So I’m in my first year of studying animal care and although I understand the practice of docking sheep tails as soon as they’re born and why it Is done I can’t quite wrap my head around how it works medically. I may be wrong but I understood that if you cut off blood flow to an area / limb (like what is done with docking) then that limb becomes necrotic and dies. So how do sheep not get sepsis or other issues while their tail is becoming necrotic and how do they heal after an appendage has suddenly fallen odd? Wouldn’t their be a large wound??
Sorry I hope this makes sense!
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If you pinch the tail enough that no blood flow gets to the body, it’s not an issue.
On a related note, it’s a serious issue in search and rescue after something like an earthquake or building collapse. If someone has a limb crushed, it’s common that it starts to get necrotic. The person is fine because their blood is not reaching the limb.
But when rescued and limbs freed of debris, sometimes they’ll go into septic shock immediately from the restoration of blood to the necrotic limb and suddenly circulating all sorts of toxins and bacteria.
But if the limb is amputated without ever removing the pressure, that won’t happen. Same concept.
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