Accepted Answer

Hi there and thanks for your question!

I would definitely not recommend having your dog's tail cropped. Tail cropping can be done relatively humanely when a dog is a very young pup (i.e. under 5 days old), but is a major surgery if done any older than that.

The only dogs that I have done tail amputation on have been ones with either an injury to their tail or a cancer on their tail. These surgeries usually end up taking a long time to heal and can have a lot of complications. There is incredible blood supply to the tail and so once it is amputated we often get post operative bleeding that is very hard to control as the area is difficult to keep bandaged. Also, this is quite a painful procedure.

The dewclaws are not quite as serious, but we don't always do them. My answer really depends on how firmly attached they are. I generally will remove dewclaws that do not have a bony attachement. Sometimes these dewclaws are just sort of dangling or hanging. These ones are prone to getting torn or caught in things. The surgery to remove them if they are not bony is a simple procedure.

However, if they are bony (i.e. if they have joints similar to our thumbs) then I don't recommend removing them. These digits rarely cause problems. And, removing them is a more serious surgery - akin to amputating a finger. I find when I do these I have a high rate of infection afterwards as well.

I hope this information helps! If you have more questions regarding this problem, just hit reply. If I am online I will respond right away. Otherwise I will respond as soon as I come online again. Or, if my answer is sufficient, then please hit accept. Thanks!
Dr. Marie.

The above is given for information only. Although I am a licensed veterinarian, I cannot legally prescribe medicines or diagnose your pet's condition without performing a physical exam. If you have concerns about your pet I would highly advise contacting your regular veterinarian.

Expert:	Dr. Marie
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Answered:	5/31/2009

Veterinarian

Compassionate licensed veterinarian with >20 years experience with cats, dogs and pocket pets