Help! Wound Care Advice Needed!

[Guest trevdog]

With the tshirt and collar on, you may be able to make do without the muzzle, just keep an eye on her. A friend's grey did more damage to a wound with hers and made it much worse. She ended up wearing the bite not collar for a month and was fine with that.

Hoping Pop Tart is on the mend now....

[Guest Peanut]

any up dates on poptart??

[Guest DeweytheGreyt]

How is Poptart today?

[Guest Peanut]

i got an update and she seems to be doing okay... this is the note from Mom.

 

Poptart is doing better. The swelling is nearly gone. She keeps getting into her bandage and doing more damage. She gets very anxious in the early AM The T-shirt worked and I tried to leave 2 toes out for her to have more balance, then she chewed off that area and did some new damage on her toes. So I wrapped the whole foot. The 3rd night of t-shirt she chewed it off. It looked like swiss cheese. We caught her before any damage was done. I hate to leave the bite collar on all night while she is in the crate, but I don't know what else to do. She is still losing fur/skin, but the amount is minimal during the dressings. I took pictures but forgot where I put the camera. Once I find it I will download. The extent is overwhelming, but I know it will heal, eventually.

 

[3greys2cats]

i got an update and she seems to be doing okay... this is the note from Mom.

 

Poptart is doing better. The swelling is nearly gone. She keeps getting into her bandage and doing more damage. She gets very anxious in the early AM The T-shirt worked and I tried to leave 2 toes out for her to have more balance, then she chewed off that area and did some new damage on her toes. So I wrapped the whole foot. The 3rd night of t-shirt she chewed it off. It looked like swiss cheese. We caught her before any damage was done. I hate to leave the bite collar on all night while she is in the crate, but I don't know what else to do. She is still losing fur/skin, but the amount is minimal during the dressings. I took pictures but forgot where I put the camera. Once I find it I will download. The extent is overwhelming, but I know it will heal, eventually.

 

Sending healing thoughts for Poptart and for her mom, this must be so traumatic.

[Guest mickie37]

 

Gosh this sounds like the MRSA infection in humans. A friend of mine is just recovering from it and it has been a long process.

 

A suggestion to keep the dressing on: I use orthopedic stockinette to keep dressings on my animals. If you can't find any send your snail address to me and I will mail you some. I have 8 inch stockinette available.

 

lupowoof@aol.com

 

Mickie

Stacks-Haus Sheep Company

Ohio on the North Coast.

[Guest Peanut]

Gosh this sounds like the MRSA infection in humans. A friend of mine is just recovering from it and it has been a long process.

 

A suggestion to keep the dressing on: I use orthopedic stockinette to keep dressings on my animals. If you can't find any send your snail address to me and I will mail you some. I have 8 inch stockinette available.

 

lupowoof@aol.com

 

Mickie

Stacks-Haus Sheep Company

Ohio on the North Coast.

 

I'll let mom know... actually, I can toss some in the box I'm sending her. i have some here from surgery.

[Jackandgrey]

Was just wandering how Poptart was doing?

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

IF your not comfy with the idoine based products then the Novasal is a great product and pretty dang cheap

 

I see above in a few post that she's still chewing away at her dressings. Use that muzzle. You may think it's mean or she may not seem like she likes it but it's really for her own good and she knows what a muzzle is and it's not a bad thing to her.

It will prevent further damage and it's a tool to help her get better.

 

Lots of healing thoughts headed your way

[Batmom]

What Joseph wore after his abdominal surgery:

 

 

 

 

He wore it for two weeks -- all night long and any time during the day that he was not directly in a person's line of vision. After 2 days at the e-vet and then surgery, no way was I going to have him undo all that work.

 

Hugs and luck.

[Guest mleekramer]

Poptart has her spirit back. The wound, however, is something. My husband and I had plans to go to Vegas mid to end June and I may have to stay home. It's that bad. I even have a sitter for my kids, but this wound will take a strong person to deal with. It also requires 2 people and about 45 minutes. Another Grey mom brought me a bite not collar and she has that and a t-shirt on 24/7, and it's working!!!! I don't mind the muzzle, but she rubs it right in her armpit area which is where the largest wound is. We had her urine re-done and came back fine, so she is out of the woods kidney wise. We just have the wound to go. I finally got the wound care product I ordered( I used the same on human patients with bed sores) The first day when removing the bandages was the biggest ordeal so far. What I had to use before, wasn't the best and she developed the funky slough over the nice pink wounds. After trying to remove the gauze with my new product she was howling, crying. Almost like putting a cat in the bath. It was terrible. We change the dresing with a muzzle on since I'm so close to her mouth, but I was still nervous. The armpit area slough was all debrieded off, but all the other funk still remails. When the dresing sticks to the wound we put her in the shower to help remove, but it doesn't remove the slough then, which is the whole point of debriedment. I'd hate to pay the vet to surgically remove it, but the screams from her... Thank you for all of your great ideas and well wishes. I'm not sure what we would have done without.

