HELP!!! Chewing till he bleeds

[Sierrasmom97]

I went in this morning to the chins room and JoJo has been chewing his tail overnight. I am not talking a little bit of chewing..I am talking blood everywhere..its splattered in his cage and all over my walls..I need help asap!! I don't know what to do!!
I am panicking and sick to my stomach at the same time. I cannot handle this.

 

[Claire D]

Take him to a vet now - please don't wait for advice from the forum. Tails can bleed like fury and a small amount of blood splattered around can look like a huge amount but I'd say he needs a full assessment by a vet.
There could be several possibilities for the injury - are you sure he is biting it? Is it possible he has injured it on the cage?
Is it possible another animal could have done it?
How much damage has been done and to where on his tail (tip/top/near his body)?

 

[alli713]

I would think a vet visit is in order here.

He could be chewing his tail if he's in pain from some way he hurt his tail, or something could be on it irritating it.

If there's blood everywhere, he really needs a vet.

 

[Sierrasmom97]

I am sitting the vets office now. It was walk ins only and I am looking at an hour wait before he will be seen

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

Agreed to the above post. defiantly get him to a vet

Like Alli said, if he's chewing on his tail that its either causing him pain or there's something irritating it causing him to bite it to the point of bleeding.

Keep us psoted

 

[Claire D]

I am sitting the vets office now. It was walk ins only and I am looking at an hour wait before he will be seen

:crossfingers: Good luck and please do keep us posted. :crossfingers:

 

[Sierrasmom97]

Sorry that I didn't answer half of the questions above...I was in a panic trying to get him to the vet. I did catch him in the act of chewing on his tail and it is near the tip. He lives alone in his cage so no other chins could have got to him.

We just got home from the vet and he has the cone on his head to stop him from continuing to chew and he is on antibiotics for 10 days. They put him on sulfa-trimethaprim. I think I spelled it right..its hard reading their writing

 

[tunes]

Trimethoprim sulfa is the correct spelling.

Did they say why he's doing it? Was there a fungal infection? An abscess?

 

[Sierrasmom97]

No they didn't give any explanation at all..just gave him the collar and antibiotics. The only thing I can figure is that he is mad because they all got moved to the bedroom and out of my living room, but they got moved over 4th of July weekend so its been a good month. Here are a few pics I took..they are a bit graphic..





My wall

The shelves I took out of his cage

His tail

And a not so happy jojo in his collar

 

[tunes]

Yeesh - ew. That's more than a bit of nibbling.

You know, that collar could be trimmed back 4 or more inches, so he could at least have a chance at feeding himself. There's no need for him to be on critical care unless he has to be, but that's about all he'll be able to manage in that beast of a collar.

 

[Stackie]

Ouch!!!!

I agree, my first thought when I saw that collar was..how is he going to feed himself?

As for the tail...I have never seen or heard of that happening before. Maybe he got it stuck between a ledge or something, and was trying to chew it free??

 

[Sierrasmom97]

The collar is one of those soft ones and it bends..do you think I should still trim it back some? The collar looks way bigger than it really is in the picture..from his neck where its tied to the very edge its only 3 inches.

I don't know how or why he did it..alls I know is I panicked when I saw all of that blood this morning.

 

[mishellyshel]

wow.....I hope he makes a full recovery. that sulfa stuff isnt too rough on their stomaches so hopefully he will be able to eat his pellets. did they give him anythign for pain? i think stacie may be on to something.........maybe it got caught and he freaked.
i know if i saw all that blood i would have been a panic too! you got him to the vet quick though.........great job mom!!

 

[IslandDreamer322]

Holy Cow!! I would have panicked too! I am glad to hear that he is ok- hopefully he will make a full recovery - Good luck!

 

[Laurie]

Okay first of all, glad you got him to the vet for some antibiotics. I hope he's quickly on the mend. Second of all even though the pics were graphic they were a good learning tool for the forum. And lastly, and I'm SO sorry JoJo but you look kinda cute with your collar on. I agree with Peggy about trimming it though so he can eat, other wise you'll have to hand feed him.
Sorry you had to go through this! Glad it wasn't something really difficult to treat and handle.

 

[Whimsy]

Ok....my chin did that some months ago. Not quite to the same extent. She did chew the whole tail, but at least left tufts of hair along the shaft. After rinsing off the blood, I treated her dust bath for fungus. She's all better now. There was no profuse continuous bleeding, just full length boo-boos and didn't require emergency vet care.
I'm glad to hear your chin seems to be doing better. Hopefully it's just a simple (albeit graphic) case of fungus or exterior irritation.
Good luck!

 

[BoundNoFtWaL]

Oh no. Poor JoJo. Good to hear you got him to the vet and on meds. Good for you for getting him to the vet so quickly. I hope you don't worry too much over him. A speedy and happy recovery to you both.

 

[Tanya]

Fingers and paws are crossed here for JoJo's complete recovery!

 

[Sandi]

Aw poor JoJo I hope he recovers quickly. That must have been some scare, ouch!

 

[saphire]

Oooh my, that must of been a scary sight. Happy things will be okay.