Dog Wound Care
There are several reasons why you should look for professional help to deal with your dog’s emergency. Still, we wanted to guide our readers on what to do at home. You will find this information useful both before and after taking your pets to the emergency center.
Open wounds on dogs are undoubtedly alarming. Lacerations are the wounds produced whenever an object tears your dog’s skin and body tissue. These wounds are some of the most common reasons pet owners take their wound-care for dogs to a dog emergency center.
Your dog will always benefit from receiving professional help in these cases. However, depending on the severity of your dog’s emergency, it may need additional treatment. Lacerations include deep cuts that may affect your dog’s muscles, tendons, and other tissues.
You can treat minor scrapes and cuts at home, but if an injury fully penetrated your pet’s skin, you should find a way to stabilize them and take them to the nearest veterinary emergency center.
Caring for Minor Injuries at Home and Stabilizing Your Dog
If your dog was sneaking through the shed, near the garbage bin, or walking around sharp objects, they may have cut themselves accidentally. Accidents happen, and most often than not, pet owners report that their dogs got cut by broken glass, sharp metals, fencing, and other objects.
Make sure you thoroughly examine the area of the injury before deciding what to do. Try to clean the wound by washing it with enough water. Don’t skimp on how much water you use, as you’ll want to remove any debris from the injury to avoid complications.
You should use a towel to pat dry the area before ointments or antiseptic solutions. You could bandage the wound if possible to keep your dog from licking the area. You must keep your dog from licking the wound as long as you can while it heals. Try using an Elizabethan Collar for better results.
How To Clean Dog Wound: Cleaning Dog Wounds
Keep in mind that all of this applies to shallow wounds. But if you see bleeding, you should focus on stopping the blood flow with a towel and taking your dog to an emergency center. Lacerations can be deep cuts that endanger your dog’s life, so get help if you are unsure about the severity of your pet’s emergency.
Consider taking your dog to a veterinarian in any of the following cases:
- Care for dog wounds
- Your dog suffered a laceration in a sensitive area like their chest or abdomen.
- The area around the laceration becomes red or puffy.
- The injury fully penetrated the skin.
Don’t Hesitate About Taking Your Dog to the Veterinarian’s ER
If you have any doubts about the severity of your pet’s injury, take them to the veterinary emergency clinic. Try to stop the bleeding first, get in touch with your pet’s veterinarian, cover the wound with clean gauze, and take your pet to an emergency center.
There is a possibility that the staff at the veterinary center needs to put your pet under heavy sedation to treat the injury. The team will make sure to clean the area of any debris or foreign contaminants before carrying on.
Whenever possible, the wound will be surgically closed to help with the healing process. Still, if there was a risk of deep contamination, the veterinarian specialists will let the wound drain. Expect a prescription for your dog. Antibiotics will help control any potential infections while your pet heals.
Help the Recovery After Your Dog’s Emergency Passed
Once you go back home, please remember to follow all the indications you received from the veterinarian and the emergency center staff. One of your priorities should be to avoid any wound reinfections, so keep the edges of the injury clean of any debris.
As we mentioned, give your dog its prescribed medication. The veterinarian doctor will have to prescribe these antibiotics to prevent any bacterial infections during your pet’s recovery. Administer the medication following all indications, and don’t discontinue the medication regimen until explicitly said so by your pet’s veterinarian.
We recommend you ask the caregivers about expecting drainage from the wound depending on the severity of the laceration. You might receive instructions on how to prevent the wound from closing too fast. You should otherwise continue to do everything you can to promote the healing process and allow healthy tissue to develop.
Even if some pet owners believe that letting their dogs lick their wounds will help with the recovery, we would advise against it. Dogs can reintroduce harmful bacteria when they lick the areas where they suffered a laceration, so minimize that possibility through the use of an Elizabethan Collar.
Wrapping things up
You can help your dog at home when they suffer a laceration by cleaning the wound and bandaging them up. However, suppose you notice that the injury is a deep wound or are unsure about what to do. In that case, you should take your pet to a veterinarian as soon as possible after stabilizing your pet’s condition.
Keep some of these supplies and tools handy at home:
- Electric clippers (to shave the area around the injury)
- Clean towels
- Antiseptic solution (2% chlorhexidine)
And make sure to follow all indications from the veterinarian when you go back home with your dog.
If you have any more questions or need to have your dog examined in case of an emergency, get in touch with us. We are happy to help if you need us.
