Lazy Daze Owners' Group

A Cautionary Tale (Tail)........for pet owners

April 14, 2012, 08:28:34 am

Yahoo Message Number: 129830

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Greetings all,
 I originally posted this on the NE group site, but knowing that many of us travel with pets, I thought it might be of interest to others as well.
 We recently returned from a wonderful 5 week trip to FL, visiting family on the way south and north. The rig (1998 30' IB) performed flawlessly, weather was perfect (our emergency radio did alert us to a few tornado warnings, but fortunately they missed us!).
 We did have a couple traumatic events: I unknowingly stepped on a fire ant nest while walking on a campground driveway in Montgomery, AL, and have had pain and incredible itching for the past two weeks; it's just subsiding now. Wicked creatures, those ants!!
 But the worst thing involved our dog, Elton, a 14 year old black and tan Shiba Inu. We had just left my aunt's farm near Cincinnati, heading north on route 71, when something startled Elton, who was curled up on his pillow on the floor between the driver's and passenger's seats. He let out a screech, and a few minutes later I noticed that his tail was bleeding profusely.......blood was everywhere, on the rugs, the sides of the upholstery, the walls.......as he shook himself, the droplets flew. Long story short: we turned around, called my aunt who led us to a vet, and that morning Elton had surgery to amputate part of his tail, in order to stop the bleeding and close the wound. Bob and I checked all over the rig, trying to figure out how this had happened. It wasn't until two days later, when Bob was once again on hands and knees "exploring" the floor area, that he found the tip of the tail under the left side of the cabinet door on the front of the doghouse (no pun intended.)
 There is an opening there that is wide at the bottom and narrows up to a very narrow point, with very sharp plastic edges. Evidently, the end of Elton's tail had slipped under the cabinet, and when he jumped up, the end of his tail got caught and then cut off!  It seems like such an unlikely thing to happen, but that spot could be hazardous to any pet who might be relaxing there. We will do something to cover or plug up that opening before we go out again.
 Once we got home, our local vet added tranquilizers to Elton's treatment, as well as antibiotics, and pain meds. He was one subdued little guy; with time and rest we are hoping he will be fine.  It's been about two weeks and he's doing well.
We never would have known about this possible hazard, and hope that those of you with pets explore this to avoid any other injuries.

Happy and safe travels, Donna and Bob NE 29 Wolfeboro, NH

Re: A Cautionary Tale (Tail)........for pet owners

Reply #2 – April 15, 2012, 11:48:24 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 129885

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Isn't the wall between the engine compartment and passenger compartment designed and constructed as a "firewall" to protect passengers (and pets) from fumes and fire from the engine compartment? If so, it should not have openings in it for a pet to catch its tail.

Gerard

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