For those of you who read my post of 3 weeks ago, concerning Ming's self-mutilation of his tail, which resulted in the amputation of another 2-1/2 inches of it, I thought I would give you an update as to what is going on.....
Ming had another visit with Dr. Horn tonight, to have his stitches removed, and to be re-evaluated in terms of his general health. The end of his tail is healing nicely, and has a normal looking scab on his incision. Dr. Horn did a complete examination of him, and can find nothing at all physically wrong with him that may have caused him to self mutilate the end of his tail. Other than the damage that he caused to his tail, himself, he is in perfect health, as far as we can tell. He has even gained weight in the 3 weeks since his surgery.
Nothing showed on an X-ray, his heart and circulation seems to be fine, and we still have no idea why he did it this. Dr. Horn said that Mistyck's suggestion of "phantom pain" was certainly a very real possibility, but, unfortunately, there is no way to know for sure. Dr. Horn also said that possibly the original incision could have been itching and annoying him, but I, myself, can't imagine that he would have mangled the end of his tail that badly just trying to stop an itch, so I guess we'll never know for sure......too bad he can't talk!
Since neither of us can come up with any physical reason for his self-mutilation, unfortunately there is no guarantee that he won't do this again, so his tail will remain bandaged, at least until the scab comes off, and the end of his tail is completely healed. Dr. Horn seems to feel that once the scab comes off, if things look normal, and he hasn't been mouthing at the bandage, then I should no longer keep his tail bandaged, but I'm afraid I can't agree with him on that.
I, myself, have been having a serious health problem, and have been out of work and on disability for the last five weeks. After seeing my doctor again today, I was told that I can't return to work until at least September 1st, so money is extremely tight right now. We have already spent nearly $800 on Ming for these two amputations, and, if he does this again, there is no way that we can pay for a third amputation, and I WILL NOT lose him if he chooses to do this again. Therefore, I've come up with a way to force him to leave his tail alone, so that this will never happen again.
Ming will be wearing a normal bandage on his tail until the end of it is completely healed. Once it is, I've come up with a way to force him to leave it alone. I was looking around at our local pharmacy today, and I found a product in the foot care section, which, I think, will work quite nicely. Its called a VitaGel Toe Protector, and is basically a bandage shaped cap, made of rubberized gel, which you put over the end of your toe. I picked one up, and cut the top off of it, so that I now have two small tubes, made of gel. When I got home, I covered the end of his tail looselly with 2 layers of gauze, so that the air can get at the incision, and then slipped one of the gel tubes over the end of Ming's tail, so that it is about an eighth of an inch longer than his tail. I fastened the gel tube loosely with some adhesive tape, and then put 3 layers of vet wrap (that thick gauze stretch wrap that sticks to itself) around it, to hold it in place. It is much smaller and less cumbersome than a normal bandage would be, and if he should try to bite it, the gel will protect him from breaking the skin on his tail, while the vet wrap will keep him from pulling off and eating any of the gel padding. The gel tube fits his tail quite nicely, and is not tight at all, so that air can get into the end of it , and it will not affect his circulation. Obviously, I can't watch him constantly, so this will be our insurance that he doesn't do this again.
Of course, if I notice him biting at it, he will go back to Dr. Horn immediately, so he can try again to find a cause for why he's doing this, but, for now, I think that this will work very well, and I will remove it daily to check his tail. He has my creation on now, and it doesn't seem to annoy him at all....he's sound asleep, half on his hammock, and half in his resin tree, out like a light. I know this may not be the best thing for him, on a permanent basis, but for now it will have to do, because if he does this again, I WILL NOT lose him, simply because I don't have the money to pay for another surgery.
So please say a prayer for him, keep your fingers crossed that this darn thing works, and I'll keep you all posted on how he's doing as time passes!
Ming had another visit with Dr. Horn tonight, to have his stitches removed, and to be re-evaluated in terms of his general health. The end of his tail is healing nicely, and has a normal looking scab on his incision. Dr. Horn did a complete examination of him, and can find nothing at all physically wrong with him that may have caused him to self mutilate the end of his tail. Other than the damage that he caused to his tail, himself, he is in perfect health, as far as we can tell. He has even gained weight in the 3 weeks since his surgery.
Nothing showed on an X-ray, his heart and circulation seems to be fine, and we still have no idea why he did it this. Dr. Horn said that Mistyck's suggestion of "phantom pain" was certainly a very real possibility, but, unfortunately, there is no way to know for sure. Dr. Horn also said that possibly the original incision could have been itching and annoying him, but I, myself, can't imagine that he would have mangled the end of his tail that badly just trying to stop an itch, so I guess we'll never know for sure......too bad he can't talk!
Since neither of us can come up with any physical reason for his self-mutilation, unfortunately there is no guarantee that he won't do this again, so his tail will remain bandaged, at least until the scab comes off, and the end of his tail is completely healed. Dr. Horn seems to feel that once the scab comes off, if things look normal, and he hasn't been mouthing at the bandage, then I should no longer keep his tail bandaged, but I'm afraid I can't agree with him on that.
I, myself, have been having a serious health problem, and have been out of work and on disability for the last five weeks. After seeing my doctor again today, I was told that I can't return to work until at least September 1st, so money is extremely tight right now. We have already spent nearly $800 on Ming for these two amputations, and, if he does this again, there is no way that we can pay for a third amputation, and I WILL NOT lose him if he chooses to do this again. Therefore, I've come up with a way to force him to leave his tail alone, so that this will never happen again.
Ming will be wearing a normal bandage on his tail until the end of it is completely healed. Once it is, I've come up with a way to force him to leave it alone. I was looking around at our local pharmacy today, and I found a product in the foot care section, which, I think, will work quite nicely. Its called a VitaGel Toe Protector, and is basically a bandage shaped cap, made of rubberized gel, which you put over the end of your toe. I picked one up, and cut the top off of it, so that I now have two small tubes, made of gel. When I got home, I covered the end of his tail looselly with 2 layers of gauze, so that the air can get at the incision, and then slipped one of the gel tubes over the end of Ming's tail, so that it is about an eighth of an inch longer than his tail. I fastened the gel tube loosely with some adhesive tape, and then put 3 layers of vet wrap (that thick gauze stretch wrap that sticks to itself) around it, to hold it in place. It is much smaller and less cumbersome than a normal bandage would be, and if he should try to bite it, the gel will protect him from breaking the skin on his tail, while the vet wrap will keep him from pulling off and eating any of the gel padding. The gel tube fits his tail quite nicely, and is not tight at all, so that air can get into the end of it , and it will not affect his circulation. Obviously, I can't watch him constantly, so this will be our insurance that he doesn't do this again.
Of course, if I notice him biting at it, he will go back to Dr. Horn immediately, so he can try again to find a cause for why he's doing this, but, for now, I think that this will work very well, and I will remove it daily to check his tail. He has my creation on now, and it doesn't seem to annoy him at all....he's sound asleep, half on his hammock, and half in his resin tree, out like a light. I know this may not be the best thing for him, on a permanent basis, but for now it will have to do, because if he does this again, I WILL NOT lose him, simply because I don't have the money to pay for another surgery.
So please say a prayer for him, keep your fingers crossed that this darn thing works, and I'll keep you all posted on how he's doing as time passes!
