Scratch On Leg Above Paw

[kolarik1]

Monday morning I noticed a couple of long scratches on Pop's leg just above his 'ankle'/paw area. It looks like a couple of dog nails got him, yet we never heard him yelp and we could not find blood inside the house or outside in the yard (we did a perimeter check and there were no hazards anywhere or blood). We're not sure if someone came to the door and during the scramble/race to the door Zelda's nails got him or if a dog got him through the fence. We treated it Monday and wrapped it up, but yesterday morning his paw was all swollen, so we took the bandage off and started icing it. His paw is now back down to normal, but what else should we do for it? It's not deep and appears to be healing...he's currently still on cephalexin (antibiotic) from when he had all those infections a few months ago, so my thing is does he need to go to the vets or should we just watch it? We have been leaving it unwrapped since yesterday and whenever he goes outside we put Zelda's winter boots on to keep it clean. It doesn't look infected, but I don't want him to develop an infection either.

 

I should state that we clipped nails on Sunday and the scratches were not there then, so it happened either Sunday night or Monday morning.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

My guy scrapes his own legs on the inside and outside edges when he runs around the yard sometimes. I think he does it when he is turning. I dont do anything for the scrapes unless he wont leave them alone. I am lucky, he doesnt pay much attention to them.

[greysmom]

If you're concerned and want to supplement the cephalexin you could put some neosporin on the scratches themselves. My guys are constantly nicking and banging up their legs/feet while running in the yard and they usually heal up just fine. Though if he has a somewhat compromised immune system you might want to be extra careful and take him in to the vet.

 

greysmom

[Beautybabe]

Yogi scraped the front of his leg pretty badly this summer sailing over the retaining wall in our back yard. The vet cleaned it up, gave him an antibiotic and some Rimadyl, and left it uncovered. It healed beautifully, but I'd have to add that he left it alone.

[kolarik1]

ok...pop leaves the scratches alone and we did put neosporin on it, so I'll just watch him and play the waiting game...at least he's getting better about wearing the boots outside, but when he comes back in he holds up his injured paw to make sure i don't forget to take the boot off

[kolarik1]

I'm pretty sure Pop didn't do it to himself though as the scratches are on the front of his right front leg, so unless he suddenly became a contortionist I'm thinking Zelda got him by accident.