Michelle

[Batmom]

Hey, Michelle, when I have a wound that has to be bandaged, I use nonstick gauze pad for the innermost layer. Something that also helps -- nonstick gauze or not -- is to smear the dressing closest to the wound with a good glop of SSD (aka Silvadene, silver sulfadiazine) or neosporin.

[Jackandgrey]

Try getting rid of the slough with a saline flush using a 30 cc syringe and an 18 gauge needle. This is provides the correct PSI to get rid of the slough. This is instead of debriding it by pulling it off with the dressing.

[Guest Peanut]

padded muzzle is on its way to PopTart... It will keep it soft for when she decides she needs to rub with it on the leg. Muzzle guard inside, so she won't eat her way through it. ... We are thinking outside the box on the care here...

[Guest babsc]

Michelle,

 

How old is PopTart? Does she have any heart or circulatory conditions? I had a gal that had been bumped pretty hard, yelped and a few hours later started bruising and swelling. It was finally determined that she suffered vasculitis. This was probably caused by a blood clot forming from the impact and later traveled through her veins and lodged in her femoral artery. The clot cut off the blood supply to her skin and caused it to die (originally diagnosed as Alabama Rot). Her wounds sound very similar to your description. We used Ciprofloxin and three times daily hydrotherapy. Her wounds eventually healed and was left with some scarring. My mother is a geriatric wound care nurse, and she talked to my vet explaining how this could have occurred with my dog, as it is common in old people with poor circulation. If you email me, I can send you a picture- fastdogstx@yahoo.com. Hope this helps. Barbara

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

No advice, but sending prayers and healing thoughts to Poptart!

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

Hey, Michelle, when I have a wound that has to be bandaged, I use nonstick gauze pad for the innermost layer. Something that also helps -- nonstick gauze or not -- is to smear the dressing closest to the wound with a good glop of SSD (aka Silvadene, silver sulfadiazine) or neosporin.

Oh yeah, Silvadene cream is some KICK @SS STUFF and i'm glad you mentioned that Jey.

 

We had a dog in Plainfield that got something really funky. Many were calling it the Rot but I'm not totally sure that is what it was.

He was on fluids and we had to do that thing where you sorta pat hard on the chest area to break up the junk filling up his lungs. He has soars all over and we were given Silfadene cream by the vet.

Such a great product. Super light, no sting and doesn't seem to break down. Also helps so the pads don't stick too

 

[Guest paulamariez]

Oh my gosh! I managed to miss this post during my own traumatic experience, but how horrible! Your poor sweet Poptart. (what an adorable name for a little girl too!) I never even heard of this Alabama Rot. What a terrible thing to deal with. I can't even imagine how your sweetheart is feeling. Thankfully it was caught early. I will keep your precious Poptart in my prayers for a quick and complete recovery. Tiger, Bueller and Domino are sending Poptart lots of healing doggie kisses as well!

[Guest Leah]

I don't have any advice, just many prayers for you and your sweet girl.

[Xan]

Watching, learning (a lot!), and sending good healing thoughts and support to you and Poptart for continued healing!!

[Guest spider9174]

I'm so sorry to hear about little PopTart.

 

May I suggest muzzling her with a poop cup. She won't be able to chew anything through the poop cup...thus preventing her from chewing off her bandage. Put some dr scholz foam on the inside of the nose piece of the muzzle, it will keep her nose from getting raw.

 

If you don't have one, I have an extra and live in Hanover Park, I'd be more than willing to get it to you ASAP.

 

email me if you'd like it spider9174@hotmail.com

[Guest harry]

Poptart has her spirit back. The wound, however, is something. My husband and I had plans to go to Vegas mid to end June and I may have to stay home. It's that bad. I even have a sitter for my kids, but this wound will take a strong person to deal with. It also requires 2 people and about 45 minutes. Another Grey mom brought me a bite not collar and she has that and a t-shirt on 24/7, and it's working!!!! I don't mind the muzzle, but she rubs it right in her armpit area which is where the largest wound is. We had her urine re-done and came back fine, so she is out of the woods kidney wise. We just have the wound to go. I finally got the wound care product I ordered( I used the same on human patients with bed sores) The first day when removing the bandages was the biggest ordeal so far. What I had to use before, wasn't the best and she developed the funky slough over the nice pink wounds. After trying to remove the gauze with my new product she was howling, crying. Almost like putting a cat in the bath. It was terrible. We change the dresing with a muzzle on since I'm so close to her mouth, but I was still nervous. The armpit area slough was all debrieded off, but all the other funk still remails. When the dresing sticks to the wound we put her in the shower to help remove, but it doesn't remove the slough then, which is the whole point of debriedment. I'd hate to pay the vet to surgically remove it, but the screams from her... Thank you for all of your great ideas and well wishes. I'm not sure what we would have done without.

