What I Learned This Weekend: Greyhounds Bleed Like Crazy

[fsugrad]

So Toby decided our Valentine's Day was not red enough, and he decided to add some red to our day yesterday.

Yesterday morning he's running around in the backyard, doing his beloved figure 8 zoomies. Oldest son is out there with him. In walks Brandon, in trots Toby behind him, not so much as a yelp or limp.

All of a sudden, with every step Toby takes, he is leaving a pool of blood on the wood floors! His left hind paw is red and covered with blood!

We quickly apply pressure to it, wrap it, and rush to the e-vet.

She washes it, takes a look at the paw. There are no cuts anywhere.

She looks up the leg a few inches, and there is a small puncture.

I would never have believed so much blood could have come out of a small puncture.

Long story short--no stitches needed. She shaved the area where the small puncture was, we washed the leg with soap and water...no peroxide...and applied neosporin.

I probably wasted my money rushing to the e-vet but I was really scared Toby was going to bleed to death. Our family room looked like a murder scene.

We have no idea what he punctured his leg on.

I wonder if the amt of blood that was coming out was due to the fact that he'd been running around so his blood was pumping extra fast and hard?

I hope it never happens again but in the future what should I do before running off to the e-vet in a panic? Should I wait a certain amount of time to see if the bleeding stops?

PS Toby is fine today!

[2hounds]

Yes, greyhound wounds bleed a LOT! Glad Toby is ok!

[brandimom]

So glad Toby is fine. Money well spent at the vet for piece of mind I would say. I probably would have rushed to the vet also!

[Guest Energy11]

Glad he is fine, too! Yes, extremeties (face, ears, feet, etc.,) bleed A LOT! they are loaded with capillaries. We humans bleed a lot with cuts, etc to our extremities. as well. You did the right things!

[DevilDog]

I figure, if the blood isn't actually squirting out, there's time to clean and assess the situation.

[Guest 3greysinPA]

I'm glad that Toby is ok.... and I am sorry you had to go thru that.. it must have been very scary. :grouphug

[crazygang]

Thank goodness he is okay....

[Guest MyBoys]

Just glad to hear Toby is okay, we also had a bleeding issue in the snow, our Henry was running and broke his nail below the quick it looked like a murder scene in the backyard snow so I understand just what you are saying. Hope you didn't have to many problems getting the blood clraned up.

[Remolacha]

Glad he is ok! Fletcher is such a klutz that I just check him over when I see the blood to see what he's torn up this time and the last couple of times, it hasn't even been him! I do remember the panic the first few times If it isn't spurting, and you can't obviously see where the blood is coming from, you have time to clean him up a little and see what you've got. With a puncture wound, a trip to the vet isn't a bad idea, though.

[Guest Capslock]

One of my past greyhounds Clyde once knocked his tail into a cactus while I was gone. It was a big bleeder. The dog walker came, which sent him into a windmill tail crazy mode, spraying blood all over the house. I really looked like a murder scene! I was on my toes wiping blood off the walls for days. I couldn't believe the amount of blood that came spraying out of his tail! Of course, he was totally unconcerned and was just excited about the walk!

[KF_in_Georgia]

I'm glad Toby's okay. These guys have such high metabolisms that, even at rest, they pump blood like crazy. It's one of the features that make greyhounds such good blood donors.

 

But if there's another event like this in your future, you want to find the site of the bleeding before the e-vet trip. It's not just that finding the site of the injury may mean the vet visit isn't required. It's that finding the site of the injury may save your baby's life if the injury is something you need to put pressure on in a hurry.

 

The trick I've used is paper towels. Take a damp towel and wipe off the worst of the blood. Take a fresh paper towel and wrap it around the highest point you spotted blood. Take another clean towel, wrap just below the first one. You're just wrapping it around with your hand and squeezing gently to see if you're getting leftover traces of blood or actual something-right-here-is-bleeding-like-crazy blood. You don't have to secure it in place or anything; you're just using each fresh paper towel as a blood-detector. Keep working your way down the injury area until a clean paper towel hits the source of the problem. You may discover that someone needs to ride along with the dog, putting pressure on the injury site, while you drive to the vet. Or you may discover that you've got a minor puncture that you can deal with. (Although, a "minor" puncture that won't stop bleeding still warrants an e-vet visit.)

 

And after you find the injury and determine that you are going to be able to deal with it at home, keep going with the fresh paper towels until you get all the way down that leg (or tail, or whatever). Don't assume that the one puncture you found is the only one you need to deal with. The paper towel trick is especially useful if you have a dark dog, lots of blood over a largish area, and no idea where the actual problem is.

[Guest tricolorhounds]

Glad Toby is OK... seeing that much blood must have been scary.

 

They don't always bleed though...

Last month I came home from work to find Bonkers had gotten bitten and the skin had ripped from up on his loin back along the fleshy tuck and around the inside of his right leg... 6" long and gaping open 3-4".... not a drop of blood anywhere. We guess that he must have startled someone in their sleep, they bit once, upwards into the tuck and the skin ripped in both directions.