Maisey's Screwtail Dermatitis

Maisey, a 2 year old female bulldog with a lovely gentle temperament was brought to us with a skin problem under the base of her tail. She was happy and well in herself but the short "corkscrew" tail typical of her breed was pressing firmly down on the skin immediately under the tail causing ulceration of the skin (arrowed) just above the anus (A).
This chronic sore that was trying to heal but couldn't because of the pressure from the tail. Maisey's tail was fixed in a rigid curl so she didn't wag her tail so much as wagged her bottom.
No amount of medication was going to solve this problem. We needed a surgical solution. We decided that the best answer was to remove the abnormal tail and the ulcerated skin.

        Maisey under anaesthetic, on monitors.                                   Screwtail problem
The tail and bottom area has a big blood supply and tends to bleed a lot, not in any dangerous way but enough to slow down the surgical procedure and make it a fairly messy operation.
However a big blood supply usually results in good healing post-surgery!

Tail removal

                         Closing the skin with staples                    The completed operation
Maisey recovered well from anaesthetic. The wound was seeping a little blood for a few hours after the operation but she was comfortable. She went home later that day and a week later she was looking fine. Two weeks post surgery the wound was well healed and the staples were removed.

    Staples ready for removal - two weeks post surgery
           Maisey still wags her bottom happily!

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