General
Overview
This e-lesson is part of Animal Health Level 3, Learning Unit 6: Perform small ruminant caudectomy, Learning Outcome 6.3: Conduct bleeding caudectomy operation according to the species and age.
Did you know that removing the tail of certain young domestic animals can reduce the risk of injury or infection and improve the animal’s health, weight, and performance?
This is called tail docking or caudectomy.
Introduction
A caudectomy procedure, also known as tail docking, is a husbandry practice that involves removing the tail in lambs, piglets, and occasionally cattle, to improve their health, welfare, and management.
As a veterinary technician, you will need to know how to perform a caudectomy in your daily work.
While there are two types of caudectomy techniques, bleeding and bloodless caudectomy, this e-lesson will focus on providing you with the knowledge and skills you need to correctly perform a bleeding caudectomy procedure.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this e-lesson, you will be able to:
- Select relevant tools, materials, and equipment needed for bleeding caudectomy
- Appropriately restrain animals for caudectomy procedure
- Correctly perform bleeding caudectomy techniques