If you’ve ever had to rush your dog to the 24-hour emergency vet, then you know how scary it can be, especially when faced with a sudden illness or injury. It can feel like it takes forever to get answers when all the while, you’re hoping for good news.
Well, recently Emily Guadette (@emilygmonster), a Twitter user, writer, and content creator found herself in exactly this situation. After spending a fun day at the beach, late that night, her dog was suddenly skittish about her tail.
Worried that perhaps Harley had broken her tail, she rushed her to the emergency vet for an examination. At 2 am and an x-ray later she finally got the diagnosis: Happy Tail Syndrome. It seems that Harley had such a good time at the beach that she wagged her tail until it became sore.
Emily shared her story on Twitter writing:
“We rushed our dog to the emergency 24-hour vet after a day at the beach because she was acting skittish about her tail (was it broken?!) One 2 am x-ray later and the vet says she has ‘happy tail syndrome,’ meaning she wagged it so hard on her beach day that it was sore.”
About the hilarious false alarm, she went on to share:
“They handed us our dog (doped up for her anxiety about the x-ray) and a pamphlet that said something like ‘TOO MUCH FUN?’ Over a photo of a dog with its tail in a cast.”
Her post got a lot of laughs and soon people were sharing their own stories. Apparently, Harley isn’t the only dog to suffer from this problem since there is an entire pamphlet written about it. And it can also happen when a dog smacks their tail against hard objects when they wag it.
Luckily, Harley was fine and wasn’t seriously injured after her beach adventure, but some dogs are not so lucky. According to West Park Animal Hospital, Happy Tail Syndrome can be severe and even cause bleeding:
“A dog’s tail has 20 vertebrae (although some breeds with short tails have less) and can pack a pretty good wallop. Happy tail syndrome in dogs occurs when this strong tail repeatedly hits solid objects with force during a wagging session, resulting in the thin skin of the tail splitting open.”
Dogs with wounds from Happy Tail Syndrome need to be treated by a vet to enable the injury to heal and prevent it from getting worse. Often treatment includes:
• Bandaging the tail to protect it
• Antibiotics
• Laser therapy
• Sutures
• Amputation, in severe cases
We’re glad this tail had a happy ending and would love to hear about your funny vet visits. You can read the full conversations about Harley’s vet visit on Twitter here. As always, we hope you enjoyed the story please feel free to share it with your friends.
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