow back.

[deguconvert]

Hello, Louise10172, and welcome to the forum.

I am so sorry for the terrible fright of having a degu's tail deglove. It is scary, but thankfully not life threatening. You've had great advice above and I hope it has helped to easy your distress. How is your degu doing now? I would leave her be, and not try to handle her or take her out of the cage if you can at all avoid it. Unless, that is, you feel you need to take her to the vet. In that case, don't try to catch her with your hands, but rather try to coax her into a tube large enough for her to walk into, and then cover both open ends and then gently lay the tube in the travel cage you will use for the trip to the vet. Let her adjust and recover, and then once the tail is healed, work on hand training/taming with her again.

[animalmadchloe]

This post is from December.....

[winic1]

Feb 26, 2017 10:13:25 GMT animalmadchloe said:

This post is from December.....

The original post was from December--of 2011.  But a new person added to it just a few days ago.
However, she hasn't been back since doing that.  Hoping her degu, and she, are okay.

[animalmadchloe]

Ohhh okay was a little bit confused Haha!!

[cookiedegus]

my 7month female degu has the same situation, but has babies, and they are 6 weeks (momas dont feed them anymore so thats a good thing) the tail end came off only today, and i read that they cant be separated unless they are two months, so what should i do? i separated for like 2hours into the smaler cage now, and the babies are sleeping with the other moma, and alsothe babies are quite aggresive now since they started hearchy now and they like to bite tails, should i let her in the cage or not? (they sleep 10 degus all together so i think it would be a problem)

[savvy]

This is called degloving, and it happens frequently with degus.

She should be fine to go back in with the others, just make sure that the wound is clean and not infected. If there is visible bone, then she will sort it out herself or with the help of her cage mates.

[deguconvert]

I remember how astonished I was when I saw my first litter of pups pulling each other around by their tails. Then when a second litter came along, I realized that their Mommas pick them up by the tail, and if they need to move a pup quickly, they will grab the tail and kind of fling them in the direction they want them to go. The pups pick up this habit quite naturally, and practice it very LIBERALLY. LOL! It is not alarming or aggressive in nature. It's just normal degu behavior.

As Savvy said, she should be fine to go back in with them.