How Long Is Ok To Wait For Stitches?

[TinyMityMo]

An hour or two ago Mr. Murphy cut his back foot on something. I got him to stand in a bowl of water and patted it dry with a paper towel and slapped gauze and vet wrap on it. It has stopped bleeding I think because the sock outside the vet wrap is clean.

I called into the vet down the street who we've only used once or twice with tiny things but is much closer than my regular vet. I said it needed to be properly cleaned and checked to see if it needs stitches since he wouldn't really let me look at it. She said they have a substitute vet in today who could clean it up but couldn't stitch it and that if it needs stitches I would need to bring him back tomorrow. Is that too long to put stitches in a cut?

 

I could bite the bullet (be super late to work when I've taken way too much time off lately) and drive all the way to my vet who could most likely see him today, or I could let it get cleaned properly quickly and maybe wait if it maybe needs stitching (I think it's close to an inch long but I don't know how deep). He ate at 6:30 so the soonest he could be knocked down for stitching would be after lunch any way.

 

what would you do?

[MP_the4pack]

Generally tomorrow would be too late. I brought my girl in for stitches at 2 in the after noon after she did something in the middle of the night. It didn't want to stitch it, but threw in a few to help heal. They ended up worthless and we had to wait the several weeks for the boo-boo to heal.

 

 

[Burpdog]

If it's not bleeding and he leaves the wrap alone, I'd drop him at my regular vet first thing in the morning if you cannot do it today.

[Houndtime]

When Brandy cut the back of her leg, my vet stapled it. Our dog didn't have to be put out and after a week or so, we removed the staples. Actually, our dogs have had stitches with local anesthesia, anyway. Maybe they could do either of these options for you.

[RobinM]

My rule of thumb is if you have to ask, you need to go to the vet.

[TinyMityMo]

I dropped him off at the close vet.

[turbotaina]

Aw, poor Murphy. Hope he heals up quickly

[TinyMityMo]

He is such a drama queen and especially antsy about his feet. I had a hard time just swishing it in water and gently squeezing the whole foot in a paper towel to dry. I just tossed a square of gauze and vetwrap. He screamed and jerked again when I tried to tape the top of the wrap. When I dropped him at the close vet and took the sock off there was a little bit of blood on it. I didn't want to wrap the vet wrap too tight though and he wouldn't let me hold pressure on the cut.

Hopefully once the have several people to hold him properly they can clean it up good and get a better look at it.

 

So, I knew it needed the vet, my question was which one. I took the chance that it wouldn't need stitching and got him to the quicker one to get it properly cleaned and bandaged. If it does need stitching then I'll just take him back tomorrow and have them knock him out and fix it up (and cut his nails back short while he's under).

[turbotaina]

Wonder if they'll just glue it?

[TinyMityMo]

I just called them and they do want to put him under and throw in a stitch or two - she said it's pretty deep. She is going to do it today with no trouble so I made the right call.

[turbotaina]

Ouch, poor guy. Any idea what he stepped on? My friend's border collie got a helluva gash from a piece of broken glass on our nature trail.

[TinyMityMo]

Nope. Sean will scope out the back yard when he gets home.

[Jiffer]

Ouchie, poor guy.

 

Check for sticks and twigs. Both Atlas and Uber have cut their feet very deeply on these that have fallen into our yard from a neighbour's tree.

[ShantisMom]

Glad he is getting fixed up. General rule of thumb I was taught is sooner is better on stitches. They need fresh skin. Once it has had a chance to seal over it won't work as well. I had a horse that was the king of needing stitches.