Some of you may know that my dog, Bear, has had his tail docked (something I believe is as barbaric as declawing, debarking and other pointless animal mutilations).
I never really paid any attention to his nub beyond the fact that the hair is cowlicked and comes to a pointed tip.
While brushing him today, I moved the hair aside and actually looked closely at it.
This was not a professional job!
His tail has the look of a tail that was docked at home using a rubberband to rot it away.
A professionally docked tail has a neat, almost invisible scar.
Bear's scar comes to a point, like you'd see if the bone had been protruding before skin finally formed over it.
I cannot begin to imagine the pain he must've gone through as a pup with his tail in that shape, let alone the pain of the slow process of a necrotic dock, or any of the infection associated with it.
It just makes me sick.
I never really paid any attention to his nub beyond the fact that the hair is cowlicked and comes to a pointed tip.
While brushing him today, I moved the hair aside and actually looked closely at it.
This was not a professional job!
His tail has the look of a tail that was docked at home using a rubberband to rot it away.
A professionally docked tail has a neat, almost invisible scar.
Bear's scar comes to a point, like you'd see if the bone had been protruding before skin finally formed over it.
I cannot begin to imagine the pain he must've gone through as a pup with his tail in that shape, let alone the pain of the slow process of a necrotic dock, or any of the infection associated with it.
It just makes me sick.