dog injury (advice please)

[reddog70 236]

For God's sake DO NOT USE WOUND POWDER ON THAT! That is a huge wound and if you put any sort of dry dressing on it such as wound powder all you'll do is dry it up prematurely which will make the dog very uncomfortable and it will most likely nag away at it and make things worse. The area needs to be kept moist and VERY CLEAN INDEED if it is going to heal properly.

 

Firstly you need to make sure the wound is clean: use boiled (cooled to luke warm) water with a spoonful of salt in it. Clean EVERY day very gently with cotton wool dipped in the salty water.

 

Then smear, very gently either: Intrasite Gel, or runny honey: (best to use honey straight from the honey comb if you can. Commercially treated honey has been pasturised (heat treated) so will have lost a bit of its healing properties, but still better than nothing at all.

 

I would be wary of using Aloe Vera Gel at this stage as it can sometimes irritate, but that is another good one for keeping the area moist and promoting healing.

 

Propolis (made by bees and available from health food shops) can also be dabbed on to the wound: also has anti bacterial properties. Bees line their hives with it to ward off disease.

 

Personally I would cover with a light dressing: cotton gauze taped over the whole area, just to keep flies away and stop the dog licking it too much at this early stage, but you do want the wound to breathe.

 

Lastly: whilst you are entitled to treat your own dog, don't forget you have a duty of care and you could be prosecuted if the dog is suffering unnecessarily and someone finds out! I quite appreciate that you don't want to keep knocking her out: anaesthetic is hard on the immune system and the dog has enough to deal with without going under GA again and again.

 

Smell the area from close up every day and if it starts to smell bad or has a pus like oozing then get to the vet pronto.

 

Very lastly: feed the dog on several small easily digested meals per day rather than just one big meal. Feed raw meat: chicken wings, minced beef: don't give big hard to digest bones at the moment. Oily fish such as mackeral is also good, and if the dog is being fed on a complete food then at least buy it the very best such as Purina Pro Plan or similar. Feeding the best is half way to getting the wound to heal properly.

 

Good luck: let us know how it goes.

thankyou for your time and advice skycat wound looking good this morning.vet has given another dose 10 days of antibiotics clavaseptin and pain relief.... this injury was huge and took the vet alot of trouble to find and stretch and recover enough skin to repair the dog... the honey i have been using from the start good stuff.. in reply to leegreen the bitch made a very good way to healing the first time but because a huge area was repaired some skin died where all the corners met.... the vet said this is quite common and sometimes needs a second stitching there still remains a lot of tension on this injury bitch is kept very immobile cheers

[MuttleMcTuttle 21]

Hope she'll be ok - I've never seen a wound that bad on a dog, but seen worse ones on horses which healed with barely a scar. Sounds like you're doing everything right for her - best to follow the Vet's advice unless you've lost faith in them.

I'd recommend a buster collar if you've not already got one on her - the dogs hate them, but it can stoop them licking at the wound or ripping stitches out. Once the wound starts to heal it'll start to itch, and she could make a mess if she removes the stitches herself...

Good luck - fings crossed

[reddog70 236]

Hope she'll be ok - I've never seen a wound that bad on a dog, but seen worse ones on horses which healed with barely a scar. Sounds like you're doing everything right for her - best to follow the Vet's advice unless you've lost faith in them.

I'd recommend a buster collar if you've not already got one on her - the dogs hate them, but it can stoop them licking at the wound or ripping stitches out. Once the wound starts to heal it'll start to itch, and she could make a mess if she removes the stitches herself...

Good luck - fings crossed

thanks i have tried a e collar (lampshade) type but because the injury extends down the leg and was using leg to try and remove collar i removed it pretty quick what i have on her are a couple of wide greyhound collars to reduce her stretch she dose lick it though occasionally cheers

[Antonia 0]

My dog ripped his underside open jumping barbed wire last year - he spent a fortnight in a cage, muzzled and with lampshade on! I felt tight but he pulled it out once and the area was begining to get infected.

Edited March 20, 2009 by Antonia

[doris 6]

any update on how the bitch doing. . . . a photo maybe