My dog *ATE* her tail! Please help!

I have a 6 year old Lab, I've had her ever since she was a puppy. She gets fed well, gets lots of attention. My husband and I both work full time, but this is normal. We make sure that she gets plenty of exercise (we live in an apartment) and she has lots of chew toys.

Over this past year, she has started acting more destructive. She started by chewing holes in the wall. Then she ATE a hardback book. She left the innards, but she ate the hardback covers. She then started chewing on the tip of her tail. This was a problem because she wags her tail really hard and was hitting it on the wall and leaving blood marks. It also made it difficult to heal. I would wrap bandages on there, but she would wag so hard the bandages would fly off. Or she would chew the bandage off. She was constantly trying to lick her tail. I even put an elizabethan collar on her but she could still get at her tail. The past few days it seemed like her tail was finally starting to heal. She'd been acting more subdued, but I thought that was because I had put a sock on the end of her tail to try and get her to leave it alone (it didn't work)

But then I came home yesterday and she had completely chewed off and EATEN the tip of her tail (about 3 inches). There was blood everywhere. She is acting like her self, I guess, she's still somewhat subdued but she was happy to see me when I came home, wagging what is left of her tail. The bleeding stopped, she doesn't act like she is in any pain. But I am at a complete loss as to what to do with her. I don't know why she is acting like this. And why she ATE her tail. I have an appointment to take her to the vet in the morning. I don't know if she is not right in the head. If she was being neglected I could understand that but she isn't. We spend almost all of our time with her when we come home from work. I don't know if she needs to be put down or not, but it's breaking my heart, so I am hoping that you guys can give me some advice/feedback. It's the eating the tail part that is making me wonder if she's all there anymore. I'm sorry to ramble, I'm just upset and desperate. Thanks!!!! Tweet