Michelle

 

 

we hope and pray poptart a speedy recovery we have similarthings that happened to our boy harry, what else can you tell us , we are really uppset.

[Guest harry]

I've stopped crying long enough to type this plea for help. Our Grey, PopTart, has been diagnosed with Alabama Rot. I know, I know many say it can't be that or she'd be dead. In some research I've done, if you catch it in time to avoid kidney involvement, and ward off infection from the wounds, they will survive. We are testing for Leptospirosis just to see, but she is a classic Alabama rot presentation. Here is the story....

Last week Tues. in the evening she had a chase with a cat in our yard and stopped at the fence and gave a yelp. Later that evening she was limping a little. The next AM she has a swollen wrist and would not bear any weight. We immediately went to the vet and they did an x-ray which showed no break. They thought maybe she did some damage to a tendon or ligament. We went home on anti-inflammatories and Tramadol with strict bedrest. That evening her toes were all swollen. As an RN myself, I know fluids can settle before healing begins. By the next afternoon her whole leg was swollen to her shoulder and her skin was very red. Off the the vet again. They gave her an Injection of antibiotic and sent us home with a daily dose and drew labs. At that time they mentioned Alabama Rot, but were hoping for a cellulitis or vasculitis. Two hours later, after making a potty outside, she came in and while she was drinking there was blood dripping off her leg. Upon exam she had blisters that were oozing. I called the Grey adoption group for advice of where to take her as my vet was now closed for the night. I got her in the ER. By the time I got there she has a wound 4" long and 2" wide. They admitted her to the ICU to watch her awaiting labs from my vet and give her IV pain meds, do an ultrasound, etc. She was drinking so the did not need to start fluids. They also mentioned Alabama Rot due to the swiftness that this all happened. PopTart stayed there two days. They did hydrotherapy on the leg and the skin just kept sloughing off. All her labwork shows no kidney involvement and so far her skin is nice and pink. She has been home since Sat PM. She seems fairly comfortable, considering, and she is able to bear weight now. The ICU MD gave us some supplies and thought daily dressing changes would suffice. Upon returning home, I investigated the cost of the supplies and was flabbergasted! I was told by both the MD's that hydrogel pads would be the best on the wounds, then to wrap with soft cast wrap, then wrap with a stretch gauze and over that vet wrap. Our poor pup is missing a lot of skin from her leg and we're needing 2 hydrogel pkgs per dressing. That stuff in very expensive! Another fly in the ointment is that now she has lost skin in her armpit on that leg and is eating the dressing off that area which is requiring more dressing changes. I called the MD yesterday and she said I could use Animax is $ was a problem for the hydrogels. Other Grey owners suggested EMT gel ($10-14/ 1oz tube, can't afford) Her leg is still losing skin and some of these small tubes will last only 1-2 dressings. Animax comes in a big tube, so that looks like my option. I now have a bigger problem, between 6-7:30AM she ate off the dressing again covering her armpit and licked herself down to muscle. We've redressed her wound and I'm going to the MD again to get advice on how to dress this better if there is another way I'm missing. I was hoping for any advice on wound ointments or products that may work that could be used here that

I may buy in bulk. I'm looking into discount dressings, and have made a plea to friends and family to send any extra dressing supplies my way. I don't know what to do. This has all happened so quickly, and the scope hits me sometimes which sends me into tears. When she stops losing skin, it will be 6 to 8 weeks recovery. Thats a lot of dressings! I appreciate any advice you can give! Thanks! Michelle

 

[Guest harry]

sorry I'm not able to work out how is working this reply,

we're hoping and praying that poptart will make a speedy full recovery and please help us and give us as nmuch info as our harry is in a right state just as you describe it, we can't even think of what to say....., he's been ill for 2 weeks numerous visits to vets and than bang alabama rot....how long what are the chances????

[Guest greytloves]

A friend of mine is going threw something, very, eeriely familiar. He lost all of the skin on his entire back leg. He looks like a scary research dummy. They diagnosed it as vasculitis. Something very rare for dogs. However, in greys it can happen with dogs that have tick borne diseases. (I don't have much more info, other then 3 vets gave this has a diagnosis after they did all sorts of testing) However, all the treatment sounds about the same. Hydotherapy, wrapping all that fun stuff. Sounds as if you are on the right path for recovery. Good Luck. Keep us up to date!