43 Day old male ram lost circulation to tail

[Childwanderer]

TL;DR: is it dangerous to return full bloodflow to a swollen tail-tip that is constricted by mud?

One of our ram lambs, born 1/31/2019, has a swollen tail tip with crusted mud, some blood, and clear oozing. I thought it was just mud/dung stuck to his tail, but I found that a tight ring of mud seems to have (improperly) banded his tail. I do not know how long the circulation has been limited, so I am concerned that releasing bloodflow by soaking the mud off may be risky.

I called the vet, and the soonest they can see him is monday. Past 30 days, I think he is too old to simply band above the crust ring and I don't like the risk of infection.

(He is a wool breed, so docking would usually be recommended, but his sire and siblings have all had their tails left the natural length without problems until this case; they shake away their droppings well so we've had no problems with flies.)

 

[Childwanderer]

(Yes, all rams are male. Typo in the title.)

 

[Childwanderer]

Update: Today it's cleaner, more red and less black. I covered it in Wound Kote and will keep monitoring him.

 

[Sheepshape]

It looks non-viable. Keep it as clean as you can, and it may well drop off. He'll just have an extra short tail, but he'll cope just fine.

 

[Childwanderer]

It looks non-viable. Keep it as clean as you can, and it may well drop off. He'll just have an extra short tail, but he'll cope just fine.

Thank you! That's what I hoped, it's good to have the reassurance. It should still be a healthy length, too. You can't see it from the photo but it's well within the prudent docking range, thank the Lord.

 

[Sheepshape]

As long as his anus has a bit of cover, then he won't mind a bit of extra air around his testicles.

All my sheep are wool sheep and a fair few have tails that aren't too far from the ground. To be honest, they have been no more likely to get fly strike than the docked ones, and the long tail is no trouble during lambing, either.

 

[Childwanderer]

Just to update briefly, the lamb in question is totally fine; his tail simply looks like it had been modestly docked and I can more easily tell him apart from his brothers for it. No treatment beyond the Wound Kote and a bit of cleaning was necessary.

 

[Baymule]

Always nice to see a happy ending to a "tail" of "tails"!

 

[AmberLops]

Always nice to see a happy ending to a "tail" of "tails"!